MARY BELL IN THE WOODS.
Mary Erskine had a bible in her house, although she could not read
it. When Albert was alive he was accustomed to read a chapter every
evening, just before bed-time, and then he and Mary Erskine would
kneel down together, by the settle which stood in the corner, while he
repeated his evening prayer. This short season of devotion was always
a great source of enjoyment to Mary Erskine. If she was tired and
troubled, it soothed and quieted her mind. If she was sorrowful, it
comforted her. If she was happy, it seemed to make her happiness more
deep and unalloyed.
Mary Erskine could not read the bible, but she could repeat a
considerable number of texts and verses from it, and she knew, too,
the prayer, which Albert had been accustomed to offer, almost by
heart. So after Mrs. Bell had gone home, as described in the last
chapter, and after she herself had undressed the children and put them
to bed, and had finished all the other labors and duties of the day,
she took the bible down from its shelf, and seating herself upon the
settle, so as to see by the light of the fire, as Albert had been
accustomed to do, she opened the book, and then began to repeat such
verses as she could remember. At length she closed the book, and
laying it down upon the seat of the settle, in imitation of Albert's
custom, she kneeled down before it, and repeated the prayer. The use
of the bible itself, in this service, was of course a mere form:--but
there is sometimes a great deal of spiritual good to be derived from
a form, when the heart is in it, to give it meaning and life. Mary
Erskine went to bed comforted and happy; and she slept peacefully
through each one of the three periods of repose, into which the care
of an infant by a mother usually divides the night.
In the morning, the first thought which came into her mind was, that
Mary Bell was coming to see her. She anticipated the visit from her
former charge with great pleasure. She had had Mary Bell under her
charge from early infancy, and she loved her, accordingly, almost as
much as if she were her own child. Besides, as Mary Bell had grown up
she had become a very attractive and beautiful child, so kind to all,
so considerate, so gentle, so active and intelligent, and at the
same time so docile, and so quiet, that she was a universal favorite
wherever she went. Mary Erskine was full of joy at the idea of having
her come and spend several days and nights too, at her house, and she
was impatient for the time to arrive when she might begin to expect
her. At eight o'clock, she began to go often to the door to look down
the road. At nine, she began to feel uneasy. At ten, she put on
her hood and went down the road, almost to the corner, to meet
her--looking forward intensely all the way, hoping at every turn to
see her expected visitor advancing along the path. She went on thus
until she came in sight of the corner, without seeing or hearing any
thing of Mary Bell; and then she was compelled to return home alone,
disappointed and sad. She waited dinner from twelve until one, but
no Mary Bell appeared. Mary Erskine then concluded that something had
happened to detain her expected visitor at home, and that she might
be disappointed of the visit altogether. Still she could not but hope
that Mary would come in the course of the afternoon. The hours of
the afternoon, however, passed tediously away, and the sun began to
decline toward the west; still there was no Mary Bell. The cause of
her detention will now be explained.
When Mary Bell came down to breakfast, on the morning after her
mother's visit to Mary Erskine, her mother told her, as she came
into the room, that she had an invitation for her to go out to Mary
Erskine's that day.
"And may I go?" asked Mary Bell.
"Yes," said her mother, "I think I shall let you go."
"I am _so_ glad!" said Mary Bell, clapping her hands.
"Mary Erskine wishes to have you stay there several days," continued
her mother.
Mary Bell began to look a little sober again. She was not quite sure
that she should be willing to be absent from her mother, for so many
days.
"Could not I come home every night?" said she.
"Why, she wishes," answered Mrs. Bell, "to have you stay there all the
time, day and night, for several days. It is an opportunity for you
to do some good. You could not do Mary Erskine any good by giving her
your money, for she has got plenty of money; nor by carrying her any
thing good to eat, for her house is full of abundance, and she knows
as well how to make good things as any body in town. But you can do
her a great deal of good by going and staying with her, and keeping
her company. Perhaps you can help her a little, in taking care of the
children."
"Well," said Mary Bell, "I should like to go."
So Mrs. Bell dressed Mary neatly, for the walk, gave her a very small
tin pail, with two oranges in it for Mary Erskine's children, and then
sent out word to the hired man, whose name was Joseph, to harness the
horse into the wagon. When the wagon was ready, she directed Joseph to
carry Mary to the corner, and see that she set out upon the right road
there, toward Mary Erskine's house. It was only about half a mile
from the corner to the house, and the road, though crooked, stony, and
rough, was very plain, and Mary Bell had often walked over it alone.
There was, in fact, only one place where there could be any danger
of Mary Bell's losing her way, and that was at a point about midway
between the corner and Mary Erskine's house, where a road branched off
to the right, and led into the woods. There was a large pine-tree at
this point, which Mary Bell remembered well; and she knew that she
must take the left-hand road when she reached this tree. There were
various little paths, at other places, but none that could mislead
her.
When Joseph, at length, set Mary Bell down in the path at the corner,
she stood still, upon a flat rock by the side of the road, to see him
turn the wagon and set out upon his return.
"Good-bye, Joseph," said she. "I am going to be gone several days."
"Good-bye," said Joseph, turning to look round at Mary Bell, as the
wagon slowly moved away.
"Bid mother good-bye," said Mary Bell,--"and Joseph, don't you forget
to water my geranium."
"No," said Joseph, "and don't you forget to take the left-hand road."
"No," said Mary Bell.
She felt a slight sensation of lonesomeness, to be left there in
solitude at the entrance of a dark and somber wood, especially when
she reflected that it was to be several days before she should see her
mother again. But then, calling up to her mind a vivid picture of Mary
Erskine's house, and of the pleasure that she should enjoy there, in
playing with Bella and the baby, she turned toward the pathway into
the woods, and walked resolutely forward, swinging her pail in her
hand and singing a song.
There were a great many birds in the woods; some were hopping about
upon the rocks and bushes by the road-side. Others were singing in
solitary places, upon the tops of tall trees in the depths of the
forest, their notes being heard at intervals, in various directions,
as if one was answering another, to beguile the solemn loneliness of
the woods. The trees were very tall, and Mary Bell, as she looked up
from her deep and narrow pathway, and saw the lofty tops rocking to
and fro with a very slow and gentle motion, as they were waved by the
wind, it seemed to her that they actually touched the sky.
At one time she heard the leaves rustling, by the side of the road,
and looking in under the trees, she saw a gray squirrel, just in the
act of leaping up from the leaves upon the ground to the end of a log.
As soon as he had gained this footing, he stopped and looked round at
Mary Bell. Mary Bell stopped too; each looked at the other for several
seconds, in silence,--the child with an expression of curiosity and
pleasure upon her countenance, and the squirrel with one of wonder and
fear upon his. Mary Bell made a sudden motion toward him with her hand
to frighten him a little. It did frighten him. He turned off and ran
along the log as fast as he could go, until he reached the end of it,
and disappeared.
"Poor Bobbin," said Mary Bell, "I am sorry that I frightened you
away."
A few steps farther on in her walk, Mary Bell came to a place where
a great number of yellow butterflies had settled down together in the
path. Most of them were still, but a few were fluttering about, to
find good places.
"Oh, what pretty butterflies!" said Mary Bell. "They have been flying
about, I suppose, till they have got tired, and have stopped to rest.
But if I were a butterfly, I would rest upon flowers, and not upon the
ground."
Mary Bell paused and looked upon the butterflies a moment, and then
said,
"And now how shall I get by? I am sure I don't want to tread upon
those butterflies. I will sit down here, myself, on a stone, and wait
till they get rested and fly away. Besides, I am tired myself, and
_I_ shall get rested too."
Just as she took her seat she saw that there was a little path, which
diverged here from the main road, and turned into the woods a little
way, seeming to come back again after a short distance. There were
many such little paths, here and there, running parallel to the main
road. They were made by the cows, in the spring of the year when the
roads were wet, to avoid the swampy places. These places were now all
dry, and the bye-paths were consequently of no use, though traces of
them remained.
"No," said Mary Bell. "I will not stop to rest; I am not very tired;
so I will go around by this little path. It will come into the road
again very soon."
Mary Bell's opinion would have been just, in respect to any other path
but this one; but it so happened, very unfortunately for her, that
now, although not aware of it, she was in fact very near the great
pine-tree, where the road into the woods branched off, and the path
which she was determining to take, though it commenced in the main
road leading to Mary Erskine's, did not return to it again, but after
passing, by a circuitous and devious course, through the bushes a
little way, ended in the branch road which led into the woods, at a
short distance beyond the pine-tree.
Mary Bell was not aware of this state of things, but supposed, without
doubt, that the path would come out again into the same road that
it left, and that, she could pass round through it, and so avoid
disturbing the butterflies. She thought, indeed, it might possibly be
that the path would not come back at all, but would lose itself in
the woods; and to guard against this danger, she determined that after
going on for a very short distance, if she found that it did not come
out into the road again, she would come directly back. The idea of
its coming out into a wrong road did not occur to her mind as a
possibility.
She accordingly entered the path, and after proceeding in it a little
way she was quite pleased to see it coming out again into what she
supposed was the main road. Dismissing, now, all care and concern, she
walked forward in a very light-hearted and happy manner. The road
was very similar in its character to the one which she ought to have
taken, so that there was nothing in the appearances around her to lead
her to suppose that she was wrong. She had, moreover, very little idea
of measures of time, and still less of distance, and thus she went on
for more than an hour before she began to wonder why she did not get
to Mary Erskine's.
She began to suspect, then, that she had in some way or other lost
the right road. She, however, went on, looking anxiously about for
indications of an approach to the farm, until at length she saw signs
of an opening in the woods, at some distance before her. She concluded
to go on until she came to this opening, and if she could not tell
where she was by the appearance of the country there, she would go
back again by the road she came.
The opening, when she reached it, appeared to consist of a sort of
pasture land, undulating in its surface, and having thickets of
trees and bushes scattered over it, here and there. There was a small
elevation in the land, at a little distance from the place where Mary
Bell came out, and she thought that she would go to the top of
this elevation, and look for Mary Erskine's house, all around. She
accordingly did so, but neither Mary Erskine's house nor any other
human habitation was anywhere to be seen.
She sat down upon a smooth stone, which was near her, feeling tired
and thirsty, and beginning to be somewhat anxious in respect to her
situation. She thought, however, that there was no great danger, for
her mother would certainly send Joseph out into the woods to find her,
as soon as she heard that she was lost. She concluded, at first, to
wait where she was until Joseph should come, but on second thoughts,
she concluded to go back by the road which had led her to the opening,
and so, perhaps meet him on the way. She was very thirsty, and wished
very much that one of the oranges in the pail belonged to her, for she
would have liked to eat one very much indeed. But they were not either
of them hers. One belonged to Bella, and the other to the baby.
She walked back again to the woods, intending to return toward the
corner, by the road in which she came, but now she could not find the
entrance to it. She wandered for some time, this way and that, along
the margin of the wood, but could find no road. She, however, at
length found something which she liked better. It was a beautiful
spring of cool water, bubbling up from between the rocks on the side
of a little hill. She sat down by the side of this spring, took off
the cover from her little pail, took out the oranges and laid them
down carefully in a little nook where they would not roll away, and
then using the pail for a dipper, she dipped up some water, and had an
excellent drink.
"What a good spring this is!" said she to herself. "It is as good as
Mary Erskine's."
It was the time of the year in which raspberries were ripe, and Mary
Bell, in looking around her from her seat near the spring, saw at
a distance a place which appeared as if there were raspberry bushes
growing there.
"I verily believe that there are some raspberries," said she. "I will
go and see; if I could only find plenty of raspberries, it would be
all that I should want."
The bushes proved to be raspberry bushes, as Mary had supposed, and
she found them loaded with fruit. She ate of them abundantly, and was
very much refreshed. She would have filled her pail besides, so as
to have some to take along with her, but she had no place to put the
oranges, except within the pail.
It was now about noon; the sun was hot, and Mary Bell began to be
pretty tired. She wished that they would come for her. She climbed up
upon a large log which lay among the bushes, and called as loud as she
could,
"_Mary Erskine! Mary Erskine!_"
Then after pausing a moment, and listening in vain for an answer, she
renewed her call,
"_Thom--as! Thom--as!_"
Then again, after another pause,
"_Jo--seph! Jo--seph!_"
She listened a long time, but heard nothing except the singing of the
birds, and the sighing of the wind upon the tops of the trees in the
neighboring forests.
She began to feel very anxious and very lonely. She descended from the
log, and walked along till she got out of the bushes. She came to a
place where there were rocks, with smooth surfaces of moss and grass
among them. She found a shady place among these rocks, and sat down
upon the moss. She laid her head down upon her arm and began to weep
bitterly.
Presently she raised her head again, and endeavored to compose
herself, saying,
"But I must not cry. I must be patient, and wait till they come. I am
very tired, but I must not go to sleep, for then I shall not hear
them when they come. I will lay my head down, but I will keep my eyes
open."
She laid her head down accordingly upon a mossy mound, and
notwithstanding her resolution to keep her eyes open, in ten minutes
she was fast asleep.
She slept very soundly for more than two hours. She was a little
frightened when she awoke, to find that she had been sleeping, and she
started up and climbed along upon a rock which was near by, until she
gained a projecting elevation, and here she began to listen again.
She heard the distant tinkling of a bell.
"Hark," said she. "I hear a bell. It is out _that_ way. I wonder
what it is. I will go there and see."
So taking up her pail very carefully, she walked along in the
direction where she had heard the bell. She stopped frequently to
listen. Sometimes she could hear it, and sometimes she could not.
She, however, steadily persevered, though she encountered a great many
obstacles on the way. Sometimes there were wet places, which it was
very hard to get round. At other times, there were dense thickets,
which she had to scramble through, or rocks over which she had to
climb, either up or down. The sound, however, of the bell, came nearer
and nearer.
"I verily believe," said she at length, "that it is Queen Bess."
Queen Bess was one of Mary Erskine's cows.
The idea that the sound which she was following might possibly be
Queen Bess's bell, gave her great courage. She was well acquainted
with Queen Bess, having often gone out to see Mary Erskine milk
her, with the other cows. She had even tried many times to milk her
herself, Mary Erskine having frequently allowed her to milk enough, in
a mug, to provide herself with a drink.
"I hope it is Queen Bess," said Mary Bell. "She knows me, and she will
give me a drink of her milk, I am sure."
Mary Bell proved to be right in her conjecture. It was Queen Bess. She
was feeding very quietly, Mary Erskine's other cows being near, some
cropping the grass and some browsing upon the bushes. Queen Bess
raised her head and looked at Mary Bell with a momentary feeling of
astonishment, wondering how she came there, and then put down her head
again and resumed her feeding.
"Now," said Mary Bell, "I shall certainly get home again, for I shall
stay with you until Thomas comes up after the cows. He will find you
by your bell. And now I am going to put these oranges down upon the
grass, and milk some milk into this pail."
So Mary Bell put the oranges in a safe place upon the grass, and then
went cautiously up to the side of the cow, and attempted to milk
her. But it is very difficult to milk a cow while she is grazing in
a pasture. She is not inclined to stand still, but advances all the
time, slowly, step by step, making it very difficult to do any thing
at milking. Mary Bell, however, succeeded very well. She was so
thirsty that she did not wait to get a great deal at a time, but as
soon as she had two or three spoonfuls in the pail, she stopped to
drink it. In this manner, by dint of a great deal of labor and pains,
she succeeded, in about a quarter of an hour, in getting as much as
she wanted.
[Illustration: MARY BELL AND QUEEN BESS.]
She remained in company with the cows all the afternoon. Sometimes she
would wander from them a little way to gather raspberries, and then
she would creep up cautiously to Queen Bess, and get another drink of
milk. When she had thus had as many raspberries, and as much milk, as
she wished, she amused herself for some time in gathering a bouquet
of wild flowers to give to Mary Erskine on her return. The time, being
thus filled up with useful occupation, passed pleasantly and rapidly
along, and at length, when the sun was nearly ready to go down, she
heard a distant voice shouting to the cows. It was Thomas, coming to
drive them home.
Thomas was of course greatly astonished to find Mary Bell in the
woods, and his astonishment was not at all diminished at hearing her
story. He offered to carry her, in going home,--but she said that
she was not tired, and could walk as well as not. So they went down
together, the cows running along before them in the paths. When they
reached the house, Thomas went to turn the cows into the yard, while
Mary Bell went into the house to Mary Erskine, with her little pail in
one hand, and her bouquet of flowers in the other.