NEW THOUGHTS AND NEW PLANS.
Noll, sitting in the doorway, was presently aroused from a little
reverie into which he had fallen by hearing a voice call, "Noll, my
boy, come here." He obeyed the call, and started for the little wharf,
half expecting that Uncle Richard was about to reprove him for what he
had done. Trafford gazed in his nephew's face for a short space, and
then, smothering what his heart longed to cry out, and what he had
intended to say to the boy, he sighed only, "We will start homeward,
if you are ready."
Noll was sure that his uncle had kept back something which it was in
his heart to say, and, wondering what it could be, he followed after
the tall figure along the homeward path.
The sun was getting well down into the west. The fair clearness of the
sky was broken by a soft, mellow haze which began to steal across it,
yet the afternoon was no less beautiful, and along the horizon there
were long and lovely trails of misty color,--faint, delicate flushes
of amber and purple,--which gave an added charm to the day's
declining.
Not a word did uncle and nephew speak till, as they rounded the curve
of the shore, and the stone house came in sight, Trafford asked,
abruptly, "Noll, where did your pocket-money go?"
The boy explained the whole matter, with an account of Ned Thorn's
bounty and help, at the last, and then they paced along the sand in
silence, as before. Noll managed to get many looks at his uncle's
face, and seeing that it wore no stern nor forbidding aspect, ventured
to ask,--
"Are you offended with me, or what, Uncle Richard?"
Trafford took his nephew's hand as he replied, "Not in the least,
Noll."
His voice was strangely kind and tender, and Noll exclaimed, looking
up joyfully and brightly, "I'm very glad, Uncle Richard! and do you
know your voice sounded like papa's just now?"
They walked hand in hand along the shore,--Noll, at least, very
happy,--and looking afar at the sea through glad and hopeful eyes. He
mentally prayed that Uncle Richard's gloom and sternness might never
return, and that he might always be in his present softened and
subdued mood. They came to the stone house at last, and, as they
reached the steps, Noll took one long look at his uncle's face,
thinking to himself that not soon again should he see it so gentle and
tender, for the gloom of the library would soon shadow it, and make it
once more stern and forbidding. But, just as if he felt something of
this himself, Trafford lingered on the steps, as if loath to go in,
and at last sat down. Noll inwardly rejoiced, and seated himself on
the bit of green which he had caused to grow, by much watering and
nourishing, close beside the piazza. That little breadth of grass,
with its deep verdure, was a wonderfully pleasant thing for the eyes
to rest upon in this waste of rock and sand. Trafford looked down at
it and at the boy sitting there,--his curly locks blown all about his
face by the warm wind,--and thought to himself, that, wherever the lad
went, brightness and pleasantness sprang up about him, even though the
soil was naught but sand and barrenness. His heart was full of
reproachful cries. "What this boy has done,--and _I_!" was a thought
continually haunting him. And he did not try to put it away; but, as
he sat there, went back over all the months of the lad's stay,
remembering what he had done to brighten the old stone house and
himself, and contrasting all the boy's actions and motives with his
own,--sparing himself not at all in the condemnation which his own
heart was ready to pronounce. "What this boy has done,--and _I_! I?
Nothing, nothing! The earth will never miss me, for I have had no part
in its life, and have cared naught for its joys or its sorrows; and
beyond--where this boy's heaven lies--there will be no place for me,
because I have not sought it, and have cared only for my own peace. So
I have no part nor place in the world or out of it." A more vivid
sense of this truth came to Trafford here, and he sighed long and
heavily, thinking of what might have been. He saw and felt what a
great matter it was to have a heart wherein God's love dwelt so
steadfastly that eye nor ear could ever be closed against the wants of
his creatures, and the work of his that lay waiting for the doing. And
it was another matter to have a heart so cold and frozen that no
warmth of his love ever thrilled it with pity or compassion,--ever
drew it with tender, gentle guidance toward himself,--ever stirred it
with longings for his love and his blessing and upholding. It was no
wonder, he thought, that for one heart the earth was joyous and
beautiful, while for the other it was but a gloomy, unhappy waste; for
over the pure, warm heart's earth God reigned, and his sunshine
lighted it, and his flowers blossomed by the wayside, and they who
lived in the land were his own, and their needs the needs of his
children. All doing was but doing for God, while in a cold, frozen
heart his work is not remembered, and the sunshine is but gloom,
because it does not come from him, and the flowers are not his, and
the poor soul mourns and sorrows, wrapped up in its own darkness and
chilliness, and fails to find the earth bright or beautiful.
With such thoughts as these in his heart, Trafford was silent a long
time. The sun set, and shadows began to steal over the sea, gradually
and softly wrapping its farther distances in hazy indistinctness.
Hagar's voice, from the kitchen-door, where she was calling her
chickens to their supper, floated around to his ears and awoke him
from his long and sorrowful reverie. He started up, surprised to see
how fast the light had flitted from sky and earth. Noll still sat on
the bit of grass, busy over a heap of shells and pebbles, which he had
gathered during his afternoon walk. Trafford looked at him a few
minutes in silence, and finally asked,--
"What plans have you made for winter about your school, my boy?"
A sudden look of surprise flitted over the boy's face ere he answered,
"I haven't made any, Uncle Richard. I can't, you see, because the days
will be so short that I'm afraid there'll not be time after my
recitations. And there's no stove nor fireplace in the room, and not
much of anything comfortable. But I'm going to try, though," he added,
hopefully.
Trafford was silent and thoughtful for a long time. At last he said,
"What would you say if I forbade you to continue your school through
the winter?"
"I don't think you'll say that, Uncle Richard," said Noll,--not very
confidently, however. "I should be very sorry to give it up now."
"Even if I thought it best?"
Noll could not deny but that he should. "They're just beginning to
learn," he said, "and it would be too bad for them to lose all they have
gained. Don't you really think so, too, Uncle Richard?"
[Illustration: Culm Rock.]
Trafford made no reply to this question, but, when he spoke again,
said, "Not even if another teacher filled your place, Noll?"
The boy's tongue was silent with wonder and astonishment. Then,
thinking his ears had deceived him, he said, "Why--why--what did you
say, Uncle Richard?"
"I asked you," said Trafford, "whether you would be willing to give up
the school if another teacher took your place?"
The warm, eager color rushed into Noll's face, and he cried, "Do you
mean that--that--a teacher might take my place, Uncle Richard? Do you
really mean it? Were you in earnest, and shall I answer?"
"To be sure," said his uncle, gravely enough.
"Oh, Uncle Richard!" cried Noll, "I _knew_ the time would come some
day! I knew it! I knew it! And will you hire a teacher for those Culm
children? Was that what you meant?"
"I do not know that they need two," said Trafford.
"Yes, I'll give up the school this minute!" said Noll, remembering
that he had not answered his uncle's question; "I'm willing to, if the
children can only have a teacher. Oh, but it seems too good to be
true! And are you really going to hire some one to take my place?"
"I have hardly thought yet; you must not press questions upon me too
fast. I do not know my own mind."
Hagar heard their voices, and came around the piazza corner to say,
"Tea hab been waitin' fur ye dis yer whole hour, Mas'r Dick, an'
'tain't growin' better, nohow. Will ye hab it wait any longer?"
"No, we're coming, shortly," said Trafford, and presently they went in
to tea, for which Noll had not the least appetite, in spite of his
long walk,--it being quite driven away by the question which his uncle
had put to him,--and he spent most of the meal-time in taking keen and
watchful looks at Uncle Richard's face, to see when it began to cloud
over with gloom and grow stern and moody again. But the shadow which
he so much dreaded did not make its appearance, and from the
supper-table they went to the library, where Hagar had lit the lamp,
Noll feeling wonderfully happy and quite sure that this was the eve of
a brighter day for Uncle Richard and the Culm people.
Contrary to his usual habit, Trafford did not take up his books on
reaching the library, but sat looking thoughtfully at Noll, and at
last, as if speaking his thoughts aloud, he said,--
"If a new teacher comes, a new schoolroom will have to follow, as a
matter of consequence; and those two rough benches which I saw over at
Culm are hardly the best style of school furniture. And how is it
about books?"
"There are none but primers and leaves from old spelling-books," said
Noll, sitting very still and quiet with delight at hearing Uncle
Richard ask such questions. It all seemed like a dream, and not at all
a matter of reality. What could have come across the man's feelings so
suddenly and with such effect?
Trafford resumed his inquiries after a short silence, and little by
little drew from his nephew the whole story of the school's
commencement, and what drawbacks the lack of a good room, with seats
and desks and the necessary books, were, till he had made himself
acquainted with all the needs of the school. He talked with Noll about
the Culm people, and listened to the boy's hopeful and enthusiastic
account of their slight improvement, with something that was very like
interest. But the school seemed to interest him most. He proposed that
a teacher be sent for to take charge of the school during the winter,
and that the best room which could be found among the houses be fitted
up as a schoolroom, and as nicely and warmly as possible. The teacher
and the furniture would have to come from Hastings, and most likely a
carpenter would be needed. Noll thought of John Sampson at once.
So the evening passed away in planning and discussion, and when Noll
went to bed, it seemed as if all the events of the afternoon and
evening were but phases of a happy dream, which morning light would
banish as unreal. His thankfulness for this token of dawn, after the
long, black, weary night of gloom through which he had struggled,
could not find words enough in which to praise God for this promise of
brighter days. He prayed that it might not be fleeting, and that
morning might not show this gleam of brightness to be only imaginary.
But the morrow came, and proved yesterday's events to be real and
true, and Uncle Richard still without his stern and gloomy face, and
ready to perfect the plans which they had discussed the previous
evening.
One day after another passed, till Noll began to be certain that
Uncle Richard's gloom and moroseness had departed from him forever.
The boy wondered and surmised, but could not account for this sudden
disappearance of the shadow. What had wrought the change so suddenly?
Would it last alway? True, Uncle Richard was not cheerful yet, and he
seemed to be carrying some heavy grief or sorrow about with him; but
from his face the grimness and gloominess were gone, and Noll was sure
that there must be some little change in his heart, else he would not
care for the welfare of these Culm children.
A week or two elapsed before this new plan was put in operation, or
rather before anything was done toward carrying it out. The skipper
was hardly the person to intrust with the care of finding a teacher
and looking up school-books, and for a time they were in doubt and
perplexity. Then Noll proposed--what he had long been wishing--to go
to Hastings himself, and find such a teacher as was needed, procure
the suitable books and furniture, and bring John Sampson back with
him. It would require but a week's absence, and in that time all the
business could be done, and some happy days be spent with Ned Thorn
and old friends.
Trafford hesitated a long time. Who could tell what peril the boy
might be in while crossing the sea? How could he lose him now? And,
when once in the charmed circle of old friends and associations, would
he not dislike to return to gray and barren Culm Rock? But Noll went.