MORE REVERSES.
In a far different spirit did Mrs. Townsend receive the news of their
altered circumstances. It broke her down completely for a time. But
the example of Eveline and Eunice, in a cheerful submission to what
was unavoidable, gradually tended to give her strength of mind, and to
nerve her for her new and severer duties in life.
The first step taken was to procure a smaller house in a retired part
of the town, move into it, and reduce expenses at every point, so as to
make them, in some measure, correspond to their reduced circumstances.
In the carrying of this out, Eveline and Eunice were foremost, and
acted with a decision and energy that, while it surprised, gave
strength and hope to the minds of their parents.
When Mr. Townsend made sale of his stock, which was in a few days
after the interview with his children related in the last chapter, the
price had fallen still lower. The net proceeds were just ten thousand
dollars. Shortly afterward, his house was sold to satisfy the judgment
mentioned as having been obtained against him.
To sit idly down and live upon this little remnant of his fortune,
until exhausted, was not to be thought of by Mr. Townsend. Something
must be done, not only to gain the means of present subsistence, and
keep the little stock undiminished, but also to add to it, and lay the
basis of future wealth, after which Mr. Townsend resolved to strive.
Some business must be entered into. But the recollection of former
disasters filled his mind with doubt, and made him hesitate and ponder
long and anxiously the way before him. At length, he opened a store as
a commission merchant, thinking that the safest, and used his capital
in advancing upon goods. This was the aspect of things without. At
home, Eunice and Eveline were doing all in their power to smooth the
asperities of the change that had taken place, and to make every thing
conform to their father’s reduced means. This was their labor of love,
and in the performance of it they had a sweet reward.
Still, they were not without their trials, and especially did the
heart of Eveline often sink in her bosom. Strong as was the feeling of
indignation with which she thought of her lover’s heartlessness, the
wounds his base desertion of her occasioned, healed but slowly, and
were often painful. Only a few of the many friends and companions of
brighter days sought them out in their retirement; and these were not
of those who had been most beloved; but they were better appreciated
now, and truly loved.
Less than a year had passed, when Eunice said one day to her sister,
when alone with her--
“I am afraid every thing is not going right with father. He is getting
to be very silent, and looks troubled again.”
“I have noticed as much myself,” returned Eveline, a look of anxiety
crossing her face. “What can it mean? I hope he has not lost in
business the little capital he saved.”
“I trust not. But I have my fears. He was getting more and more
cheerful every day, when, all at once, there came a change. I noticed
it for the first time last week, when he came home one evening. Ever
since then, he sits silent and seems anxious about something.”
The words of Eunice filled the mind of Eveline with alarm. The
change in their circumstances had been very great. But, although in
obscurity, and living with plainness and frugality, the means of living
had still been at hand. If, however, another reverse should have met
their father, and stripped from him the little remnant of his property,
how were they to retain the comforts they still enjoyed? This thought
chilled the heart of Eveline. A lower, yet still a firm step, she did
not see.
“What is to become of us, if your fears are true?” she said, while her
lips trembled and her eyes grew dim.
“Don’t let such a question find utterance in your thoughts, Evie,”
replied Eunice. “We must not look downward in human despondency, but
upward in spiritual trust. Let us not think of ourselves, nor of what
will become of us. All will come out right in the end. Of that I have a
deep assurance. We may be called upon to pass through severer trials,
and to make greater sacrifices, but the strength to meet the one, and
sustain the other, will be given. Evie, there are deeper places than
any we have yet gone through, but there is a bottom and a shore to all.
He who calls the soul to enter these dark and bitter waters, will not
suffer it to be overwhelmed. Here rests my strong confidence, and here
should rest yours, Evie.”
“Ah! sister,” said the now weeping girl, “these deeper waters you speak
of, fill me with dismay. I tremble at the thought of entering them, and
shrink back in fear.”
“Evie, do not give way to such weakness; it is unworthy of you. Life
comes with its lights and with its shadows for all; and as surely as
day follows night, will the darkness of these sad changes pass away;
and, even while it remains, many a bright star will shine in the mental
sky.”
But still Eveline wept, and continued to weep until Eunice drew
her head down upon her breast, and soothed her with many words of
cheerfulness and hope.
“I am like a child,” Eveline at length said, rising up with a calmer
face, and eyes now undimmed, “and your braver spirit shames my
weakness. But, I hope to be able, for all this, to stand firmly by your
side, sister, in any new and severer trial that may come.”
“Spoken like yourself, Evie!” returned Eunice, with a smile. “Let us
not be doubtful but believing--let us be brave and strong, and no
difficulty shall beset our path that will not be easily overcome.”
The observations of Eunice, as well as her conclusions, were correctly
made. Her father was in trouble, and she had guessed, as before, the
cause.
Some months previously, he had received a large consignment of goods,
upon which an advance of five thousand dollars was asked. In order to
make this advance, Mr. Townsend had to get a small temporary loan.
The parties consigning the goods, required a guaranty of sales, and
this, although against his wishes, Mr. Townsend agreed to do. Over ten
thousand dollars worth of these goods were sold to one house, and that
house, before the notes given in payment for them had matured, failed.
On the very day that Eunice called the attention of her sister to
their father’s depressed state of mind, a meeting of creditors was
held, at which it was made clearly apparent, that not twenty cents in
the dollar would be divided, and that, at least, twelve or eighteen
months must pass before the whole of this would be paid. Mr. Townsend
went back to his store, after the meeting had closed, with his mind in
a complete state of despondency. He felt that he was utterly ruined,
and hopelessly gave up the struggle. After writing to his principal
consignors, informing them of what had occurred, and stating that he
would make an assignment for their benefit, he left his place of
business, and returned home. On his way, he stopped at the store of a
druggist, and procured two ounces of laudanum.