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206.
THE LIBRARY
OF THE
UNI
RSITY
OMNIBUS ARTIBUS
COMMUNE VINCUL
*
OF MINNESOTA
CLASS
BOOK
812L435
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KILBURNS
I can tell you if you are not capable of deciding. Page 7.

$500.
PRIZE
SERIES
WHENKILBURNİSİ
Derrick del
BOSTON
D. LOTHROP & Co.
OLIVE LORING'S MISSION.
BY
ANNIE M. LAWRENCE.
66
AUTHOR of LIGHT FROM THE CROss.'

Boston:
Published by D. Lothrop & Co.
Dover, N. H.: G. T. Day & Co.
UNIVERSITY O
MINNESOTA
LIBRARY
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871,
BY D. LOTHROP AND L. R. BURLINGAME,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
Gift
$410
8126435
Oo

FINDING THE WAY
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
CHAPTER II.
AUNT HETTY
21
CHAPTER III.
NEEDED AT HOME
32
CHAPTER IV.
PATIENCE AND PERSEVERANCE
50
CHAPTER V.
HELPING WORDS
65
CHAPTER VI.
MUTUAL HOPES
74
CHAPTER VII.
CHRISTMAS SURPRISES
84
CHAPTER VIII.
TWO GATHERINGS
95
CHAPTER IX.
HAPPENINGS
107
CHAPTER X.
BROADENING WAYS
139
634470
Contents.
CHAPTER XI.
PAGE.
INTO THE LIGHT
157
CHAPTER XII.
NEWS FROM ABROAD
177
CHAPTER XIII.
UNDER CURRENTS
199
CHAPTER XIV.
HOME PICTURES
212
CHAPTER XV.
DOWN BY THE SEA
237
CHAPTER XVI.
WALKING WITH GOD
258
CHAPTER XVII.
PARTING GLIMPSES
275
Olive farin
me

Comings mission
OLIVE LORING'S MISSION.
CHAPTER I.
FINDING THE WAY.

HE moon was slowly rising, a per-
fect sphere of light, from behind the
forest crowned semicircle of hills that
bounded three sides of the little village
of Lakeville; while the lake, giving name to the
village, nestled among green meadows on the
fourth side, and caught on its smooth surface the
silver lines of light, and tossed them back multi-
plied in beauty.
ད
ما
ما
Olive Loring's Mission.
Just out of the village, and a little to the right,
a huge, gray mass of rock lifted itself far above
the nearer landscape, affording, from its weather-
beaten top, a fine view of the village, with the
lake and meadow lands, and, farther on, the long
stretch of western hills, now lying in a haze of
gold and purple,-a royal fringe to the cloud –
curtains that had shaded the sun from view as he
sank to rest.
On one side of the rock, and a little below its
summit, a break in its surface afforded a natural
seat, where, at the close of the bright September
day of which I write, a young girl sat, gazing
listlessly out over the quiet landscape, her fair,
girlish face full of troubled thought. For a long
time she had occupied her present position, and
the nervous workings of her small fingers be-
trayed the depth of her feeling.
"If I only knew what is for the best.”
The words were spoken gently, and yet had
that in their tone which betrayed a will to accom-
Finding the Way.
77
the
plish whatever that young heart deemed a duty.
"I can tell you, if you are not capable of de-
ciding;" and the speaker, a youth a little older
than the girl, sprang lightly over the interven-
ing points of rock, and stationed himself at her
side.
"What, then?" The listlessness gave way to
an assumed gayety, and she lifted a beaming face
to meet his gaze.
ce
Why, just gather your shawl about you, and
take the homeward path; the fog is gathering
fast, and I'm selfish enough not to wish to have
you catch cold, when singing school is to com-
mence so soon."
""
-
The girl rose slowly, the fog was stretching it-
self along the margin of the lake, and, like a
silver ribbon, marking the meandering of the
brook through the green lowlands beyond.
"I didn't think it was so late," she began,
half apologetically; "I've been very busy, think-
ing".
>
8
Olive Loring's Mission.
"Of course, you have, Olive - branch," re-
joined her companion; adding, as they reached
the foot path leading away toward the vil-
lage," now make me your father confessor, and
let me know what all this wonderful thinking is
about."
"I've been trying to decide what is best for
ine to do."
"Do, Olive? Why, just stay at home and be
happy, as you have been, and I'll do all the
struggling with the world that we two need to
accomplish, and you must repay me with encour-
aging looks and smiles, and, still better, with
kind words."
Stay at home, and be happy, as I have been!"
There was a curve of scorn around the girl's
sweet mouth, and it sharpened the music of her
tones. "You don't know anything about it, Paul
Lyndon. Because I sing and laugh, you think
I'm always happy, and that looking forward to
being protected and upheld all my life is enough
Finding the Way.
9
to keep me so.
very desire sets
am I to get it?”
I must have an education; the
my heart in a glow; and how
« I'll do all I can to help you."
"Hush, Paul; you must not say that; the
fact that I am a woman is no reason why I need
be helpless, and I mean to prove it so."
"Woman's rights, eh?" Paul spoke a trifle
sneeringly. "I did hope you would n't get any
of these foolish notions into your little head. I
do n't admire strong - minded women.”
The girl drew a little to one side, and replied,
with added earnestness: "I don't aim at being
strong - minded, por has a thought of woman's
rights, as commonly talked about, entered my
mind; and I'm sorry you won't understand me.
I only mean, in some way, to accomplish my
purpose of getting a good education, and to do
this myself. Then look at Joe and John, to say
nothing of Bess and Emma; mother can give us
a home, but that is about all;
and I'm the old-
10
Olive Loring's Mission.
est, and it's my duty to do all that I can for the
rest.'
""
"Fudge, Olive; so you intend to immolate
yourself on the shrine of sisterly duty, do you?
Seems to me I hold a promise, that will allow me
to assert my right to say, no, to any such sacri-
fice."
"I have given you no promise, Paul, that will
keep me from doing what I feel to be a sacred
duty. But here we are at home; don't say any-
thing more, Paul;" and the light pressure of
her fingers on the young man's arm checked the
hasty words that had risen to his lips.
The light flashed out under the shading boughs
of the old apple trees that hung, richly laden,
over the porch of the open door leading
into the broad, low-ceiled kitchen of Olive Lor-
ing's home, and the murmur of cheerful voices
filled the evening air with a gladsome music.
Two boys, of perhaps fourteen and sixteen years,
were engaged with knife and saw, in fashioning
Finding the Way.
11
some pretty trifle for a fairy - like little maiden of
half a dozen summers; while another girl of
twice her years sat near them, now reading aloud,
now commenting upon their work.
A pleasant-faced, middle-aged woman was
busy with household duties, her loving gaze fall-
ing now and then upon the little group surround-
ing the table.
This was Olive Loring's home band, and the
farm-house, with its encircling acres, was their
sole inheritance from the kind husband and father,
over whose grave the autumn grass was growing
brown and crisp for the third time.
A pleasant and a comfortable home, made
doubly beautiful by the refined taste of its in-
mates and the bond of love that led them con-
stantly to acts of kindness toward one another,-
that was all; for the income of the farm was too
scanty to allow of aught save the most careful
counting and expending of each slowly gathered
dollar. And each coming year brought new
12
Olive Loring's Mission.
wants, with never the added means for their supply.
Olive herself craved, as we have already
learned, the benefit of a broader knowledge of
book lore; and not only did she desire this for
herself, but for the sake of her younger brothers
and sisters.
Many and various had been the plans which
she had arranged for the accomplishment of her
purpose, only to find in them some flaw that
rendered them vain. Life in a factory seemed too
utterly repugnant to her feelings to receive a
second consideration, and yet the idea did often
return? for was it not a sure way of supply-
ing some of the many wants that pressed so
heavily upon them? She even paid a visit to a
manufactory in a neighboring town, but the asso-
ciations with which she must be brought into
daily contact seemed too distasteful to be en
dured; and that plan was laid aside. Sewing,
school - teaching, house - service, were all duly
thought over, but not one of these seemed equal
3
13
Finding the Way.
to the demands to be supplied, and thoughts mul-
tiplied and grew urgent as difficulties reared them-
selves like mountain chains along her way.
Paul Lyndon, the son of a neighbor, although
holding her promise to become his wife at some
future day, yet failed of understanding all the
depths of her nature; and the girl, knowing as
much by intuition, rarely opened the inner cham-
bers of her most cherished longings, even for him
to enter. On this night, the tone of their con-
versation had so displeased him, that he lingered
only for a brief "good - night," ere returning to
his own home.
Olive went wearily in; such disagreements
tired her more than she could have told, and yet
her purpose was unwavering.
"Here comes the truant," exclaimed the older
lad, as she entered. "Mother got into quite a
fret about you; I told her not to worry, for I
saw Paul under full sail for old Grayrock, and I
fancied you'd be lifted bodily from your perch
14
Olive Loring's Mission.
up there, and piloted home in due course of time.
But why did n't Paul come in? I wanted to
get him to show me how to rig up that double -
geared water wheel and windmill I've been fix-
ing. I can't quite make it work."
What do you have so many wheels for?"
queried Olive, when, after telling him that Paul
had gone home, she gave her attention to the
complicated machine which the boy brought for-
ward for her inspection.
"To have it work better."
But there are so many of the same kind;
would n't one have answered,—one of each kind,
I mean, and saved so much double gear-
ing?
"Why, you see, it's to keep it going all the
time. If one breaks down, the rest will keep
doing something, and so there will be action all
the time; but I do wish Paul had come in; I
want to get it in running order down by the
brook, to-morrow."
Finding the Way.
15
·
rest.
"If one breaks down, the rest will keep doing
something," repeated Olive to herself, an hour
later, as she stood unbraiding her luxuriant hair,
preparatory to retiring to
"I wonder if
there is n't wisdom in that. I mean to try that
way; work wherever the way opens before me,
and keep doing something." Then, as on bended
knees she offered her nightly petition, she added
even more earnestly than her wont," Help me
to find the way, and give me strength to walk in
it."
Long after she laid her head upon her pillow,
her busy thoughts kept her from sleep, and the
moon crept up higher in the heavens, and filled
the little chamber with its holy light, falling like
a benediction on the sweet face of Evangeline
against the wall, and the no less sweet face of
Olive, as she rested amid the snowy drapery.
By and by, in the deep stillness of the midnight,
she fell asleep, firm in the quiet resolve to take
up cach duty as it came before her, and per-
16
Olive Loring's Mission.
form it faithfully, hoping for
better days.
Early the next morning, Olive's busy feet were
astir, and her equally active fingers had performed
many a household task. When the school hour
arrived, and Bessie and Emma were ready for a
start, Joe, who looked upon his oldest sister as a
miracle among girls, called after them with the
query,—" I say, girls, do you know what Olive is
most like?"
"She's the most like herself, darling sister that
she is," answered Bessie; while Emma, running
back for another good-bye kiss, added, "I
guess she is the most like the good angels, who,
Aunty Rogers says, keep little children from go-
ing into wrong ways."
୧୯
"I'll tell you something cuter than that," re-
turned Joe. She's a regular gump - wedge, and
I'll prove it."
"What a horrid boy!" Emma resented such
a title for her precious sister, and Bessie, always
ready to follow Emma's lead, echoed," You
Finding the Way.
17
horrid boy," and gave him a look which betrayed
no small amount of indignation.
Joe's laugh rang out merrily, and he answered
their burst of indignation with,-"Don't get on
too high-heeled shoes, little ladies; I am paying
Olive a compliment, or, at least, I meant to do
So. Don't you know that, when carpenters are at
work, and their boards do n't fit good together,
they fit in little pieces to make it all nice and
smooth, and they call these little bits, gump-.
wedges?
""
"No, I don't know anything about it; and if
I did,. I do n't see what that has to do with Olive,”
answered Emma.
ee
Why, don't you see, every little while, in
home matters, there are little corners and cracks
that need filling up and covering over by little
acts that make us all feel good in our hearts, and
kind words that make ugly thoughts fly away as
fast as a few drops of oil will the squeak in our
barn door hinges?"
18
Olive Loring's Mission.
Olive's laugh pealed merrily from the doorway,
and Joe turned, a glow gathering of his sun-
browned cheek, to meet her gleeful words:
"What a poetical comparison, Joe.
I fully ap-
preciate it; but you must n't hinder the girls any
longer; they'll be late at school."
"Joe's idea is n't a bad one," remarked Mrs.
Loring, as Olive re-entered the kitchen. "I have
thought many times, my daughter, that you had
a wonderful faculty of filling up little cracks of
difference that might grow into big quarrels if it
were not for you, with some loving act or other,
that has made many an unpromising day seem all
smooth at the end of it.'
Olive laid her soft cheek against her mother's,
and a little quiver of joy, so tender that it seemed
akin to sadness, stole into her voice, as she said:
"I don't deserve such praise, mother dearest;
but I'll try to."
A few minutes later, and her clear, rich tones
blended with the splash of the bucket and the
Finding the Way.
19
drip, drip, that echoed up from the moss-
ered walls of the old well.
COV-
"As face answereth to face," she murmured,
in the pause of her singing, a vision of her own
fair face rising with the ascending bucket. "So it
seems as though God's answers followed our
questionings. I really can't help taking all this
nonsense of Joe's and what mother said, as an
answer to some of my unspoken wonderings.
It seems now just as though I could see plain-
ly that my way lies among a continuous line of
trifling duties, and perhaps among them, I can
find some way to help the children and my self
toward the education I long for."
Olive's long continued thinking and re-think-
ing, planning and re-planning, had merged into
the habit of talking to herself; and Joe often
told her it was evident that she appreciated good
society. "Now," she continued, as she watched
the bucket sink again, "I wonder if I shall ever
again let the bucket of truth hang unused in the
20
Olive Loring's Mission.
well of God's mercies, as I've been doing, and my
weak little heart growing thirsty all the while
for a drink. It seems to me that everything to -
day is full of some lesson that I can take home
to myself."
She made a pretty picture as she stood there,
the golden brown hair rippling away from her
smooth, white forehead, her cheeks flushed with
health and earnest thought, the long, dark lashes
half veiling the "bonny wells" of eyes, now
fairly radiant with trust and peace. So thought
Paul Lyndon, as he came up the narrow path
and lifted the pail of water to bear it to the
house.

CHAPTER II.
AUNT HETTY.

EAR me, child! them's pretty, but
they won't bring much money."
Olive sat with several sheets of
Bristol board spread on the table be-
fore her, on which she was arranging, with ex-
quisite skill, wreaths and crosses of wood, moss-
es, blended with delicate immortelles, and the
tiniest sprays of dried grass and evergreen, tinted
with the richest shades of color.
"I hope they'll bring in a little, Aunty," re-
joined Olive, pleasantly.
"Well, mark my words," returned her com-
panion, "I'll be bound you'll hope in vain, and
22
Olive Loring's Mission.
L
lose all your time and work besides. You'd a
good deal better be binding shoes or braiding
hats."
Ce
Why, Aunt Hetty, you told me, yesterday,
a girl could n't earn the salt for her porridge,
braiding hats, nowadays."
"Well, bind shoes, then."
"I did apply to Mr. Davis for work, and he
said he had binders enough."
"There's Caldwell & Co., they put out lots of
work; did you go to them?"
"Yes, and Mr. Caldwell offered to turn off
Jane Palmer, whose health is so poor that they
have to wait longer than they like to for her to
get her work done; but I would n't have work
on such a condition, for, poor thing, she can't
earn anything any other way, and she is very
needy."
Ce
Humph! You'll have to learn to look out for
number one better than that, if you calculate to
.
·
do anything in this world; it won't do to be too
Aunt Hetty.
23
tender hearted, not while there is so much selfish-
ness in the world."
Olive turned round suddenly, a look of sur-
prise lighting her dark eyes and flushing her
cheeks, as she exclaimed,—
"Aunt Hetty, you do n't mean you would want
me to take work away from somebody who is
poorer than I am! I would n't do it for the
world; I don't believe money earned in that way
would do anybody much good."
Fudge, child! When you've lived as long
as I have, you'll get over such notions. I
allors told my girls, they must n't let anybody get
the start of them, and I do n't believe there are
many cuter girls for work than they are. When
Becky learned her trade, we happened accident-
ally to hear that Miss Stevens wanted an appren-
tice, and Becky she started right off, and she got
to Miss Stevens's just in the nick of time; she
had n't more than got the bargain made, when in
came that poor, miserable Spofford girl, the one
24
Olive Loring's Mission.
that lives at Capt. Payson's, and wanted the
place. Becky said she cried, she had set her
heart so on going there; but Miss Stevens did n't
want but one girl, and Becky had no idea of
giving up her chance, and I did n't blame her,
either."
"I think Becky ought to have given Mary
Spofford the place. Just think of it, Aunt Hetty.
Becky had a good home, and other ways of
earning money; besides, she had the means in
her hands that would take her to some other place
where she could have learned her trade, while
that poor girl most likely could n't go away from
town, and was anxious to do something better
than go out at doing housework."
"That was her lookout, not Becky's."
I do n't believe it was following. the Golden
Rule; and only think of it;-perhaps if Becky
had given up the chance to Mary, it might have
been the making of her. Somebody told me,
the other day, that all her circumstances werc so
Aunt Hetty.
25
discouraging, and there were so few to speak a
kind word and lend her a helping hand, that, after
this disappointment, which was the last of three
or four attempts to find employment, she seemed
to settle down in a sort of stupid despair; and I
should feel, if I was in Becky's place, that I had
helped make Mary Spofford what she is."
"I hope you are sassy enough, Olive Loring.
You know, as well as I do, that the Spoffords
are a lazy, shiftless, drunken set.”
"I never heard that Mary drank, and I can't
see why she is any more to blame for her father's
and brother's faults than you are for yours."
This shaft struck home, as Olive meant it
should; for Aunt Hetty's father was noted all
over the country for his underhand dealing, while
one of her brothers had served out his term in the
State Prison for forgery.
୧୯
'Olive, my daughter," in her mother's gentle
tones, fell like oil upon the troubled waters of her
excited feelings, and Olive turned to resume her
20
Olive Loring's Mission.
260
employment with flushed cheeks and compressed
lips.
As for Aunt Hetty, her mingled feelings had
the unusual effect of rendering her silent for
several minutes, and when she again spoke, it
was to detail at length some gossip just then
extant in the neighborhood.
Away down in Olive's heart a little quiver of
sorrow asserted that conscience did n't quite ap-
prove of this method of reproving Aunt Hetty,
and she wished her trying to stand up for what
she believed was right, did n't so often lead her
into a seeming forgetfulness of Christian cour-
tesy. By and by, the sound of the voices of her
mother and Aunt Hetty seemed to drift away into
the distance, and she sat in the pleasant land of
fancies in which she so often reveled, and turned
over plan after plan in her mind, by which she
hoped to aid poor Mary Spofford in taking a step
onward. It was n't the first time she had puzzled
over this very matter; but this morning's conver

Aunt Hettyy
Aunt Hetty.
2
27
sation had given her thoughts a new start, and she
almost forgot her own discouragements in trying
to help another.
That afternoon, when the work was all com-
pleted, and the old kitchen looked more inviting
than many a parlor, Olive started off in the
golden haze of the autumn sunlight, for a long
walk to the next village. Out of the public road
into a meadow path she took her way, her gaze
taking in all the beauty spread so lavishly
around,—here the blue fringes of the gentian
swayed amid the tufts of surrounding verdure,
looking like fragments of the azure arch bending
above,—there its companion, the closed gentian,
as fair, if less graceful,- yonder, in a warm
nook, the scarlet of the cardinal flower, like a bit
of oriental brightness, the verdure of pines and
hemlocks set in a frame - work of leaves fast
putting on the livery in which the year adorns
itself ere its reign closes,—the blue waters of the
lake, its tiny waves circling in the sunshine,--on
28
Olive Loring's Mission.
beyond, old Grayrock leading into a by-way of the
forest bordered by garlands of trailing evergreen,
dotted here and there with clusters of winter-
green berries and the now crimson leaves of the
blackberry vines. Into the stillness came the
sound of falling nuts and the light tread of many
a squirrel, gathering his winter's provisions.
{ Running water maketh the heart glad," quoted
Olive, as the purl and drip of a brook, dancing
amid sedgy fern and over moss - grown stones
and around the brown trunks of fallen trees, fell
upon her ear, and the birds that flitted hither and
thither seemed to prove the truth of the proverb,
for they were gladness personified.
With almost a feeling of regret, Olive left the
precincts of the forest for the open road that
stretched like a white ribbon up the slanting side
of a hill, past farm-houses nestling down amid
cultivated fields and gardens yet gay with the
year's last blossoms. Great patches of mowing
and grain land lay dun and faded amid squares
Aunt is ethy
Aunt Hetty.
29
and triangles, wherein myriads of golden pump-
kins nestled down amidst the corn stubble, and
tall sunflowers nodded to each other as if know-
ingly over beds of ruby - tinted beet leaves and
globes of cabbages.
Up over the hill and down its farther slope,
Olive wended her way, down the pleasant village
street, till she reached a house a little apart from
the rest, over the door way of which," Mrs. Lan-
caster, Dressmaker and Milliner," shone out con-
spicuously. With a beating heart Olive entered,
and, after waiting a little while for Mrs. Lan-
caster to be at leisure she proceeded to acquaint
that lady with her errand.
Her first query was, whether an apprentice
was desired in the shop; and upon an affirma-
tive answer being given, Mary Spofford's story
was told with such simple, straight forward earn-
estness and pathos, that Mrs. Lancaster was fain
to delay giving a direct answer for the sake of the
sweet pleader, and determined, deep down in her
30
Olive Loring's Mission.
heart, to prove a true friend to the poor girl in
whom Olive was so deeply interested.
So Olive went back in the purple twilight, and
electrified Mary Spofford by her unexpected tid-
ings, and at the same time made the sad - hearted
girl feel that she was really her sincere friend, by
the sympathetic way in which she offered to assist
her in any preparations she needed to make.
When she told her mother of her mission and
of its successful result, Mrs. Loring pressed her
daughter's bright face against her loving bosom,
and inwardly thanked God for her unselfish child,
while she said," My Olive, you have been
proving true what I told you the other morning,
about the propriety of Joe's new name for you;
here you 've been filling up a chasm in the life of
a woman, and we 'll hope, helping to make it
we'll
smoother and fuller of beauty and peace." And
it seemed to Olive that her own burdens were
lighter in that she had aided in lifting those which
another had to bear.
Aunt Hetty.
31
The week that Mary Spofford spent, by Mrs.
Loring's invitation, at the old farm - house,
seemed to her the very happiest of her whole life;
and the hope of being something besides a mere
drudge in the world, was set round with a garland ·
of the sweetest of fancies. Then she went to her
new home at Mrs. Lancaster's, looking upon Mrs.
Loring and her family, especially upon Olive, as
bordering on perfection.

CHAPTER III.
NEEDED AT HOME.

ROM an early hour in the morn-
ing Louisa Farwell had occupied a seat
in the lumbering old coach that was
bearing her home from the boarding
school where she was pursuing her education,
and, as the afternoon waned, she saw among clus-
tering elm boughs the spire of the church and the
white walls of her native village. A sweet,
warm-hearted girl, grown into womanhood in an
atmosphere of unflinching devotion to the plain
teachings of the gospel, joined with a love of
Needed at Home.
33
book-lore and a taste for subtle reasoning, she
had also received that practical training for home
service which renders so many New England
women strong to do and endure.
All the twenty-three years of her happy life
had crowned her as with a garland of constant de-
lights, and the summons that called her
away
from her studies had been the first rude shock that
had taught her that time might bring clouds to
shade the brightness on her sunny path. A.
Ꭺ
trouble, great and terrible to her sensitive heart,
had fallen on the home circle, and she was need-
ed to share the duties of the sorrowing band.
That long day's ride had seemed like the strange
fancies of a dream, from which she must surely
awake, and which, struggle as she might, she
could not realize was a journey fraught with
a double result, — that of reaching home, and
that of reaching also a point in this life when she
for the first time felt that grief might come to
her as a personal companion.
34
Olive Loring's Mission.
When the panting horses drew up at the little
white gate, which had never before at her return
lacked some one to open it wide to give her en-
trance with gladsome greetings, all was still, and
a seemingly nobody-at-home aspect brooded
over the place. Soon, however, the door opened,
and Mr. Farwell, bowed as Louisa never remem-
bered to have seen him, came down the narrow
path to meet her. A convulsive grasp of the
hand said more than words, and the father and
daughter went silently together into the grief-
stricken house.
Words of welcome were spoken in low tones,
and with more tears than smiles, and all the while
that moaning sound, mingled with mutterings and
now and then a pitiful scream of intense agony,
drifted down from an upper room and filled the
hearts of the listeners with indescribable grief.
In a darkened room on the lower floor, the sis-
ter, next in age to Louisa, lay a patient sufferer,
bowed to the dust by her new - learned lesson of
Needed at Home.
35
1
sorrow. A week previous, a younger sister, fair
in her girlish bloom, had fled from her home, in
a most unlooked for and unaccountable manner,
and had only been found, after two days' search,
to be brought back to her friends with reason de-
throned and brain wild with maniacal fancies.
An event so strange and unexpected had fallen
like a pall over the family, and the whole neigh-
borhood shared in their trouble.
Mrs. Farwell met her daughter with quivering
lips and eyes heavy with weeping, and as Lou-
isa's low, "Oh, mother! mother!" smote upon
her ear, she laid her weary head against her child's
shoulder, and exclaimed with accents of intense
emotion,— My daughter, the hand of the Lord
Ce
has been laid heavily upon us, and from Him
alone can come strength to endure this anguish.
"How is poor Julia?" Louisa's lips seemed
mechanically to form the question.
"No better. She moans and screams almost
all the time, and we have decided that she must
36
Olive Loring's Mission.
be carried to an asylum where all will be done
for her that the best skill can invent. They can
do better for her there than we can do, my child."
Mrs. Farwell's comforting words were spoken
·
as much to herself as to Louisa, for the mother's
heart stood sorely in need of comfort, and the
very idea of banishing her afflicted daughter to
the care of strangers seemed more than she could
endure.
"But what caused this? Had you once thought
of such a thing?"
"Never. She has not been quite as well as
usual, but nothing serious had been looked for."
"And Margaret?"
"She is very weak, but in no particular danger,
the doctors say; the shock completely over-
whelmed her; and you must try, dear, to be as
calm as possible. She has longed for your com-
ing, and I think your presence will do her much
good. Come and see her."
"Just one minute, mother dearest ;" and the
Needed at Home.
37
girl went swiftly up stairs, past the door whence
issued those piteous sounds, and into her own par-
ticular room, where, closing the door, she sank
on her knees and silently sent up a heart - felt
petition for strength to do her duty faithfully, and
not blindly yield to her sorrow; then she went
softly down and into Margaret's room.
The poor
girl lay with wide open eyes and throbbing brow,
to which long, sleepless days and nights of pain-
ful thinking had brought a weight of suffering
almost beyond endurance. There seemed balm
in Louisa's low breathed words, her soft kiss and
the touch of her cool fingers, and the first sleep
that for days had blest her, fell over the senses of
the sad, young sufferer.
Then she went to a still sadder scene; not a
look of recognition flashed from the wild eyes
that met her own, and the voice that called shrilly
some unintelligible sentence sounded little like the
sweet accents she was wont to hear from her
gentle young sister. "Like sweet bells jangled,"
38
Olive Loring's Mission.
all that was lovable and winning in the girl's
nature seemed to have suddenly grown full of
bitterness, and those she had best loved were now
the objects of her peculiar aversion.
Poor Louisa! How the burdens seemed to
multiply. The rest of the family were well-nigh
worn out with fatigue and excitement, and all
seemed to look upon her as a pillar on which
their weariness could find rest and comfort.
As soon as arrangements could be made, Mr.
Farwell and Louisa, accompanied by their kind
physician, carried Julia to the nearest asylum,
and then came sadly back to their home, now
lonely without the presence which had made so
much of their sunshine.
Margaret, still wearily languid, pressed her
pillow, seeming to have no strength to rally; and
then, just as they were hoping that she was
really improving, Mrs. Farwell herself sickened,
and a new anxiety filled their breasts. In regard
to Julia, their hopes were fluctuating; now the
Needed at Home.
39
tidings would come that she was better, and the
very next letter would dispel all the fond delu-
sions of her improvement, and bring a new in-
crease of fears.
Just as the new year dawned upon the earth,
poor Julia Farwell's lifeless form was brought
back to her home, cold in death, and when the
spring came, Margaret was laid beside her.
Louisa's character had wonderfully improved
and matured during those months of discipline,
and now, as her mother still continued in delicate
health, she was forced to bear the chief burden of
caring for the household. In her secret heart she
had planned a thorough course of study, and then
her aim had been to labor in some field where
teachers were needed, as a missionary of the
cross of Christ. Now, neither study nor mis-
sionary life seemed at all likely to be possible
for her.
A younger sister and two little brothers still
claimed her sympathy, but she sorely missed the
2
40
Olive Loring's Mission.
companionship of the sisters who had so fondly
loved and warmly joined in all her cherished
plans.
Such a tumult of emotion filled her mind, that
she sometimes almost felt like doubting if she was
truly a child of God. When she found her strug-
gles with these feelings too burdensome to be
borne alone, she went to her pastor, dear, white-
haired Mr. Leonard, in whose counsels she felt
sure of finding comfort. In the quiet of his
pleasant study, with the golden sunshine lighting
up the pictured faces of dear ones that looked
down from the walls, and the piles on piles of
books, falling on little gifts of affection from
members of his flock, and on his writing table,
whereon lay, surrounded by writing materials, his
well worn Bible, whence he drew the inspiration
that rendered his sermons so fruitful in good for
Christ's cause, in the midst of these surround-
ings, she told her hopes, there was no need she
should tell her causes of disappointment,
-
and
Needed at Home.
41
then, how she was tempted to doubt the wisdom
and goodness that were thus ordering her ways,
and to murmur against the trials that had come
to her.
"My child," said the good man in reply, "you
have indeed been afflicted, and did you ever,
when thinking about it, remember that, just as
surely as you sorrow, just so surely is the loving
Saviour grieved also? We know in whom we
have believed, and that
in all our afflictions He
is afflicted;' and while we have only our own
trials to endure, He has the griefs of all His
children to share, and yet He bears them willing-
ly, and with never a murmur.”
९९
Sometimes I try to remember all this," Louisa
said, "and then the selfishness of my heart makes
me rebel against giving up all these cherished
hopes, and grieve anew over the loneliness that
has come to me. I want to be good and patient,
and yet I find it so hard.”
"God tries us to prove us, my daughter; and
42
Olive Loring's Mission.
as the purest gold comes from the refiner's fire, so
the best characters spring from this hard disci-
pline. If it is God's will that you should serve
Him as a missionary, He will make the way plain
before you; but if not, He will give you duties
that, if rightly performed, will be as well pleas
ing in His sight as those which you covet.'
""
But I get so lonely, and the thought of the
happy hours spent with my sisters makes the pres-
ent doubly dreary, and when I feel like that, I am
afraid I am rebellious and lose my faith in God's
love and care.”
"Don't you know, Louisa, that it is not al-
ways best to stop and analyze one's feelings?
The temptation to do so may arise from the very
best of motives; but if carried to excess, it leads
us into wrong.
We are told to be as little chil-
dren; and a little child does n't stop to examine
the root and foundation of every emotion.
God's
love is as great as His pity, and both are bound-
less; He knows just how lonely you are, and just
needed at Home
Needed at Home.
43
how much you miss the sweet sympathy and affec-
tion of your sisters; and sorrow for their loss is
not a sin in His sight, unless that sorrow is al-
lowed to come between you and your love for
Him, and so gains control over you as to unfit
you for His service and your duties toward your
friends who still remain."
Louisa sat silent, and Mr. Leonard went on:
"I think the very fact that Jesus wept at the
grave of Lazarus, proves to us that it is no sin
for us to shed tears at the loss of friends; only
we must remember that, while life lasts, duties
will be given us to perform, and that inordinate
grief for the dead will unfit us for a proper per-
formance of these duties. Try, my child, to do
all you can for those around you; and when you
feel lonely and full of anguish, count your bless-
ings, and cling to the remembrance that God
knows best, and that He loves His children with
a most tender affection. God never gives us
more than we can endure, and He is always more
44
Olive Loring's Mission.
than willing to give us what strength we need,
we only ask Him."
if
"If I could only always know what is right,
and feel that God's ways are best, and, as Aunt
Lucy says, bear my cross patiently."
"Did you ever think, Louisa, how many ways.
there are in which people try to lighten their
crosses? I once saw a series of pictures illustra-
tive of this thought, in which a pilgrim who had
started bearing his cross, tried various ways to
make the burden less, and yet satisfy his con-
science that he was following Christ. Now he
dragged it after him; now he set it up and
looked upon it as an object worthy of his wor-
ship; anon he fainted and fell prostrate beneath
its weight; and so on and on, till at last he was
forced to see that comfort and a sense of duties
fulfilled, lay alone in humbly and meekly taking
the cross in Christ's own way, and following in
His footsteps."
"A cross-bearer in Christ's own way?" Lou-
Needed at Home.
45
isa said, half unconsciously; " and all along, I've
been trying to drag mine after me, and have real-
ly fainted many times beneath the burden."
As she pursued her way homeward, it seemed
to her that a new sense of God's nearness to His
children had been breathed into her heart, and she
felt strengthened for new duties.
Going home in the pleasant summer twilight
she overtook Olive
resting on her fair
Loring, a sweet wistfulness
face; and as the two joined
company, Olive said, "I came over to the vil-
lage to night hoping to meet you; I've found a
mission for you."
"A mission?" Louisa inquired in some sur-
prise.
Ce
Yes, a mission; you know you said the other
day that you had so hoped to be a missionary,
and now I've found something for you to do."
"Tell me, please, what you wish I should do."
"Do you remember that pretty little Scotch
girl who was so injured by being crushed in
46
Olive Loring's Mission.
the factory machinery last autumn, Jessie
Campbell?"
"Yes; but I've had so much to think of at
home, that I've never been to see her since the
accident. Is it something about her that you
want to tell me?"
१९
"Yes, the truth is this." The warm blood
sent its crimson waves to Olive's cheek, as she
hesitated a moment lest her story should seem
like self-laudation, then she went on :-" She
has quite a taste for drawing and painting, and
I've been trying to teach her what I know; but
I've come to the end of my limited knowledge,
and I thought that perhaps you might be glad to
instruct her still further."
"Most surely I will, and be glad of the oppor-
tunity. Are the Campbells very poor?'
Ce
They are quite comfortably situated, but
Jessie, who knows that all her comforts are gained
by the hard labor of her parents and older sister,
longs to do something to help herself. She will
Needed at Home.
i
47
never be able to walk again, but, as she gains
use her hands quite
strength, she finds she can
nicely, and has made several very pretty crosses
and wreaths of moss, which met with a ready
sale, and she hopes, in time, to accomplish some-
thing with her pencil and brush."
Olive did not state that all the materials for
these moss crosses and other daintily fashioned or-
naments had been furnished Jessie through her
kindness, nor that she had herself found a sale
for them, by supplying orders which had been
sent to her; for, contrary to Aunt Hetty's predic-
tions, she had found the means for answering
some of the family wants, by arranging these
simple but beautiful ornaments, and, by a little
energetic effort, had been able to dispose of them.
When Olive paused in her mention of what
Jessie could do, Louisa questioned: "Can't I
have two scholars as well as one? You have
helped me, by finding me something to do; let
me thank you by helping you in your drawing."
•
48
Olive Loring's Mission.
"Oh, thank you, thank you. I should be so
happy. I wanted to take a course of lessons
during this summer, but something happened so
that I could not.”
"You wouldn't be any happier to learn than
I shall be to teach, Olive. I need something to
do for others, so as to make me forget my own
sad feelings. I don't want to live a selfish life.
You ought to be very happy, for I never see you
but you are planning something that will do some-
body real good."
"All pure selfishness, Louisa; I want to be
loved by all around me, and the way to win love
is to"
Render yourself lovely, why don't you add?
Well, you do that in a most charming way. 1
would like to be a learner of you; and as a good
way for beginning, I will call for you to-morrow
night, and we'll go to Jessie Campbell's and ar-
range about the drawing lessons.”
Louisa went home with a lighter step than
Needed at Home.
49
when she started, and down in her heart she
thanked God, not only for good Mr. Leonard's
holy teachings, but for the influence that had come
to her from catching a portion of the spirit of
pure self- forgetfulness, which seemed the ruling
motive of Olive Loring's daily life.
There were many girls in Lakeville more bril-
liant than Olive, but none who won a greater share
of love than she did. And the girl herself had
striven earnestly to bear in mind that her mission
might lie among little things, and had found,
holding this as her belief, that she had less time
and less desire for day - dreaming; but was form-
ing, instead, a habit of patient research that
would be a blessing through all subsequent life.
Numberless were the pretty fancies that she
wrought into graceful realities, and for which,
through the influence of a friend in the nearest
city, she found a ready sale.
}

CHAPTER IV.
PATIENCE AND PERSEVERANCE.

LOW, wood-colored farm - house,
just on the outskirts of the village,
was the home of the Campbells, a
quiet, gospel - loving Scotch family,
with the national warm-heartedness of their
Highland ancestors, and a fervent love for the
beautiful in nature and art, let it come in what
shape it might.
A series of misfortunes at home had com-
pelled them to seek a new abode on this side the
water, and when, after a few years of hard strug-
gling, the farm they now possessed was offered
for sale, Mr. Campbell felt himself blessed beyond
his hopes, in the offer made by a kind neighbor,
Patience and Perseverance.
51
to lend him the requisite means for purchasing,
the sum to be repaid in small yearly installments.
Of their large family, Mr. and Mrs. Campbell
had buried all but three,-Donald, the eldest son,
-who was the one left of a brotherhood of five,
and who was straining every nerve to fit himself
for the ministry, to which calling his parents had
all along hoped he would devote himself, and
Effie and Jessie, blue-eyed, golden - haired las-
sies, with the sturdy perseverance of the father
so happily blended with the mother's gentle
patience and ready faculty for making a little go
a good way.
The desire to help in Donald's education, and
also to bear a little share of the labor needful in
order to free their home from debt, had sent the
two girls into a factory, when an accident had
nearly blotted out Jessie's sweet life, and left her
a cripple for the remainder of her days.
As re-
turning strength brought back the old ambition
to the sorely tried little heart, she had gladly
52
Olive Loring's Mission.
turned for sympathy and guidance to Olive, who
had spent many hours by the suffering girl's
bedside. How she had employed her busy fin-
gers, Olive has already informed us in her con-
versation with Louisa, and she was eagerly laying
plans in which she should be a help instead of a
burden to those whom she so much loved.
It seemed to be a part of Olive's mission to
inspire others with courage, and Effie in her
grief for her sister, and Jessie in her suffering,
looked upon her as their embodied good angel.
On the evening agreed upon, Louisa and Olive
came together into the little room where Jessie's
days were now passed, and when the new arrange-
ments for giving her instruction were unfolded,
the happy tears that filled her blue eyes were
eloquent with thanks. The little table, drawn
up beside her easy chair, was strewn with ma-
terials for drawing and painting, while a sheet of
paper, which she had hastily thrust aside as her
visitors entered, bore evidence that the little
Patience and Perseverance.
53
maiden's bright fancies were finding form in
words as well as in pictures.
Her pale face crimsoned as Olive's glance fell
on the half-hidden paper, and the
"More poetry, Jessie darling?" did
lessen the rosy glow.
"Only a little to keep me busy.
question,-
not tend to
Mother was
obliged to leave me alone, and my heart got so
full of thoughts that I had to write them out.
It is n't worth reading, Miss Olive," she con-
tinued, as Olive playfully reached her hand for
the
paper. "I was thinking of a song which father
sings sometimes, and that led me to write this."
A little pleading, and the precious scrap was
given up, and Olive was about reading its con-
tents, when Louisa suggested that Jessie should
sing them the song first, so that they might the
better understand the ideas embodied in the poem.
Jessie's clear voice was a fitting frame in the
which to enclose the words of the simple Scotch
song, in which the absent Highlander breathes
O
54
Olive Loring's Mission.
out his longings for his native mountains, ending
with the refrain,-"Oh, the Hie'lands! the
Hie❜lands! Oh, gin I was there."
Jessie had taken, as the heading of her poem,
what he imagines his mother's heart is again and
again repeating,-"Come awa' hame, Donald,—
lea' us na mair;" it showed how firmly fixed in
Jessie's memory was her country's dialect, and
Olive's reading did the homely lines full justice.
"Come awa' hame, Donald;-tis weary I'm grown,
The hours hae been mony sin ye left me here alone;
Nine times the heather's purple has flecked the hills wi'
bloom,
Nine times the could o' winter has chilled me wi' its
gloom.
"Ye hae' been lang awa', but I ken ye'll nae forget
How your mither waits your comin' before her sun sha'
set;
Ye could na' thus hae' staid had ye ken'd how sad and sair
Grows a mither's heart, while fearin' her bairn wad come
na' mair.
"Ye've nae forgot the Hie'lands, in that land ayont the sea,
Nor the wee bit cote adoun the vale beneath the braid
auld tree;
{
!
Patience and Perseverance.
Nor the ingle where thy sire, a-wearied frae the field,
55
Finds rest and such glad peacefu'ness as hame alone can
yield.
'The daisies lift their faces frae out yon garden bed,
And the birdies in their nests are warblin' owrehead,
And the cry my heart is sendin' has aye this burden sair,-
Come awa' to your hame, Donald, and lea' us na mair.
"Your father's nae sae bonnie, an' my locks are growin' grey,
We're far alang the pathway that wi' end in heaven some
day;
O' our bairns, except yoursel', we hae said, 'The Lord does
weal;'
For each has gang before us to the 'Land o' the Leal.'
"On the stane by the doorway, when twilight shadows fa',
I sit an' wait your comin' down the path beside the wa';
And the sang I used to sing, I aftentimes repeat,
As when, a bairnie on my breast, I was rockin' ye to
sleep.
"There's a voice borne on the breeze, as it floats adoun the
glen,
A voice sae like your ain, I think ye're come again,
And the wish ye aft must feel seems whisperin' through the
air,
'Oh, the Hie❜lands! the Hie'lands! Oh, gin I was there."
"O Donald! dear bairn Donald! up yonder meadow slope,
Some wayfarer is nearin', Oh, wad that I might hope
เ
Q
56
Olive Loring's Mission.
It was thysel' returning, now even amaist here,
'Twad be the bonniest sicht I've met for mony a year.
"My heart grows still wi' watchin', for the way across the
moor
Brings the laddie ever nearer, an' he seems to seek our
door-
O Donald! Donald! 'tis thysel', thy ain dear sel' at last,
Ance more among the Hie'lands, thy days o' absence past.”
"You must let me have this to dispose of, Jes-
sie," pleaded Olive, when they had expressed
their thanks for the pleasure she had allowed
them. "I have a Scotch friend who is connected
with a periodical in the city, and I think he will
gladly give your lines a welcome.”
"They are not worthy, dear Olive; no pub
lisher would accept them."
"Just let me have them, and we'll see what
will be done.”
A little more pleading, and Jessie yielded a
reluctant consent to Olive's wish, and then the
three girls gave themselves up to the pleasures of
the drawing lesson.
Patience and Perseverance..
57
"Gude day to ye, lassies," said a pleasant
voice from the door- way, and Mrs. Campbell, her
sweet, motherly face aglow with welcome, came
forward to greet Olive and Louisa.
"Jessie is growing literary, Mrs. Campbell,
judging from this," said Olive, after the greet-
ings were spoken. "I discover something new
every time I see her. She's a constant study."
"She's her father's ain bairn; if ye ken him
weel, ye 'll see the truth o' this. He has aye the
most loving e'en for all bonnie sichts and sounds.
There's ne'er a stane nor a posy
somethin' to praise in it; and
after his ain heart."
but he finds
Jessie is a bairn
The mother's gaze fell lovingly on her sweet-
faced daughter, and Jessie's eyes were brimming
over with tears of happiness, for she was as
shrinking and delicately sensitive in her feelings
as one of her country's bluebells, and words of
praise from her mother had a world of sweet-
ness.
心
​58
Olive Loring's Mission.
As the girls went home, Louisa felt more com-
forted than she had ever done since her great
trouble came upon her, while Olive's loving
heart and active brain were busy over a new plan
for benefiting others. When near Mrs. Loring's,
Paul met them, and took Olive away for an even-
ing drive.
Day by day, as the young man watched the
simple, untiring earnestness that marked the daily
life of his betrothed, and grew into a dearer
knowledge of her rare unselfishness, he acknowl-
edged to himself the treasure he had won, and
tried no longer to thwart any of her plans for
helping the family. And this evening, as they
drove on in the dusk of twilight, there was a glad
tremor in his voice as he said, clasping the little
hand that accomplished so much: "I am so glad
to have you all to myself a little while, Olive.
What with work, and studies, and hunting up all
the forlornities you can find to comfort, I stand a
poor chance of seeing much of you."
Patience and Perseverance.
59
"I'm as glad to be with you as you are to have
me; Ive been wishing for a ride all day," was
the response; and then their conversation drifted
into that sweet, confidential oneness that only
happy young hearts fully understand.
Just on
the curve of the forest road, they overtook a
little boy carrying a large bundle of shoes ready
for the binder's hands, and, with a whisper, Olive
begged that he might be allowed to ride, since
she recognized him as a child from the next vil-
lage. Paul, with a grimace that told plainly
his dislike toward this arrangement, gave con-
sent, and the tired little fellow was taken into
the carriage.
"Are you Miss Olive Loring?" he asked ab-
ruptly, as the horse again started, lifting a pair of
dark eyes to the girl's face.
"Yes; and you are Johnny Bently."
"Yes, marm; do you know me?" a look of
evident delight dimpling his round, freckled face.
"Old Grandma Lawson told my mother the other
A
60
Olive Loring's Mission.
day, that you was a blessing to the whole neigh
borhood, and that you had done more good in
this last year than both ministers.
won't I crow over the boys to
-
morrow,
Cracky!
when I
tell them I had a ride with you to- night?"
Olive's first feeling of embarrassment found
vent in a sudden explosion of laughter at the
boy's cause for triumph, while Paul joined in her
merriment, with the rejoinder: "I am wonder-
fully honored by your society, madam; have n't
you a compliment equal to that for me, my
boy?"
The boy looked puzzled an instant, and then
answered,-"I do n't know you, sir; but you
ought to be good to have Miss Olive care to ride
with you."
"There it comes again; I can't get a word of
praise only as it comes through praising you. I
sha'n't make use of any baited hook for any more
compliments, be sure of that.'
"
"There's iny home," interrupted Johnnie, "and
Patience and Perseverance.
61
there's my mother looking out for me; guess she
thinks I played by the way; but I did n't; the
work was n't ready, so I had to wait. Halloo,
mother! here I am, all right; and this is Miss
Olive Loring; was n't it jolly for her to want to
have me ride?"
Olive leaned forward at this quaint introduc-
tion, and Mrs. Bently came to the side of the
carriage to answer Olive's pleasant words of
greeting, and thank the young couple for their
kindness to her boy.
She was a woman of middle age, a pale, little,
sad - faced creature, her brown hair thickly
sprinkled with silver, and lines of care marking
deeply her thoughtful brow. As she took the
bundle of work Paul handed her, Olive thought
the look of weariness deepened, and to the ques-
tion,-"So you bind shoes?" came the sadly
spoken answer," Yes; I wish I could find some-
thing better to do; but work is n't very plenty,
and I'm glad to do anything. My husband
62
Olive Loring's Mission.
!
has n't done a stroke of work since two years
come next week, and it comes heavy on my
shoulders, and I do anything I can find to do."
"Is your husband sick?" asked Olive.
"Yes, miss; he's bedridden with the rheuma-
tism, but he's the patientest soul you ever did see.
Won't you come in and see him? 't would do him
a sight o' good to see you; we've all heard of
you."
As a matter of course, Olive assented, and
while they were alighting, Johnnie capered about
like a young colt, and finally disappeared into the
house to announce their visitors."
The room was barely furnished with the com-
monest articles needed, but scrupulously clean
and orderly, and the distorted figure that rested
on the low couch was anything but repulsive,
when one marked the patient sweetness that
lighted the sunken eyes and played around the
pale lips.
This is my poor man, Miss Olive; and John,
Patience and Perseverance.
63
this is Miss Loring, from Lakeville; and the gen-
tleman is Mr. Lyndon. They brought Johnnie
home, and have come in to see you."
"I am glad to see you." The man spoke with
difficulty, as the muscles of his face were affected
by the disease.
"I'm happy to see bright, young
faces; they give me fair pictures to think over
when I lie here alone."
So pleasant a welcome could not fail of placing
them at their ease, and taking the proffered
chairs, they passed an hour in most agreeable con-
versation. Mr. Bently had been a shoemaker,
and had supported his family in humble comfort,
when, having taken a severe cold while over
heated, the result was the severe illness which
left him in his present state.
Of their three children, Johnnie was the old-
est, and Mrs. Bentley had to strain every nerve
to find for the household even the barest comforts.
All this and more was told in a quiet, uncom-
plaining manner, which rendered the story all the
64
Olive Loring's Mission.
more touching; and the evident trust in a loving
Father's care was a marked feature in both the
husband and wife. As Paul and Olive rode away,
it was with an earnest desire in some way to make
the circumstances of this worthy family more
comfortable and their hearts fuller of gladness.

CHAPTER V.
HELPING WORDS.

ARY Spofford had come to spend
a few days with Olive, and the two
girls were out under the big apple
tree in a corner of the orchard, busily
engaged in sewing, and at the same time enjoying
one of those pleasantly confidential chats which
girls so much delight in. A great change had
come over Mary during her stay with the genial
Mrs. Lancaster; her laugh rippled out as merrily
as Olive's own, and face and form had rounded
into womanly beauty and grace.
"There have been some wild girls in the shop,
during the hurrying season," Mary was saying,
。
66
Olive Loring's Mission.
" and I don't think Mrs. Lancaster understood
how foolishly they talked and acted. I have
tried to study some since I have been there, every
little chance I could get, and I liked to sit and
think about what I was trying to learn, and I
think they tried, when they found I would not
join them, to disturb me all they could; and,
Olive, what do you think I took for my helping
words?'
"I don't know, I'm sure, what did you?"
"Do you remember what you used to sing so
much, the week I spent here, before I went to
Mrs. Lancaster's?"
"No; I sing so many things that I can't im-
agine what you refer to."
"It was the last verse of a hymn, and I took a
great liking to it; and you sang it so many times
that, somehow, it seemed to be linked with you
and my thoughts of you."
"What was it?
"It was this:
Helping Words.
67
'Dear Shepherd, if I stray,
My wandering feet restore,
And guard me with thy watchful eye
And let me rove no more."
I remember it now;
and did I ever tell you
why I liked it so well?"
"No, I think not."
"It was sung the day I united with the church;
and somehow is so connected with the peaceful
joy of that day, that I have always loved it."
"Well, the way I used to keep myself from
minding the girls, or joining in their talk was
this: I used to sing low to myself, over and
over again, just this one verse, till they at last
told me, if I was n't a girl of one idea, I was at
least confined to one tune. No other verse ever
seemed to do half as well."
୧୯ Olive will love that one verse better than
ever for that, won't you, Olive?" queried Emma,
who, with Bessie, had just returned from school.
Certainly I shall," was the reply.
Emma went on: "I mean to find a verse and
68
Olive Loring's Mission.
call it my
helping words;' then, when some
naughty feeling comes and tempts me to get cross,
or selfish, or lazy, I'll sing it over, and it will help
me to be good.
""
"And I'll have one, too," said Bessie. "I
guess I know what Miss Raymond's favorite
hymn is," said Emma; "she asks us almost
every day at school to sing, 'Living by Faith,'
and we all like it ever so much."
"Can you repeat it?" asked Mary.
Emma flung herself down in the pleasant
shade, and repeated in sweet, clear tones :-
"If on a quiet sea,
Toward heaven we calmly sail,
With grateful hearts, O God, to thee,
We'll own the favoring gale."
But should the surges rise,
And rest delay to come,
Blest be the sorrow, kind the storm,
Which drives us nearer home.
Soon shall our doubts and fears
All yield to thy control;
Thy tender mercies shall illume
The midnight of the soul.
Helping Words.
69
Teach us, in every state,
To make thy will our own,
And, when the joys of sense depart,
To live by faith alone."
"That is truly beautiful," said Mary; and Olive
added, — “ I have always liked that very much;
lately, however, my greatest favorite has been the
one commencing,-
'Father, whate'er of earthly bliss
Thy sovereign will denies,'
especially the second verse,-
'Give me a calm, a thankful heart,
From every murmur free;
The blessings of thy grace impart,
And make me live to thec,'
It seems to me, that, next to the Bible, some of
these hymns are just the sweetest comforters in
the world, and full of strength, too."
CC
I think so; I believe we never half realize
how beautiful they are.
""
"Olive does," interrupted Emma. "There's
a little old hymn - book in the house, that Olive
used to have when she was a little girl, and I do
really believe that more than half the leaves are
70
Olive Loring's Mission.
turned down; mother says she used to tell Olive
she should n't suppose turning the leaves down
did any good, for there were so many, she
thought they would be a puzzle instead of a
help."
Olive laughed, as she answered,—"I well
remember; I used to find new beauties every
day, and I wanted to mark them; but at last I
was convinced that mother was right, for there
were too many marks to have them of much
benefit; however, I think that poor, little, mis-
used hymn-book gave me a taste for hymns that I
hope I shall never lose."
Mrs. Loring now joined the group, and, catch-
ing from the few words she heard an idea of the
subject under discussion, she asked, "Do you
ever connect particular hymns with particular
persons? I have in my mind now one that always
reminds me of some circumstances which occur-
red in a town where I was spending a few weeks
when I was a girl. I went one evening with
Helping Words.
71
some friends to attend a meeting held in a school -
house in a neighboring town, and the services
were conducted by a young minister who had
been but a few weeks settled over a church near
by. They had sung several hymns, and just at
the close of the meeting, he gave out one, and
commenced it, perhaps the tune was a new
one to the people present, at any rate they did
not join him, and he sang it through all alone.”
"Can you say it, mother?" asked Bessie.
"Yes, dear; it is what Joe calls my sunset
hymn':
Softly now the light of day
Fades upon our sight away;
Free from care, from labor free,
Lord, we would commune with thee.
Soon for us the light of day
Shall forever fade away;
Then from sin and sorrow free,
Take us, Lord, to dwell with thee.'
The light of day' was just fading softly away,
and there was something in the saintly face of the
young minister, the sweet tune, and the still
sweeter words, that impressed me very strongly,
72
Olive Loring's Mission.
and for two or three days I was constantly hum-
mning the lines over. In a little over a week I
heard the minister was sick, then that he was
dead. I believe that was the last Sunday evening
prayer meeting he ever attended. His memory
seems closely connected with the hymn, and so it
is in many instances.”
"That's a pleasant idea, Mrs. Loring, to make
hymns doubly dear, not only for themselves, but
because they, in this way, become hooks whereon
one can hang pleasant memories of friends and
scenes beloved.”
This atmosphere of pure home life was fast
bringing out all the undeveloped beauty of Mary
Spofford's nature, and happy and contented as
she was at Mrs. Lancaster's, she yet found at the
Loring's such a vital under - current of steady
resolve to make life a mission of good to others,
as to influence her still more powerfully to strive
to attain to the high standard she saw them
aiming for. Through her, as she occasionally
Helping Words.
73
went to her own home, the good seed was being
sown in the hearts of her family, and more than
one neighbor had remarked on the visible im-
provement the last year had brought about.
That one of their household was really rising in
the world, and winning both respect and affection,
seemed to touch a long covered pride in the
parents' hearts, and they manifested their desire
to prove themselves worthy of their daughter's
better station by occasionally appearing at church,
where, as they were kindly welcomed by a few
loving souls, who were not above following
in their Master's steps and striving to win even
the most degraded, they came again and again.
Thus the leaven of Olive's kindness to Mary
was silently working out what might lead to a
great amount of good. So true is it that, when
one quiet, loving soul fully determines to find its
best service, God is always ready to help such a
worker and bless the work.
Q

CHAPTER VI.
MUTUAL HOPES.

HE long vacation Donald Campbell
spent at home, and the drawing lessons
often went on in his presence; and still
oftener pencils and brushes were laid
aside, and the three girls gave themselves up to
the luxury of listening to some of the finest po-
etical productions our language affords, rendered
doubly beautiful by their pleasant setting of rich,
clear tones. The patient, active little worker,
Effie, came home for a needed rest, and the hum-
ble little home was indeed a sunny spot to nestle
in.
Louisa Farwell had allowed herself as little
Mutual Hopes.
75
leisure for sad repining as possible, and not only
found comfort in her efforts to make others happy,
but was rewarded by the oft repeated assurance
of her parents, that she was their greatest earthly
blessing. The younger children found the atmos-
phere of their saddened home gradually growing
brighter, and thus learned of the trusting sweet-
ness that comes alone from a fervent faith in
God.
Mrs. Farwell's health grew firmer as the days*
wore on, and once again Louisa allowed the olden
hope to creep back into her heart, that she might
yet be allowed to work for her Master in some
part of the world as a missionary.
Donald Campbell grew much interested in his
sister's kind friends, especially in Louisa; and
when, in the course of conversation, he learned
what were her settled desires, he felt a thrill of
more than usual pleasure at their oneness with
his own.
As their acquaintanceship progressed, he found
76
Olive Loring's Mission.
more to admire, and he could not but wish that,
if his hope of becoming a laborer in some foreign
field should be realized, that labor might be
shared by just such an earnest woman as Louisa.
Obliged as he was to help himself, he had con-
cluded to pass the coming winter in teaching, and
it was with the utmost delight that he announced
to Jessie that he had been offered, and had ac-
cepted, the position of teacher in the grammar
school at Lakeville; the two lower schools were
at the same time proffered to Louisa and Olive,
and, late in November, the three earnest, young
souls entered upon their duties.
Jessie, in her arm - chair, if deprived of doing
her share of active work, kept her fingers busy,
while Effie, tired of the factory that had so nearly
cost the life of her darling sister, had found a
situation as children's nurse in a family living in
a neighboring town.
Just after Olive commenced teaching, she called
one afternoon at her minister's, and found all the
Mutual Hopes.
77
family absent excepting the good man himself,
who was ever ready to enter fully into all the joys
and griefs of his flock. He had watched Olive's
Christian course with deep interest, and often ex-
pressed to his wife the wish that others among
the lambs in the great Shepherd's fold would
strive as earnestly and faithfully to make life a
mission of good, and thus show their devotion to
God.
During her afternoon's call, in speaking of the
great good which some were allowed to accom-
plish, she said: "I get discouraged about ever
doing much in the world; I somehow have so
many little duties, that I can't find time to under-
take anything that would amount to much.
Sometimes I feel unhappy about it; then I try
to comfort myself with the thought that God
knows how much I would like to do more for
Him, and He sees, too, how little time I have."
Mr. Leonard bent his fatherly gaze full upon
the sweet, humble face before him, and said:
A
78
Olive Loring's Mission.
Ce
My daughter, that is just the right view of the
matter; the most useful lives are made up of the
proper fulfillment of little tasks, that the great
Master in His wisdom and goodness appoints. I
have often rejoiced at the happy way in which you
are treading in your Saviour's steps."
The tears welled up into Olive's eyes at her
pastor's words of commendation, and there was
a happy tremor in her voice, as she answered:
९९
I really do want to do some good in the world;
and I've found this last year that the more busy
I am the happier I am. I used to keep in a
worry because I could n't do everything I wanted
to; and now I really think I try hard to be con-
tented with things as they are.
""
"Contentment, with godliness, you must al-
ways remember, crowns the humblest life with
blessings. I have thought several times lately
I would tell you of two little incidents that I
have rejoiced over, viewing them as I did as
blessed fruits of the Spirit.
Mutual Hopes.
79
"I went over to Farmer Peters's the other day,
and he was full of gratitude to you; he could
hardly find words to express himself."
Olive looked up astonished, as she answered:
"I'm sure I can't think of any good I have done
him; I never spoke to him a dozen times in my
life."
"Nevertheless he looks upon you as one of his
greatest benefactors. He said he had always
been anxious that Benjamin, his youngest son,
should have an education, and was willing to do
all he could for him; but somehow the boy, al-
though a quick scholar, did not seem to have as
much ambition as the father wished, and was con-
tenting himself with gaining knowledge without
any definite purpose, or using what he gained in
any practical way. Two years ago, the farmer
says, Benjamin came home one day and told him
that he had engaged to teach a school during the
winter; and when Mr. Peters made some in-
quiries of his son, he found that the boy, - he
80
Olive Loring's Mission.
was not much more than a boy,
had been talk-
ing with you, and that you had encouraged him
to teach, repeating to him, in the course of the
conversation, a remark you had heard his teacher
make, that he was better fitted to engage in
teaching than were many who taught. The earn-
est purpose that, under God, your encouraging
words roused into action, has never seemed to
flag, and the young man is now steadily pursuing
his studies with the settled hope and determina-
tion of becoming a physician."
"I'm glad, truly glad for both Mr. Peters
and Benjamin; but I really don't think I deserve
so much praise; all this might have happened
without my having said a word."
"Mr. Peters thinks otherwise, and indeed, my
child, I incline to the belief that it was a part of
your mission to rouse that young soul to action.
God works by means, and we never know when
we hold out a helping hand, speak a cheering
word, or give a sympathizing look, whether that
Mutual Hopes.
81
word, or look, or deed, may not be the starting
point for some great good that shall bless man-
kind richly, and bear fruit for eternity."
"O sir, how carefully we ought to live, then,
if we take this view of hittle things."
"Yes, Olive, carefully, as remembering that
God, in these same little things, is permitting us
to work for Him. There is one thing more I
want to tell you; perhaps Louisa has herself said
the same, but it will do no harm for me to repeat
it. She came to me during the past summer,
mournful and full of doubts as to the rightfulness
of her calling herself a child of God, when she
felt so crushed, and lonely, and disappointed un-
der her trials, her losses by death, and the almost
impossibility that seemed to write itself above her
most cherished hopes. I remember thinking that
a life of activity like yours would help her sooner
than the studious one which she craved, for find-
ing plenty to do is one of God's best medicines
for curing griefs. She spoke the other day of
82
Olive Loring's Mission.
how beneficial your influence over her had been,
- how you had led her away from yielding to a
sorrow that was unfitting her for life, with its
many blessings still spared to her, and how, both
by word and example, you had shown her the
comfort that may be found and the good that may
be accomplished through the thousand and one
little ways we often so selfishly overlook. You
have now a new field opened in which to labor,—
your school, — and I pray God to bless you in
your work.”
Olive's heart sang praises all the way home,
that she had been thus blessed in her humble ef-
forts for others' good; and more earnestly than
ever did she determine to walk with open eyes,
that she might not fail to see whenever duty beck-
oned the way.
With Donald and Louisa, this winter's teach-
ing they felt was but a preparation for a broader
field. To Olive it seemed such a widening of
her sphere that she often felt unworthy the honor.
Mutual Hopes.
83
Paul had fully made up his mind to the life of
a farmer; so Olive felt that her station would
never be widely different from that which she
now occupied, with its round of homely duties.
Encouraged by the perfect sympathy of Paul,
she more than ever merited the name by which
Joe still persisted in calling her; and as the boy
used often to say, the more chasms and rough
places she found, the more delicately and loving-
ly would she endeavor to fill up the one and
smooth out the other.

CHAPTER VII.
CHRISTMAS SURPRISES.

HE winter had sped on as if winged
with gladness, and at Christmas time
there was never a more loving band of
pupils than those who called each of our
three friends by the pleasant title of teacher.
Pleasant Christmas exercises were inaugurated
by the two religious societies of the place, and as
Donald, Louisa and Olive were all kindly re-
membered by their friends, they were not pre-
pared for the surprises which awaited them on
entering their respective school-rooms on Christ-
mas morning. Busy fingers had been at work
long before the school - hour, and the rooms were
Christmas Surprises.
85
festooned and adorned with wreaths, crosses and
mottoes, while on each desk was laid a beautiful
gift from their respective pupils to the teacher oc-
cupying that particular room, in each case con-
sisting of a choice selection of books; and just
while they were in the midst of the thanksgiving
and thanks-receiving, a note was handed Olive,
inviting her and her fellow - teachers, with their
schools, to a merry making on that evening at
Farmer Peters's.
School was dismissed at noon, and then Paul
and Olive, with Donald and Louisa, started for a
drive to the next village, and a call on the Bent-
leys. They had a pleasant surprise in store for
these worthy people.
With unwearied effort the two girls had col-
lected enough to purchase a sewing machine,
which they were now to present to Mrs. Bentley
as a Christmas gift from sympathizing friends.
Besides, Olive had obtained a promise from a
tailor in the neighboring town, that Mrs. Bent-
2
86
Olive Loring's Mission.
ley should have all the sewing from his establish-
ment that she could accomplish.
The afternoon sun sent its slanting rays across
the snow-covered fields, and the young hearts
beat a happy accompaniment to the jingling of
the bells, ringing out their wild merriment through
the still air. It was a royal day of winter, and
their spirits were attuned to its beauty; while
the Christmas song in which their voices united.
was a fitting exponent for such depth of gladness
and peace.
Mrs. Bentley's sad face lighted up with a smile
as she greeted her visitors; but it was a smile set
in tears, tears of such deep gladness as she
when her beauti-
had not shed for many a year,
-
ful gift was brought in, and the pleasant words
were said that accompanied the unlooked for
blessing.
May God bless you all," she exclaimed; "and
He will bless you, of that I am certain; such
kindness will never go unrewarded.”
Christmas Surprises.
87
"It was Olive's idea," whispered Louisa.
"But you did as much toward accomplishing
the result as I did," interposed Olive. "I sha'n't
permit you to give more credit to me than I de-
serve; any way, dear Mrs. Bentley, I believe I
have got as much pleasure out of the plan as any-
body. I've had so many pleasant things said to
me about the matter, that I've felt as though I
was stringing a chain of golden memories that
will be sweet to count over all my life."
"I don't believe you'll ever have any others,"
said Mr. Bentley, striving in vain to wipe away
the tears that would come, with his poor distorted
hands. "You've brought more sunshine into
this house than any other mortal since the first
time your sweet face looked brightly in upon us;.
and I'm half inclined to believe what Aunt
Debby Hayward said the other day, — that God
does now and then let an angel come upon earth
just to give us an idea of what sort of compan-
ionship we shall be blessed with in heaven."
*
88
Olive Loring's Mission.
"O Mr. Bentley, please do n't talk so;" in her
humility Olive shrank from so much praise. "I
have n't done anything that deserves so much
commendation; I've only done as I would wish
to be done by; besides, these other friends were
as anxious about this as I was.
""
Paul, eager to change the conversation that he
could not fail to see was embarrassing to Olive,
here interposed with the question, —" Are you
fond of singing?
Ce
""
९९
"Yes, indeed!" came from both Mr. Bentley
and his wife; and Paul went on: "We have been
learning some new Christmas songs, and will sing
them if it will give you any pleasure.'
4
33
Their well trained voices filled the homely little
room with a wonderful sweetness, and long after
the adieus had been said, and the grateful family
were once more alone, it seemed to the sufferer
on his couch, and the grateful woman at her labor,
that never singing sounded one half so melodi-
ously before, and never were burdens so tenderly
Christmas Surprises.
89
shared as were theirs.
Gratitude and kindness
lent a charm to the homeliest acts.
Back again to Lakeville, to call on Jessie, and
gladden her beauty - loving little heart by the
gift of a well - executed photograph of the four
friends, and then home to make ready for the
gathering at Farmer Peters's.
Just as the great, round moon came up over
the snow-crested forest trees, the speeding of
gay young hearts towards the huge old farm-house,
told how universally the invitation had been ac-
cepted, and the warm welcome that met each ar-
rival, made all feel as though the broad rooms
had literally opened wide spread arms to receive
them.
Benjamin was at home, his manly face and
form elate with a new spirit of earnestness, and
he
gave himself up so entirely to the gayety of the
occasion, with a boyish abandon that fitted in
charmingly with his later learned dignity, that
father's gaze followed him with love and pride.
90
Olive Loring's Mission.
From the long, wide kitchen, with its stretch
of rafters, and floor white as Mother Peters's
hands could make it, its tall corner clock, its
high-backed settle, its quaint, straight chairs, its
thousand and one appointments of utility and
comfort, to the more pretentious parlor, and all
the other apartments, less beautiful than comfort-
able, the happy party moved at will; and songs,
and laughter, and loving words crept into each
crack and crevice.
Farmer Peters took the opportunity to thank
Olive for her good influence over his son, and
bade her go on speaking cheering and guiding
words whenever opportunity offered. Songs were
sung, one of Jessie's simple poems read, and just
when all hearts seemed moved to the tenderest
depth of feeling, Donald Campbell, at a whis-
pered word from the happy host, offered a brief
prayer; and after enjoying Mrs. Peters's bounti-
ful entertainment, the happy company separated,
the farm - house lights went out one by one, and
Christmas Surprises.
91
+3
peace brooded over the souls that had filled this
evening with pleasure for so many young hearts.
"Well, well, little Gump - wedge," was Joe's
first exclamation, as the young Lorings gathered
around their own fireside for a little quiet talk.
over of the day's pleasures. "You've done
something worth while now. Whoever would have
thought of such a time as this at Mr. Peters's
would have been laughed at, as half crazy, and
t'other half foolish. Why, I've heard the old
man called cross and mean ever since I can re-
member, and the fellows all say that you 've
tamed him."
"For shame, Joe," answered his sister; " accept
of a man's hospitality, and then talk about him
like this; I don't believe he ever was a cross
man."
"I'll bet you," returned Joe, winking and nod-
ding in a wonderfully knowing manner, "I'll
bet you, you don't know anything about it; why
I've seen him just as cross,
as crosS as two
92
Olive Loring's Mission.
sticks ;" and Joe looked as though he considered
his comparison a capital one.
"I never saw any sticks that acted very cross,
commented Einma.
"I've felt them cross, if you never saw them,”
put in John, shrugging his shoulders expressive-
ly. "You better believe I thought there was
some crossness about a stick when old Bedford
gave me such a licking last winter, just because I
happened to be late at recess two days in succes-
sion. My was n't that cross as two sticks?”
!
"Certainly, John; one cross stick of a master,
and the other a stick of birch, or apple tree, which
was it, John?”
"It don't make much difference, I guess;
either is bad enough.”
"You know by experience?" Olive loved her
brothers dearly; but she well new they were often
in disgrace at school for their yielding to various
temptations for fun - making.
"If we admit that, you'll have to own that
Christmas Surprises.
93
what I've said about the old farmer is correct,"
retorted Joe. "I never thought he could speak
pleasant to a boy till to - night, and I do honestly
believe you have in some manner bewitched him.”
"Nonsense! naughty boys; I sha'n't” — but
Olive's words were broken into by Joe, who
threw himself into a mock declamatory attitude
and repeated,
"Our witches are no longer old,
And wrinkled beldams, Satan - sold,
But young and gay and laughing creatures,
With the heart's sunshine in their features.'
That's you, most honored madam," and with
another grand flourish, he started for his bed.
There was really a good deal of truth in what
the boys had said in regard to the old farmer; he
had been disappointed in relation to the course he
wished his children to pursue, and when, after
being ready to give up in despair as regards Ben-
jamin also, he had found his hopes so seemingly
on a fair way to be realized, that he not only felt
94
Olive Loring's Mission.
his heart go out in gratitude toward Olive, who
had been moved of God to speak the arousing
words, but he saw all the young life around him
in a new and better light, and felt himself in a
certain sense responsible for a part in the influ-
ences that were molding their characters. Life
was already beginning to have new meanings to
him.
•

CHAPTER VIII.
TWO GATHERINGS.

EXT day after Christmas, the
Sewing Circle met at Aunt Hetty
Fay's. The big bandbox, with its curi-
osity shop of strange comminglings,
arrived early in the forenoon, and Aunt Hetty,
assisted by Becky, the only daughter at home, had
been busy in putting "things to rights," as they
expressed it, while attending to more important
matters in parlor and kitchen. Such a queer set
of bundles, such ill-assorted needles, and pin-
cushion's devoid of both pins or beauty; thread
in every conceivable condition, from smoothly
wound spools to snarls, requiring, as Aunt Hetty
96
Olive Loring's Mission.
Ce
said, a heap o 'patience to pick out ;" buttons
without cards and cards devoid of buttons; stock-
ings in every stage of completion; and piles of
patchwork waiting some favorable time to merge
into a bed-quilt.
99
"Just a piece o' them Robbins's shiftlessness,'
fretted Aunt Hetty. "I should be ashamed to
let the box leave my hands in such a state; but
la, now, they mean to get along the easiest way ;
they do hate to pin down their bones to hard
work."
"There, everything is in good order now," said
Becky; " and I do hope they won't get the box
in such a muss again. I don't believe anybody
else gives it such a clearing up as we do; see
here, I've got more 'n a pound of rags.'
Soon after the early dinner, one after another
arrived, till some twenty ladies were variously
grouped around, busy in different ways. Later
in the afternoon, Louisa and Olive, with some of
the older school girls joined the company, which
Two Gatherings.
97
was further increased by the coming of the gen
tlemen in the evening.
Various were the fragments of conversation
one could catch from different directions. Here
butter - making was fluently discussed, with all
the pros and cons of the use of carrots as a col-
oring substance; yonder the price of wood; in
that corner, hop - raising, in this one, dress - cut-
ting; and when the heads were the closest bent
together, as though joined in loving unity of
thought, you might be pretty certain somebody's
frailties of word or deed were being anything but
leniently handled.
"Alas for the rarity
Of Christian charity
Under the sun."
In one corner of the parlor, a pleasant group,
consisting of Mr. and Mrs. Leonard, Mrs. Lor-
ing, Louisa, Olive, Paul, Donald, and some half
dozen kindred spirits, were exchanging words,
that, spoken, left no unpleasant sting behind,
98
Olive Loring's Mission.
and equally honored both speaker and listener.
As Aunt Hetty approached them, Olive looked
up with the words, uttered in her low, gentle
tones :
"I spent the day with old Aunt Hannah John-
son last Saturday. The dear old lady is feeling
dreadfully about having to give up her home.
The lease has expired and she can't renew it, and
she is afraid that she shall have to go to the Alms-
house; don't you think, Aunty, something can
be done for her? She does so hate to go."
"She'll be as well off there as anywhere," re-
turned Aunt Hetty, coldly. "She's always fuss-
ing about something; for my part, I think charity
begins at home, and I don't see my way clear to
take her upon my hands to support, when it is the
town's duty to do it.”
And she's your own mother's sister! Olive
spoke involuntarily, as though thinking aloud,
while Aunt Hetty, with seemingly a new colony
of wrinkles settling down on her frosty cheek
Two Gatherings.
99
=
moved on to whisper in the ear of a sister gossip,
at the first opportunity,
"I wonder what Olive Loring thinks she is,
a setting herself up to tell me what my duty is!
Poor as the Lorings are, 'tis a mighty fine idea
for her to be putting on airs in this way. I ain't
to blame if old Hannah is my aunt; and, further-
more, I sha'n't lift my fingers to keep her from
-
the Poor house; that's the proper place for the
old fuss."
But if these kindly words of our Olive fell into
stony ground when they reached Mrs. Fay's
heart, they found a better soil and took root in
the kindlier breast of George Humphrey, a young
carpenter who bore a distant relationship to the
poor old lady under discussion. Once and again
he had given of his earnings,
he was poor and
alone in the world, to aid this still poorer and
more alone friend; and now, as Olive's words fell
upon his ear, a strong determination to keep his
aged relative from the fate she so much dreaded
t
100
Olive Loring's Mission.
took possession of his soul; and as soon as pos-
sible he sought an opportunity to make known
his resolve to Olive, and seek her advice in put-
ting his plans into execution.
"I know just the place for her," there was
a gladsome ring in Olive's clear voice; "I've
been racking my brains to find some way for pay-
ing the small amount of board required, but did
not dare undertake the responsibility myself.
Mrs. Barker, that old lady who lives all alone,
just beyond the blacksmith's shop, would be glad
of her company, but she does n't feel as though
she could afford to give any one board entirely, as
she does n't need help, only company; and, as it
is, she has to plan every way to make her small
amount of money supply her wants. She would
board Aunt Hannah for less than any one else
would, and I think they'll be real happy to-
gether."
Here was another wrinkle in a sad life smoothed
over and made fair by just a little womanly ten-
Two Gatherings.
101
derness and Christian sympathy; and the reflux
of warmth that welled back upon Olive's heart
sent a glow to her cheek and a light to her eye,
that added much to her loveliness. As she re-
sumed her seat near her pastor, after her interview
with Mr. Humphrey, Mr. Leonard remarked:
We are striving to perfect one of your plans,
Olive. Do you remember proposing, sometime
ago, that we have a gathering of the various poor
old ladies in the region around?”.
"Yes sir, that's been one of my pet ideas for
a long time."
"Well, I've been talking it over with your
good mother and my wife. Several other ladies
approve of it, and your mother offers her rooms
for the occasion; New Year's Day seems a favor-
able time, and I propose that you and Paul send
the invitations."
Olive gave eager assent, and so the plan was
matured. Aunt Hetty of course voted against
such proceedings; it "would only serve to make
1
102
Olive Loring's Mission.
the miserable creatures discontented, and thus do
more harm than good," so she declared, and a
few seconded her remarks.
९९
Suppose you were poor and alone; would n't
you like a little pleasure, Aunty ?"
Olive might as well have talked to the wood -
pile at the door; perhaps even with more reason ;
for there was substance to the hope that from
this last there would in time be thrown out a
genial warmth; but from Aunt Hetty no one
would ever get much warmth either for soul or
body.
"No wonder you never did get ahead much in
the world, Sister Loring; you do n't know how
to calculate. I tell Mr. Fay it's lucky for him
that I ain't so soft - hearted as you are, and as he
would be if I did n't put my foot down; so I
hold the purse strings myself."
"You must remember what a precious bank we
lay up our treasures in when we give them to the
poor, Mrs. Fay," remarked Mr. Leonard;
and
Two Gatherings.
103
then, besides, we may all need help some day."
But some of Olive's plans are so useless;
they are just spending time and means where
they don't do a dollar's worth of good."
They do a heart - full of good, if they do n't
a dollar's worth," interposed Louisa; "and as for
our Olive, neither she nor her plans are useless;
not by any means; why, she's the most useful
little body I know."
little
"That's so," exclaimed Joe. "She's a regular
; " but his sister's hand came plump
over his mouth, and her pleading look warned
him into silence.
In spite of all that Aunt Hetty and her adher-
ents could advance, the arrangements were com-
pleted for the New Year's party, which, for the
next few days, was the great thing talked of.
As though Heaven smiled on the plan, the
morning dawned bright and warm for the season,
and early in the forenoon the invited guests were
welcomed within the hospitable home of the Lor-
104
Olive Loring's Mission.
ings. Eighteen in all, including seven from the
Alms house, two of the number blind, and
-
three unable to walk only as they were aided by
others, yet all showing in look and word that
it was no small pleasure that the day was bringing
to them. A most bountiful repast had been pro-
vided, through the kindness of those interested
in the matter, and when, after enjoying both this
and the interchange of rejoicings and condolences,
Olive and Louisa, with Paul, Donald, and sev-
eral others joined in singing all the old tunes
asked for, and Mr. Leonard, with a few kind
words to each, most tenderly and appropriately
thanked God for the day's pleasures and blessings,
the satisfaction of the company seemed complete.
Aunt Hannah Johnson was gladdened by the
tidings of the new plans for her comfort, and
when the time for their departure came, good
Farmer Peters made his appearance with a fine
barrel of his best apples, that he requested should
be divided among the old ladies.
Two Gatherings.
105
Well, if this has n't been a jolly go of a day,"
was Joe's rather irreverent remark, as the last
one of their guests was carried from the door.
""Twas better 'n any exhibition I ever went to,
to hear old Mrs. Sykes and Aunt Sublime Ridic-
ulous talk."
"Whom do you mean?”
No one could refrain from smiling, either at
Joe's queer transformation of names, or Bessie's
round-eyed wonder.
Why that one with a yaller ribbin on her cap.”
Aunt Submit Riddles," explained Olive to
Bessie, who rejoined, "You're a naughty boy,
Joe; that sounds just like making fun of them,
and that is n't right.”
"Never you fear, little sister; I won't make a
mite of fun of them; I'll respect them all—
like like well, like peanuts and molasses
candy; will that do, Bessie? What I was going
to say was, Mrs. Sykes said to this Aunt Sub-
lime;
excuse me, Aunt Submit, Lar sakes!
3
106
Olive Loring's Mission.
how young you dew look, with that yaller ribbin
on your cap; are you trying to set your cap for
a beau?' Then they laughed and went on, for
all the world, just as I suppose girls talk about
beaux, and dress," - making a bow to his sister
and her friends," and all in such a queer way.
""
"A good deal you know about it,” returned
Emma. "I don't believe Olive and Louisa spena
their time talking about beaux."
"Oh, they're none - suches," Joe answered, re-
treating toward the door. "Besides, Olive do n't
need to make any efforts to catch a beau, he's
already hooked; and as for Louisa, appearances
speak louder than words,' I heard Mrs. Sykes
say this afternoon, so I guess she's safe enough;"
and the merry boy closed the door amid a burst
of laughter.

CHAPTER IX.
HAPPENINGS.
ESSIE'S little poem found a
welcome at the hands of the publisher
to whom Olive forwarded
forwarded it, and
again and again little waifs of hers
drifted out into the great world, if not to find
many admirers, at least to make a few friends.
One day when Olive went to see her, she found
the busy little cripple flushed and eager with un-
wonted excitement, and to Olive's queries, she
replied by showing her a newspaper notice, in
which a noted publishing firm offered a premium
for the best Sabbath school book, on a specified
C

108
Olive Loring's Mission.
subject.
"I want to try for it, Olive," Jessie
went on; "but I'm afraid; and I don't know
whether to undertake it or not."
Ce
Why afraid, my darling?" Olive's bright,
encouraging smile was a strengthener of itself.
"There will so many try who are so much
wiser than I am."
"May be not so much wiser as you suppose. I
fancy the wisdom of the soul is what is needed in
the book, as much as brain wisdom, and you've
been learning daily lessons of that best of all
knowledge, the love and comforting presence of
God. There is nothing for you to fear. The
help of God will be better than anything else,
and that I know you 'll have."
I've thought and thought about it, and
prayed over it for several days, and it has really
seemed to me as though after every prayer I had
felt the desire stronger than ever to take up my
pen. Do you suppose that is God's way of an-
swering my petitions?"
Happenings.
109
I fully believe so, and I would try, by all
means.
Perhaps God has hedged up your path
in one way, that you might the more plainly see
duties you might have otherwise overlooked."
Jessie was half lying in her great easy-chair,
her eyes fixed on the bright face she so much ad-
mired, seemingly gaining a fund of gladsomeness
that would creep down into her heart as a
strengthening memory, not only from the words
but the very looks of her friend.
Olive con-
tinued:
"I verily believe, Jessie, that evil may be to
us 'good - a- making,' as some one has expressed
it, if we only take all our trials as a part of God's
discipline for our best good. You know how sad
Fannie Nelson felt when the great trial of her
life came upon her. At first she could n't see
any light on the sudden darkening of all her
hopes, but she has now come to feel that it was
all for the best."
·
"Poor Fannie; how I pity her."
.
110
Olive Loring's Mission.
"I do not think she really feels the need of
pity now; she believes that her prayers for guid-
ance have been answered in God's best way, and
though at first overwhelmed, she now sees plainly
that it was all right. Just so, perhaps, you will
yet be led to see that what at first seemed a com-
plete blighting of all your hopes, may yet be the
means, in God's hands, of crowning your days with
a richer garland of benefits conferred on others
through the medium of your pen. So try for the
prize, by all means; I feel certain you'll accom-
plish some good, if nothing more."
"What a strength - giving comforter you are,
Olive! You make me think of what I read this
morning. Some one expressed a wish that he
might benefit his friends in this way: I wish to
be to my friends spiritually, what the west wind
is to us physically, reviving, comforting, and
strength - imparting;' and that is just what you
´are."
"I believe you and Louisa have joined hands
Happenings.
111
1
to spoil me.
I don't deserve a tithe of the praise
upon me. I only wish I did."
you bestow upon me.
Donald brought me
a new song yesterday;
one of his friends sent the piece of music to me."
"What is it?"
"It is called My Ain Countree,' and is very,
very beautiful. One verse in particular I like
very much; it is this:
He's faithfu' that has promised,
He'll surely come again,
He'll keep his tryst wi' me,
At what hour I dinna' ken;
For he gathers in his bosom
Witless, worthless lambs like me,
And carries them himsel'
To his ain countree.'”
"That is beautiful; read the whole of it, if you
please.
""
Jessie's voice was a fit setting for the trusting
words of the poem, and as Olive took her way
homeward, she found herself more than once re-
peating:
112
Olive Loring's Mission.
"God gie his grace to ilk ane
Wha listens noo to me,
That we a' may gang at last
To our ain countree."
As the days wore on towards spring she be-
came more and more interested in a little girl,
staying at her grandparents for the winter, and a
pupil in Olive's department of the school. The
child, Maggie Bernard, was the youngest of a
large family, of whom all, but herself and an older
sister, had fallen victims to that scourge of New
England, consumption.
When Agnes, the third daughter, on whose
cheek the deceptive crimson heralded death, grew
weary amid her life's pleasant round of duties and
pleasures, the parents' hearts sank heavy within
their bosoms; and, determining to leave no means
untried for her restoration to health, they took
the fading flower to the far South, hoping the
warmer climate might bring back bloom and
strength, leaving Maggie with her paternal grand-
Happenings.
113
parents.
The little girl was a gentle, loving
child, with what might be fitly termed a natural
spirituality of thought and feeling, which had nev-
er, however, been understood or encouraged at
home.
Mr. and Mrs. Bernard were worldly people,
and not even the repeated strokes that had bereft
them of promising sons and lovely daughters had
been able to lead them to the fountain of all
peace and comfort. Overwhelmed with the most
intense grief when the stroke came, they but
clung the closer to the treasures left them, and
strove, by surrounding themselves with the ap-
pliances of wealth, to drown the remembrance of
their perished hopes, now but as a dream of the
past. To them, their treasures were indeed lost,
not gone before, and their shuddering acceptance
of what they could not help, was but a blind
yielding to fate.
Every encouraging word that truth would al-
low, was spoken to Agnes; but instead of leading
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Olive Loring's Mission.
her young spirit to find its needed rest in the
arms of everlasting love, they used every effort to
keep her thoughts from herself, by constantly pre-
senting every object of interest that love could
devise.
Little Maggie was, at once, upon her introduc-
tion into the Lakeville school, attracted by the
winning gentleness of Olive's face and manner,
and her own loving ways won for her a like nest-
ling place in the heart of her teacher. When
Olive's words of prayer became the ladder by
which the hearts of her pupils traveled heaven-
ward, little Maggie laid her head down on her
clasped hands, and felt that she was in a new at-
mosphere. The child had never heard a prayer
before, save at church or at funerals; even the
child's prayer of all Christendom,-" Now I lay
me down to sleep,"-had never been taught her ;
and this evidently loving communion with a kind
Father in heaven was something she did not un-
derstand.
Happenings.
115
The first night, as she curled down on
a low
seat beside her grandmother, she sat for a long
time silent, till Mrs. Bernard laid her trembling
hand on her little granddaughter's head with the
question: "What is the matter, my darling; are
you getting lonely, with only grandpa and
me?"
CC
'Oh, no, dear Grandma ;" the child's very
tones attested the truthfulness of her words. "I
love dearly to be here with you. I was only
thinking about the teacher, and how different she
is from any other teacher that I ever saw. She
prayed better than any minister, and it seemed
just as if she liked to. I wish I could learn to say
a prayer; seems to me, 't would make me feel a
good deal happier; when I get tired and cross
sometimes, I wonder if praying would n't help
me."
Mrs. Bernard sent up a swift but silent petition
to the throne of grace, for wisdom to guide this
little inquirer aright. Maggie had never visited
116
Olive Loring's Mission.
her grandparents before, only when accompanied
by her parents or some other member of the fam-
ily; and having arrived only the day previous to
the commencement of school, with her father, who
left that morning for his own home, the old lady
had had no opportunity of learning of the spirit-
ual training to which her little grandchild had
been subjected, and the utter want of any in-
struction on the subject sent a pang to her pious
heart. Too well she remembered how, in the
days of Maggie's father's childhood, all her en-
deavors to give the boy religious instruction had
been frustrated by her husband, who declared
that no child of his should be fettered by the
shackles of superstition, but have free liberty to
choose its own notions of right and wrong. Her
husband, the companion of so many years, the
sharer of her joys and woes, was an avowed free-
thinker, and now, in this little child's ignorance of
holy things, she could see the influence handed
down from father to child.
Happenings.
117
Taking the little one in her arms, she asked
gently," Didn't your mother ever teach you
the Lord's prayer?"
"No, Grandma; and I don't believe she ever
prays. I don't think her mother ever taught her.
Do you pray, Grandma?"
९९
I try to, my darling."
"And will you teach me?
"Yes, indeed, my precious one."
"The teacher looked so happy, and somehow I
felt, when she asked God to bless us, and make
us good all day, just as though He really would,
and I guess that was what made it so easy to be
good."
Mrs. Bernard kissed the sweet, upturned face,
and Maggie went on :
"I shall love that teacher dearly, I know 1
shall; and I do wish, mother could hear her pray
once, when she gets to crying so, because we 've
got so many graves in the cemetery, and because
Agnes is so sick, and perhaps she won't get well."
7
118
Olive Loring's Mission.
"Well, my darling, we'll pray for them all,
all the dear absent ones, and perhaps God will
hear our prayer, and teach them to pray, too."
And perhaps Miss Olive will pray for them,
too; do n't you believe she will?"
"Yes, dear, I don't doubt but she will."
"Can I ask her? I'll tell her how sick Agnes
is, and how father and mother feel so badly about
her, and hat they do n't know how to pray to
Jesus. and how you and I are going to pray for
the:n, and want to have her pray, too."
Mrs. Bernard knelt with the deeply interested
child, and when her words of petition were fin-
ished, Maggie herself put her own fervent desires
into loving words, and laid her tired little frame
away to rest for the night with a new sense of
God's protection.
The next night she lingered after the school
closed, and when Olive, noticing her wistful little
face, questioned her, the impulsive child threw
her arms about her teacher's neck, and said,-
Happenings.
119
Ce
You do me so much good when you pray,
that I want to ask you to pray for dear Agnes,
who is sick, and papa and mamma, who feel so
badly about her."
Olive drew the little girl into her lap, and in-
quired who Agnes was; and the answer she re-
ceived was so full of pathos that her own eyes
filled with tears.
(c
Agnes is my sister,-all the sister I've got,
and we have lots of graves in the cemetery, and
she's so sick that I'm afraid she 'll die, too;
and I think papa and mamma are afraid, for they
are going to take her down South to stay all win-
ter, as the doctor says perhaps the warm weather
will help her. I don't believe she knows any-
thing about Jesus, for He never was talked about
at our house. Grandma loves Him, and I want
to love Him, and we are going to pray for my
folks, and I wanted to ask if you would n't pray,
too; will you, teacher?
""
"Most certainly, my dear little girl; and we'll
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Olive Loring's Mission.
believe that God will hear and answer us, for He
is always ready to answer prayer.”
୧୯
Agnes is so very lovely, and I love her so
dearly, it does seem as though I could n't live.
without her. I shall ask Him to make her get
well; but, more than all, I do want she should
learn to love Him.
You appear so happy when
you pray to Him, that it seems as though to
know about Jesus would be the best thing I
could ask for her; do n't you think so?"
"Yes, darling; to know Jesus is to go to the
fountain head of all true wisdom and happiness;
and whether your sister gets well or not, if she
loves Jesus, she will not fail of being happy.'
"And
ten."
""
papa and mamma must not be forgot-
"No, indeed; we won't forget them."
Ce
Grandma says Jesus wants to have little chil-
dren like me love Him, I want to, I'm sure;
and it seems very strange that everybody don't just
as soon as they hear about Him, He loves us so.
""
Happenings.
121
"So I often think, Maggie.
If any earthly
friend should do one half as much for us as He
-
has done, we should be ready to give our whole
hearts up in earnest affection toward them; but
Jesus, and His goodness and love are oftentimes
seemingly forgotten."
Maggie held up her sweet mouth for a kiss, and
then, with a happy 'Good night, dear teacher,'
she bounded away. Here was a new field for
Olive to labor in, and again and again as the
weeks wore on, did the little seeker linger by her
teacher's side for words of encouragement and
counsel. To Olive there came such a sense of
responsibility as sometimes to be almost over-
whelming, and only at the fountain of all blessed-
ness could she drink and find strength for her
duties.
With the early spring a trial laid its burdening
weight upon her. Paul was going away, to be
absent a year, at the shortest; it might be two
years; and constant as had been their companion-
122
Olive Loring's Mission.
ship, it seemed that her very life would be rent
in twain by such a separation.
An accidental acquaintanceship with an in-
valid gentleman from New York, led to the re-
quest from the latter, that Paul should accompa-
ny him to Europe as companion, for his state of
health forbade his going alone. The offer was an
advantageous one, and Olive was really anxious
that Paul should avail himself of the benefit of
it; but at the same time her loving heart shrank
from the protracted separation.
Truly, the days seemed winged that preceded
his departure; and when she had sent him away
with a cluster of the first arbutus blooms, as her
parting token, she felt as if maimed in heart. As
she afterwards said, it must have been that God
saw how near she came to being selfishly de-
spairing, and gave her a sure antidote; for just
when the burden rested heaviest, little Maggie
Bernard made her appearance with a still drearier
weight, and Olive in a measure forgot her own
Happenings.
123
grief in trying to comfort Maggie. The child
brought with her a letter just received from her
parents, penned evidently with many tears, for
the paper was blistered, and the words written as
with a trembling hand. It read as follows:
"Dear little Maggie :-
She
"We are coming home. Agnes grows weaker
and weaker, and the doctors say there is no hope.
longs to get home, and talks constantly of you. Papa will
come for you as soon as we reach home. Perhaps seeing you
may comfort Agues a little; she feels so sure of her fate, and
yet so desires to live, that it is agony to see her. This world
grows darker and darker; households are only gathered togeth-
er to be rudely separated by the hand of death, and sometimes
I question what the good of living at all is, only that we
must.
"Your letters seem to be all the gleam of brightness that
shines across our way. Agnes finds her only pleasure in
hearing them read. A few days more, little daughter, and
we shall hope to see you. Good-bye, till we meet.
"YOUR BROKEN-HEARTED MOTHER.”
A few more lines were added by Mr. Bernard,
both parents apparently forgetting the extreme
youth of their child, and writing to her as to a
person of mature years. A something not under-
stood by them had given a comforting strength to
124
Olive Loring's Mission.
Maggie's letters, which they received from noth-
ing else.
Once, Mr. Bernard would have frowned over
Maggie's constant allusion to Jesus and his love
and protection for those who seek his presence
and companionship by prayer;
but now, as
though satisfied that his child had found a source
of strength and comfort in which he was want-
ing, he, scarcely understanding why, looked for-
ward to the receipt of her letters with as much
eagerness as did his wife and Agnes."
To-day Maggie seemed crushed in hope, and
Olive held the little quivering form silently
against her heart for a little while, without at-
tempting to speak words of consolation, till the
fiercest waves of her grief had surged themselves
away, and then she whispered:
"Just think, Maggie; I believe God meant
you should find a little bit of comfort in even
this sad letter. Your mother writes that your
letters are the only gleams of light they have,
Happenings.
125
and that Agnes longs to see you.
God is sending her home so that
Now perhaps
you may be a
little teacher for Him, and lead her to Him, not
only through the telling of all His goodness, but
also by showing how even a little girl can love
and serve Him. Have you thought of all this,
my darling?
""
"No, Miss Olive. I have been feeling so
badly, that I do n't believe I thought of trying
to find any comfort; and now it do n't seem as
though I could do any good. I shall be so sor-
rowful thinking about Agnes, and then you won't
be with me to tell me what is right, and I'm
only a weak little girl, and at home there won't
be anybody to talk about Jesus, and if I find
things in the Bible I want to have Agnes read,
I sha'n't know how to explain them; " and Maggie
broke down in a fit of convulsive weeping.
Olive's hand moved lightly back and forth over
the heated and throbbing temples, as she asked:
Ce
Is not my little girl forgetting that God
126
Olive Loring's Mission.
never gives us any work to do for Him, but He
gives us also all needed wisdom?”
Maggie looked into the loving face bent over
her, and Olive continued:
"If God has appointed this work for you, He
will find a way for you to accomplish it. He is
always more ready to help us than we are to
have help; and I feel certain, my dear little girl,
that He will give you no hard task to perform."
The cross resting on Maggie's shoulders seem-
ed lifted by the hand of divine compassion so as
to be a little less burdensome, as she went to-
wards home; and Olive, folding to her heart the
truth that there were others whose burdens were
greater than hers, returned to her home duties
with an unspoken but earnest desire for a closer
walk with God and a constant realization of his
help. When the twilight hour came, that time
of all the day when she most missed Paul, she
went over across the dun meadows to see Jessie
Campbell. The gladsome greeting of, "O
Happenings.
127
כ,
Olive, you are just the one I most wished to see ;
I have something so surprising and yet so pleas-
ant to tell you," at once convinced her of her
wisdom in not having yielded to her first impulse
to sit down alone and dream of past hours.
"What is it, Jessie? Anything that can make
you look so happy ought to be particularly
pleasant."
"Don't you remember my telling you of the
prize I wanted to try for, and how you encour-
aged me, and how, in spite of all my fears, I
finished the manuscript in season, and sent it off?
Did you really think, Olive, I should meet with
any success?"
"To be sure I did. I sha'n't be one bit sur
prised if you tell me that your book has been
awarded the prize."
Well, I was; for truly I've won it, and have
received such a kind, encouraging letter from the
publishers. It all seems so strange, I can't real-
ize it at all. I had schooled myself to be satis-
128
Olive Loring's Mission.
fied with simply having my book accepted, and
by and by published by the firin, or perhaps
utterly set aside as worthless; but I never really
dared to hope that I should be blessed with such
success as this."
"God blesses those who are humble in their
desires, oftentimes above their expectations; and
He saw how fervent was your desire to use your
talents for His service, how ardently you wished
to accomplish something in the world, and yet
how willing you were to let the whole matter rest
as He should think best."
"Olive, you don't know how glad I am to be
successful; and yet I feel so sorry for the others
who have tried for the prize and failed,-how
disappointed they will be, for may be many of
them had set their hearts upon succeeding, and
even felt almost certain that they could not fail."
"God knew what was for the best, and He will
find some way to make this disappointment a
means of good to each one of them, if they are
Happenings.
129
only His children, and put their trust in Him. I
am truly rejoiced for you; and now, darling,
when are we to see your book in print?
""
They write me that, as soon as possible, they
shall issue it; and one thing more, Olive; they
ask me to write a sequel, as they think the sub-
ject can be continued with advantage."
"Better and better, Jessie; these dear little
fingers will do much good in the world yet,
albeit their owner has been so fearful of having to
lead a life of idleness. You are going to write
again, are you not?"
Just then Mrs. Campbell came in, and to
Olive's congratulations on Jessie's success she
answered, her fine eyes filling with tears:
We
e are all thankful, Miss Olive, not only for
the present comfort and pleasure it gives to Jes-
sie, but also for the prospect of future usefulness,
which she had felt would be denied her."
""
"Donald says," said Jessie, "that blessings
and trials are a good deal more equally meted out
130
Olive Loring's Mission.
to us than we usually think; and He believes juut
as you do, that God hedges up our paths one
may take the one He wants to
way, so that we
have us walk in.
I am sorry to have to be lame
all my life; but it really seems easier to bear
since I have been shown that God has something
for me to do in the world. Dear Mr. Leonard
was here this afternoon, and while he rejoiced
with me, he bade me ever bear in mind, that
every truth I wrote for God might set in motion
a wave of good that, constantly widening in its
influence, would reach some distant shore and
prove never-ending; and, remembering this, he
bade me be careful never to write anything upon
which I could not ask God's blessing to rest.
"I don't believe you ever have, Jessie," said
Olive; while Jessie, reaching from a desk on the
table a piece of paper, went on:
"You know how much I think of Dr. Stanley,
and how the treatment he received from some of
the people here almost amounted to persecution..
Happenings.
131
Well, in sending news items to the county
paper, as I do once in a while, I spoke of his
leaving here, and how great a trial it was for his
friends to have him go, as he was highly beloved
and respected. Because I did n't add, that
there were others who maliciously strove to injure
him, and were ever on the lookout for his faults,
and who rejoiced in his departure, Mrs. Green,
who was one of his enemies, not only came to
me and accused me of not telling the troth, but
has also made the remark, that such letters,
written in so one-sided a manner, were of no con-
sequence, written as they were by a poor, weak -
minded girl. At first I felt very much grieved,
and wondered why she could n't let me alone, as
I never knowingly injured her either in word or
deed; but at last I made up my mind that,
poor and weak as I am, perhaps there was a
little envy mixed with her other feelings; for
God has indeed given me more success than I
dared to hope for."
3
132
Olive Loring's Mission.
"Envy does make people talk and act in a
very unreasonable manner, Jessie; and Mrs.
Green is doubtless under its influence when she
makes such remarks; but I would n't mind any-
thing about it. Sometime God may give you
the opportunity to do her a kindness, which will
make her ashamed of her unkind words."
"Mr. Leonard told me to rise above it all; to
treat the matter with silent contempt, as being
below my attention, but to watch for a chance to
show Mrs. Green that I harbored no ill will
toward her, and that my aim was to do all the
good I could in the world."
"That is the best way, Jessie; but what have
you
there to show me?" for Jessie still held the
scrap of paper in her hand.
Why, this morning, when I was thinking it
over, I was impressed to put some of my thoughts
into rhyme, and here they are. I call them, 'My
Pen and I.' Shall I read them?"
"Most certainly, dear."
Happenings.
133
"I said in my heart, with a 'help me, dear Lord,'
That my pen should forever be pure
From unkind words, from repeatings of ill,
And wrongs that could stain or allure.
It should tell no tale that would wound the heart,
But always, with tenderest care,
Should trace only what could be sent on its way
With a golden setting of prayer.
"I said it should write of the holy and true;
Lovingly seeking for ways
To lessen the evil, and multiply good,
And ever rejoicing to praise.
It should always be diamond-pointed with truth,
And claim, mid much weakness, this power,-
That the words it had traced held no venomous sting
That could sadden a dying hour.
"So I said in my heart, and I prayed to be helped
Whenever I took up my pen,
And linked thought to word, and made writing the path
Wherein beauty could walk beside men.
Could walk common ways, in the memory held,
Through the few humble words I should write,-
Words, claiming no brightness or grace of their own,
Simply frames, holding truths to delight.
"So I write, — so I pray; — and though tired and weak,
Though poor, and oft yielding to sin,
Finding griefs by the roadside, and thorns for my feet,
And many temptations within;-
This I know, and the thought has a sweetness of bliss,
Neither envy nor malice can stain,-
The Lord has so answered my prayers, that my pen
Has been free from all giving of pain
134
Olive Loring's Mission.
4
"And I believe it, dear Jessie, I do n't think
you ever have written or ever will write anything
but that upon which God's blessing can be asked
to rest.'
""
•
"I am afraid, Olive, that I did n't stop to
think about asking God's blessing on this when I
commenced. I had a sort of wicked desire that
Mrs. Green might see it, and thus know that I
had heard of her remarks; but before I finished
it, I lost all that unworthy feeling, and only
wrote just what I really felt and desired in regard
to anything I may write."
"Yes; and, Jessie, you do n't know how much
good books may do written with such a motive
power. I was much interested in an anecdote
which our minister related last Sunday. He was
speaking of the good we might all do, if we only
tried,—even a little child; and to illustrate it he
said: There was once a boy who went from the
town where he was living to his native town on a
´visit; and while there, he attended a series of
Happenings.
135
meetings, and found the Saviour.
After his
return to the place where he was then a resident,
the man with whom he lived sent him out to chop
wood, and some of his comrades, hearing the
sound of his ax, clustered around him and began
to question him in regard to the meetings, and
his own feelings. He told them how pleasant the
gatherings for worship had been, and how he felt
that he had learned to love the Saviour, and
rejoiced in the hope that his sins were washed
away. The boys were much interested, and at
last he told them, if they would meet him at the
school - house that evening, he would hold a
meeting with them.
"When the evening came, a goodly number
assembled, and the young leader took the Bible
and read a chapter; then he told them he would
do just as they did at the meetings, invite all
who wished to be prayed for to rise; and every
boy was on his feet.
There were many earnest
seekers among the little band, and a meeting was
136
Olive Loring's Mission.
appointed for the next evening.
Some older
people, hearing what was going on, came in, in
part from curiosity, and one, a man hitherto a
constant opposer of religion, was bowed to the
dust by a sense of his sins.
· continued, and ere long were
The meetings were
held in the different
when, some months
churches of the place; and
afterwards, some one made inquiries as to the
number converted, it was found that some three
hundred had united with the various churches;
and all this could be traced back to the faithful-
ness of that little preacher's first sermon, standing
on the wood - pile. And Mr. Leonard said that this
was no story just told for effect, but a real fact,
and that the boy is now in his second college
year, preparing for the gospel ministry."
"I ken that God blesses faithfu' effort alwa',
Miss Olive," said Mrs.
world o' truth in what
being work for us a'.
Campbell; "there's aye a
Jessie sings, about there
We're the bairns o' those
wha died for faith in the old days of persecution
Happenings.
137
in dear auld Scotland, and I can na' but believe
that, as their work was to die for Him they loved,
so ours, in these later days, is to live for Him, and
try wi' our might to influence ithers also."
A
Olive had received comfort almost uncon-
sciously, and the low-breathed words of one of
Paul's favorite hymns made sweet companion-
ship on her homeward walk. At home she found
her brothers in a high state of excitement.
marketman in an adjoining town,-where the
inhabitants were mostly engaged in manufactures,
and consequently gardens were neglected, and
vegetables were in great demand, had written
them a proposal to furnish him with a supply of
garden products for his market; and the idea was
being vehemently discussed when Olive came.
"It is just what I've wished you could do,
boys," was her instant reply when the matter
was stated to her. "I've felt certain you might
succeed in accomplishing a good deal in this
way," and so an affirmative answer was sent.

CHAPTER X.
BROADENING WAYS.

N a few days little Maggie Ber-
nard's father came for her, and Olive
missed the clinging affection that had
so looked to her for guidance and sym-
pathy. A week later, and to Olive came the fol-
lowing letter:
"DEAR TEACHER:
(( Agnes wants to see you. Because I love you so well, she
wants to see and love you also, and father and mother wish
me to write and invite you to come and make us a visit.
You will make us all very grateful if you will only come. Do
please come. You know you used to tell me that God would
make the way plain for us to walk in, and I hope and pray
that you will feel that the path of duty lies in this direction,
Father will meet you
Dear, dear teacher,
MAGGIE."
and that you will decide to come to us.
at the Station any day you will mention.
don't refuse your little
Broadening Ways.
139
Olive at once decided to go, and immediately
despatched a few lines to Maggie, announcing
when she might be expected.
The early May sunshine lay in golden waves
ɔver meadow and upland, as Olive sped on to-
ward the home of her little friend, and as the va-
ried pictures which the landscape presented passed
before her, thought was busy with memories of
the past and hopeful questionings of the future.
At a certain station on the road the train on
board which she was a passenger was to be di-
vided, and a part take a different direction. Olive
herself was in a wrong car, and rising to find a
seat in the right one, she found there were several
others in the same situation, among them a finely
dressed young lady and a plain looking old one.
The old lady moved slowly with tottering limbs
down the long car, and one would suppose that
none could have looked upon her with aught but
the gentlest pity; but the younger lady jostled
her rudely aside, with the sharply spoken remark,
140
Olive Loring's Mission.
"Do move on, or else let me pass you." A no-
ble looking man rose to help the old pilgrim, with
a softly uttered, "Be patient with the aged,
young lady." He aided her into the next car,
and as Olive followed closely, and asked the old
lady where her journey was to end, he lifted his
hat to the two, with the remark, "I shall leave
you in good hands, Madam," and went back to
his own car.
She was a very unfashionable looking person-
age, and more than one gay young person gazed
with a supercilious stare at the quaint companion
whom Olive had chosen ; but the old lady's grate-
ful smile, as her new found friend arranged the
seat, the window - shade, and the inevitable bun-
dles a traveler always carries, so as to make her
as comfortable as possible, was ample recompense
for all.
Full of almost childish simplicity was the story
she poured into Olive's attentive ear. She had
been sick all winter, and was going now to her
Broadening Ways.
141
chidhood's home, perhaps to die, for her
strength seemed growing daily less. She had ex-
pected an escort, but alınost at the moment of
starting this friend was taken ill, and as another
friend was to meet her at a certain point on the
route, she felt obliged to attempt the journey alone.
She expressed great joy that Olive's way led her
by the very stopping place where her companion
for the rest of the trip was to join her, and when,
on reaching that station, Olive helped her to the
platform, and found her friend awaiting her,
the old lady took Olive's hand in both her trem-
bling ones, with the heartfelt words, "I don't
know who you are, but you 're an angel, and I
hope God will forever bless you.”
"O madam, angels never wear waterproofs;
I'm only a poor little mortal," returned Olive, as
she made her adieus and hastened back to her
seat, and for the rest of the way tried to comfort
the saddened heart of a little girl, who had lost
her mother and was being sent away to board-
142
Olive Loring's Mission.
ing school. Her work in this new direction was
done with the usual skill and success.
So did she scatter the blessed seeds of loving
kindness that would take deep root in the hearts
of those she cheered, and bear fruit through all
eternity; for never is a kindly act performed,
a loving word spoken, nor even an encouraging
look bestowed, but it becomes the starting point
for a long time of good results.
Life is largely made up of little deeds, little
opportunities, little pleasures, little griefs; great
things are the exceptions; and the wisest are those
who walk as understanding that the holiest joys
of life are found in faithfully doing and enduring
small things. Olive's daily way was marked by
this constant remembrance, and what those who
were anxiously looking for some great thing to
accomplish, constantly overlooked, she as con-
stantly saw.
As she stepped from the train at the place of
her destination, Maggie sprang forward to greet
Broadening Ways.
143
her, and presented her father, who met her with
a cordial kindness which at once placed Olive at
ease with him.
A warm welcome sprang to Mrs. Bernard's lips
as she met her guest at the door, and with a feel-
ing that this new step in her life's journey was
a very pleasant one, Olive at once nestled down
into her appropriate place in the household.
In Agnes she was intensely interested. The
sweet gentleness of word and mien, shadowed by
a sadness she tried to hide under an assuined
cheerfulness for her parents' sake, could not fail
of winning the love of all who knew her.
It was
near the close of the afternoon when
Olive was introduced into the pleasant apartment
known as "Agnes' room." It was a large, south
chamber, with broad, low windows, looking out
into the pleasantest of all city squares. Every-
thing that taste could devise had been brought to
aid in making the room complete in its every ap-
pointment. Pictures and flowers, curiosities and
144
Olive Loring's Mission.
specimens of art, three or four of Rogers's little
groups, and over all the rich light falling through
curtains of lace tinged with rose color. Bed, dra-
pery and furniture, carpets, and even the wrapper
of the invalid, each exhibited a blending
of whiteness with
the heart of a rose
real warmth of color, like
when it first opens to the
sunshine. Agnes sat just where the fading sun-
light fell full upon her, one little hand toying
with the snowy tassels of her dress, the other
holding back the heavy weight of curls from
her blue-veined forehead.
"You are so good to come," she whispered, as
Olive impulsively stooped to kiss her. "I love
your very name from hearing Maggie speak of
you, and hope we shall keep you with us a long
time. You will let this help me speak my wel-
come," and she took from the stand beside her an
exquisitely arranged bouquet, of the most fra-
grant flowers, creamy rose buds and delicately -
tinted heliotrope, with sprays of the richest green.
-
Broadening Ways.
145
"Oh, how beautiful, how beautiful! It is the
sweetest of all welcomes. I thank you for it
more than I can express," exclaimed Olive.
Maggie said you was fond of flowers, and she
arranged this for you," continued the invalid.
Olive drew Maggie close beside her as she took
the chair that Mrs. Bernard had placed near her
daughter, and then answered, in her peculiarly
happy way, the little girl's inquiries about Lakeville
friends. Agnes leaned back among her pillows,
an interested listener, and after the sun sank out
of sight, and the twilight shadows drifted in,
Mrs. Bernard left the three girls to themselves,
and went out to get a little fresh air, as the phy-
sician who attended the family had urged upon
Mr. Bernard the necessity of inducing his wife
to ride or walk in the open air, daily, if possible,
her own lessening strength bearing testimony to
her anxiety for her daughter's welfare.
"Now, dear Miss Olive," pleaded Maggie,
"won't you sing for Agnes and me?"
:
146
·Olive Loring's Mission.
:
"I am afraid it will tire your sister, Maggie;
we have been talking a long time.”
ce
No, indeed it will not, it will rest me. I
never feel so happy as when I hear music or sing-
ing," said Agnes.
"Then, dear teacher, sing first,
'When the swallows homeward fly,'
and then that sweet little Scotch song you and
Miss Louisa sang that afternoon we spent at Mr.
Campbell's.
""
""When the swallows homeward fly,'
is one of father's great favorites," said Agnes.
"I'm so glad you sing, we all love it so well."
Like a flash the hope, itself a prayer, ascended
from Olive's heart,
"Oh that each one of this
household might learn to sing the new song
that shall swell through all eternity;" and then her
clear voice linked itself with the words of the
song that had been requested.
९९
Now the Ingle Side,' next," pleaded Maggie,

Glase Des
Agnes leaned back among the pillows an interested listener.
KILBURNS
Broadening Ways.
147
from her nestling place between Olive and Agnes.
Soft and very plaintive was the music into
which these sweet fancies, born from some warm
Scotch heart, were fitted. Agnes listened with
closed eyes, and in the prevailing quiet, neither
of the three noticed the soft unclosing of the
door, and the entrance of a scholarly looking
man, who, with hat in hand, seemed drinking in
the harmony of,—
"It's rare to see the morning breeze
Like a bon-fire frae the sea;
It's fair to see the burnie kiss
The lip o'the flowery lea;
An' fine it is on green hill-side,
Where hums the bonny bee;
But rarer, fairer, finer far,
Is the Ingle side for me.
"Glens may be gilt wi gowans rare,
The birds may fill the tree;
And hanghs hae a' the scented ware
That simmer growths can gie;
But the canty hearth where cronies meet,
An' the darling o' our e'e,
That makes to us a warl complete;
Oh, the Ingle side's for me.”
148
Olive Loring's Mission.
"I do so love Scotch songs," said Agnes, as
"Can't
Olive's voice died away into the stillness.
you sing another, if you are not too weary?"
"I'm not at all weary; I'll sing as long as
you wish," was the reply Olive hastened to give,
interrupted in its utterance by Maggie, who had
caught a glimpse of the gentleman and sprang to
his side, exclaiming, "O Dr. Castleton, how
glad I am you have come. This is my teacher
from Lakeville, where grandma lives, and she
does sing so sweetly."
"I am happy to meet your teacher, little Mag-
gie, and can bear testimony to her sweet singing,
for I came in just as she commenced this last
song, and, not wishing to disturb you, I stood
silent. Forgive me for playing the eaves - drop-
per," he continued, taking for an instant Olive's
hand within his own; "and to show that you
pardon me, please give us another song, and let
it be a Scotch one, for, like Agnes, I love the
songs of Scotland."
Broadening Ways.
149
"Sing My ain Countree,'" whispered Maggie.
Olive complied, and sang sweetly, —
"I'm far frae my hame,
An' I'm weary oftenwhiles
For the langed for hame bringing,
An' my Father's welcome smiles.
I'll ne'er be fu' content,
Until my e'en shall see
The gowden gates o' heaven,
-
An' my ain Countree,"-
and so on through each line of holy trust till,
when the end came, with,
"So I'm watchin' still, an' singin'
O' my home as I wait
The soun'in' o' his footfa'
This side the gowden gate.
God gie his grace to ilk ane
Wha listens noo to me,
That we a' may gang at last
To our ain Countree."
*Amen, and amen, my dear young lady," exclaim-
"Your singing shall, if God
ed Dr. Castleton.
give me grace and strength, be as the quickening
impulse that shall lead me to so close a walk with
150
Olive Loring's Mission.
God, that the future shall seem, as never before,
to come near the heart, and announce that the
home to which we hasten is indeed, if at peace
with God, our Ain Countree,' and not a foreign
land. Agnes, I rejoice at the new influence now
thrown around you; if you but learn the lesson
our friend has evidently learned, this beautiful
room may become to you like
""
"The very gateway of heaven," added Maggie.
"Yes, dear, like the very gateway of heaven."
Would that it might. I long for light." It
was not an idly uttered wish, but as one breathed
out of Agnes' very soul.
"She helped me to learn to love Jesus, and
she'll help you." Maggie's soft eyes were lumi-
nous with intense feeling, while Agnes, resting
her face against the loving heart beside her,
whispered,
"I do want to learn, you do n't know how
much."
Olive stood brushing back with caressing fin-
Broadening Ways.
151
gers the soft curls around the invalid's head, when
the entrance of Mr. and Mrs. Bernard, and pres-
ently the bringing in of the evening lamps, ren-
dered the conversation somewhat more general in
tone.
As Mr. Bernard tenderly inquired of Agnes
how she was feeling, the girl exclaimed, with more
animation than she had evinced for weeks, “I
have n't been so happy in a long time. Miss
Loring has been singing, and we've had such a
pleasant hour!'
""
Sing once more now that we're all here,"
urged Maggie, and as others joined in her
request, Olive consented, this time choosing,
"Rock of Ages, cleft for me.”
This evening's singing somehow reminds me,”
said the doctor, as Olive paused, "of an incident
that happened in an old German city where I
was once spending a few weeks. I had stayed till
near midnight one evening, with some new-found
152
Olive Loring's Mission.
acquaintances, and when I left their home, I found
that I was nearly the only one abroad. As Ț
passed down the dimly lighted streets, flanked on
either side by tall, old houses, I caught the sound
of distant singing, and paused for an instant to
listen. It was no gay measure, such as sere-
naders love, but a masterly rendering of an old
church anthem. As I moved on, the sounds
grew nearer, the words more distinct, and in their
triumphant strain seemed lifting the very soul to
heaven. Suddenly, as I turned a corner, a
strange scene met my astonished gaze. A group
of students, clad in their long, dark gowns, each
with a lighted torch, stood just before a house
whose single light gleamed from an upper win-
dow. I stood like one enchanted, and the chorus
of triumph rolled on and up among the tall old
chimneys, and floated heavenward. Suddenly a
hand waved from that upper window, and a few
words were spoken in German of which I did
not catch the meaning. In an instant every torch
Broadening Ways.
153
was extinguished, and as silent as specters, the
dark-robed figures moved away. It was all
wonderfully impressive to me, and when I came
to understand that one of their number was dy-
ing, while they, as it were, winged the parting
soul with songs of triumph, it became doubly so."
That makes me think," said Maggie, "of the
Sabbath school song they used to sing at Lake-
ville,
'Oh, sing to me of heaven,
When I am called to die;'
perhaps that student felt just like that.”
Ce
Can you sing the 'Dies Ira,' Miss Loring?
inquired Dr. Castleton, taking his hat as if to
reconcile his conscience for so prolonged a stay,
and yet loth to depart. "I should so like that
as a parting benediction on this happy evening."
"I can recall only a portion, and fear my exe-
cution will fail to please you, after the many fine
singers you must have heard render it."
"There are no critics here, Miss Olive," said
154
Olive Loring's Mission.
Mr. Bernard, "and as your singing brought us
the knowledge of this pleasant anecdote which the
doctor has told, perhaps more singing will bring
us another.'
22
The noble old Latin lines filled the room
with such music as had seldom been heard beneath
that roof, and then, as Agnes' beautiful eyes look-
ed their tearful thanks, Mrs. Bernard said, play-
fully, "Now for another story, Doctor."
"This," returned the doctor, "is a mountain
song among songs, and with this idea in my
mind, I will tell you of another incident of my
travels. I was rambling about among the mount-
ains of Switzerland, and as I followed my guide
up the rock - girt pathway I heard the sound of
music, and passing round an angle of the rocks,
I saw
an aged man seated on a moss - grown
stone, the living personification of Scott's Min-
strel,' and found myself involuntarily repeating
the lines in which that romantic being is pictured
to us. As I approached, the old man reached
:
Broadening Ways.
155
his trembling hand for the harp which a small
boy had taken, and, his long gray beard sweeping
down over his breast, he attempted to woo from
the quivering strings some long loved melody,
and another picture from Scott passed before me:
'Amid the strings his fingers strayed,
And an uncertain warbling made,
And oft he shook his hoary head.
But, when he caught the measure wild,
The old man raised his face and smiled;
And lightened up his faded eye,
With all a poet's ecstacy!
In varying measures, soft or strong,
He swept the sounding chords along.'
"Poor old man! he tried to employ some of his
former skill and force of execution, but for a
time it seemed in vain, and sadly he bowed his
head while great tears fell from his dimmed and
heavy eyes. At last, however, something of his
old enthusiasm seemed to awaken, and a strain.
of almost unearthly sweetness went floating out
in to the mountain stillness, and echoed from rock
to rock. I had been somewhat annoyed by beg-
156
Olive Loring's Mission.
gars, but could no longer resist my earnest desire
to give him some slight assistance, although my
previous determination had been to give no more
that day.
“In a little hill - side hamlet, near by, was the
old man's home. He earned a precarious liveli-
hood by frequenting the points of interest in the
region, and playing for the benefit of tourists
who visited these places. I was deeply interested
in learning of his previous life, and remember
distinctly the touching pathos with which he said,
when speaking of his own extreme age and feeble-
ness, Here you see the end of a long road. I
am come to the last resting place on the way,
and am now only waiting.'
999
Dr. Castleton rose to depart, while the family
united in thanking him for the pleasure his anec-
dotes had given them, to which he replied in a
gallant speech as he bowed himself cut.

CHAPTER XI.
INTO THE LIGHT.

LIVE laid herself down to rest
on the first night of her stay with the
Bernards, with an intense desire that
she might use her opportunities wisely,
and do something toward leading this interesting
family into the light.
She felt that God was not only blessing her
by giving her work to do for Him, but that this
widening of her ways might be one of God's
means for her education. She missed the house-
hold gathering for a brief study of God's Word
and the petitions for His blessing, when the
158
Olive Loring's Mission.
morning came, but she had strong faith to be-
lieve He would yet be worshiped in this home.
Agnes' morning greeting was," I think there
must be a spell in you or your singing, for I have
not slept so well for a long time."
"I am very glad," Olive replied as she kissed
the lovely girl, while Agnes, a faint glow creep-
ing into her pallor, continued,-
୧
Maggie says, it is not only the singing, but
that you must have prayed for me last night; and
that your prayers do her so much good, she be-
lieves God always answers them; she says no
matter what comes, you always find something
comforting. I want to find rest somewhere."
"God always does, in some way, answer
prayer, and I have often found that my weak pe-
titions have been answered, not because I merited
anything, but because He loves to bless his chil-
dren. I did ask God to give you a quiet rest last
night, and I think Maggie did also."
"Yes, indeed, I did. I always pray for you,
Into the Light.
159
}
dear sister, and some days I feel just as though
God would grant everything I ask of Him.”
"Do you believe He will, Miss Loring?" asked
Agnes.
"He never fails to answer the prayer of faith."
Olive knew how much of anguished longing lay
behind that sadly spoken question, and added,
"He always answers, though sometimes not just
as we expect, but as He sees is best.
No prayer
is ever in vain, of that we may feel sure.'
Agnes nestled her thin little hand in Olive's,
and asked, with quivering accents, ** Did
୧୯
know that the doctors say that I can't get well? "
""
you
Olive drew the trembling little form close be-
side her, and, unable to reply, silently kissed
her.
"I know you have heard it. I don't think
that father and mother meant I should know any-
thing about it. They thought that to be hopeful
would keep me up; but I guessed it all out, and
at last mother told me; and when our dear little
160
Olive Loring's Mission.
!
Maggie used to write so much in her letters about
Jesus and His loving care for us, I felt anxious to
get home, and learn the same lesson Maggie had
been learning. When she wrote so often of you,
and, on coming home, quoted you so constantly,
it seemed as though my only hope lay in seeing
you. I have been very anxious to get well, but
lately I think my greatest wish has been to find
Jesus, for then I shall be happy whether I
live or die. Do you think He will receive
me?"
Gladly, very gladly, dear Miss Bernard.”
"Don't call me anything but Agnes, and let
me call you Olive. I want to have you just the
same as though you were my sister, and let me
open my whole heart to you;
Ce
may I?"
Certainly; and God will lead us into all
right ways; of this I am sure.”
Then, dear Olive, tell me what to do first.
Perhaps I shall be here but a little longer, and
I can't wait to study and think a long while. I
!
Into the Light.
161
1
must learn the true way to Him very quickly."
Mrs. Bernard had entered as her daughter was
speaking, and with tear - filled eyes, and a voice
which she strove in vain to render steady, she
added her petition to her child's, saying,—
I have failed of my duty. I have never
sought the Saviour myself, nor tried to lead my
children to Him. Maggie has taught us all a
lesson, and you must show us how to apply the
truth to our own hearts."
Olive sent up a swift prayer for guidance, as
she replied," When we stop to think about it, it
seems an easy matter to love Him. He has done
so much for us."
"I do want to love Him, but when I remem-
ber how many years I have wasted, it does not
seem as though He would receive me," said
Agnes with deep feeling.
Mrs. Bernard added, "If she feels in this way,
think of me, whose years are double hers."
"You do not doubt His power to save?"
162
Olive Loring's Mission.
"No, indeed," answered Agnes, while her
mother continued,-
"I'm afraid only for myself, not for others; it
seems an easy matter for Him to pardon others,
but I seem so full of sin, I feel unworthy to hope
for forgiveness."
"But you are sure that you can not save
yourself?
"Yes, and this utter helplessness and utter
worthlessness is what renders me hopeless."
ee
Oh, no! not hopeless. It seems as though I
heard the Saviour saying to you, as he did to the
blind man of old, or rather what the disciples re-
peated to the blind man, as coming from Jesus,-
'Be of good comfort, rise; He calleth thee.' And
that His next message will be, 'Go thy way, thy
faith hath made thee whole,' I fondly hope and
believe."
"I would willingly do anything, no matter
how difficult, if I could only be sure of heaven."
"But He has done everything; we have only
Into the Light.
163
to go to Him, sorry for our sins, anxious for par-
don, and believe that He is able and willing to
forgive and save, and peace will come."
Agnes took from the table near a Bible, and
said: "I never have read the Bible until lately,
but something seemed to lead me to the story of
the prodigal son; and while you were at break-
fast I read it over many times, and I wondered
if it was written to show us that, if we have
wandered away from God, He will receive us
just as readily as the poor prodigal was welcomed.
Do you think it was?
""
"It always seemed to me that it was, as also
that story of the thief on the cross, and many other
things in which God's readiness to forgive is
plainly shown."
Little Maggie, an eager listener, exclaimed,-
"Don't you remember what you told me, dear
teacher? You said, if I had lived all my life, not
caring whether I pleased my dear earthly father
or not, and I was to be punished for it, and some-
164
Olive Loring's Mission.
body who loved me very much should offer to
bear all the blame and suffering for me, on con-
dition that I felt grieved for all the wrong I had
committed, and believed in his goodness, and his
power to save, and promised ever to love both
my father, who had done so much for me, and
this dear friend, and to strive to show my grati-
tude and affection toward them, that this would
be but a faint picture of Christ's love and com-
passion toward me. Do you remember this,
teacher?"
"Yes, Maggie, and you found it so, did you
not?"
Ce
Yes, but the peace I longed for did n't come
all at once. I suppose I was so ignorant, I
needed a good deal of teaching before I could un-
derstand it all; but it grew plainer and plainer,
till now I feel sure that God loves me and that I
love Him."
"Do you mean you understand it all?" asked
Mrs. Bernard in amazement.
Into the Light.
165
୧୯
Why, no, I don't understand lots of things
there are in the Bible, mamma. I only meant it
was all plain to me, that Christ wanted to have us
love Him, and that He died on purpose to save
us, and it must make Him feel sorry if we do n't
believe and love Him. It seems as though I
could n't love Him half enough, when I think
of all He suffered for us."
A beautiful smile had been creeping over Ag-
nes' face as Maggie was talking, and now, with
happy tears filling her eyes, she eagerly ex-
claimed,-
"And I see it all, too, Maggie. I feel myself
safe in His hands; if He hadn't loved us,
He would n't have died for us, and now it seems
as though a sudden light shone upon my mind.
I am not afraid to die, and though I shall never
cease to feel grieved over the wrong I have been
guilty of, I don't believe that He will cast me
off for that. You do n't think He will, do
you?"
166
Olive Loring's Mission.
-
"No, indeed. He will save to the uttermost,'
we are told, and His promises are always faith-
fully kept. I have often thought of what I once
read of a little deaf and dumb boy, to whom,
after much patient endeavor, a kind friend had
succeeded in imparting the knowledge of salvation
through the Cross of Christ. The boy, in his
quaint, loving way, expressed himself something
after this manner, God keeps a great book,
and writes down all my sins in it, a long, black
list, and I should have to be punished hard for
them, but Christ takes His bloody hand, where
the nails pierced it, and rubs it over the page,
and the sins can't be read or counted over; His
blood has blotted them all out; and then He says.
to the great Judge, I died for this poor little
wicked boy,' and so I shall have my pardon, just
as the Bible says, through Christ.' So indeed it
is, through Christ all our sins are to be forgiven,
and by his blood blotted out.”
"And you are happy now, my child?" asked
Into the Light.
167
Mrs. Bernard; for the glow upon the young face
invited the question.
"Yes, mother, happy as I never was before;
If it
I feel willing to leave everything to God.
is best for me to die, I sha'n't be afraid to go
now; and, with this new feeling of love to Christ,
I almost long to go. It seems as though I had
been led out of great darkness into as great light.
I can't help applying to myself that beautiful
stanza in the Conclusion' of Tennyson's 'May
Queen,' where Alice says,—
'He taught me all the mercy, for He show'd me all the sin,
Now, tho' my lamp was lighted late, there's One will let me
in.
Nor would I now be well, mother, again, if that could be,
For my desire is but to pass to Him who died for me.'”
Mrs. Bernard was weeping bitterly, and as
Agnes' low, sweet voice died away, she said with
a fresh burst of grief,-" How can you say that
you desire to leave me,-to leave us all who love
you so dearly?'
""
Agnes slipped from her chair, and laid her
C
168
Olive Loring's Mission.
head on her mother's lap.
Darling mother,"
she said, "I love you better than I ever did be-
fore. I love everybody and everything better,
but I love Christ Jesus best of all; and it does
seem as though it would be a blessed privilege to
see Him face to face, and thank Him for all He
has done for me. O, mother, you must love
Him, too; you'll feel just as I do then.”
"But I've lived so far from Him, and have re-
belled each year more and more. I have been
idle and careless. Not one of my dear children.
has ever been taught to pray by my efforts; never
once have I taught them their duty toward their
Father in heaven. I'm too wicked for Him to
forgive, if I dared to ask.”
९९
But, dear Mrs. Bernard," said Olive, "He
could not have been called the Saviour of the
world,' if there were particular cases that were be-
yond His power to save. The more need you
have of forgiveness, the more reason is there
for you to love Him, and there is nothing too
}
Into the Light.
169
hard for Him. He is indeed 'mighty to save.'
"I wish I dared to hope, but the way seems
dark."
ce
ce
Why, mother," exclaimed Maggie, you
don't believe Christ would tell a wrong story, do
you?"
Ce
Certainly not, Maggie."
"Well, you make it appear so, if you doubt
His power to save you; for I read this morning
in the Bible what Jesus said when he was teach-
ing one day,' And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and
believeth on Him, may have everlasting life; and
I will raise him up at the last day.' Now hav-
ing everlasting life, means being saved by Christ,
do n't it?"
"Yes, my darling," Olive answered fondly;
and we are told without any exceptions that He
will save to the uttermost. So you see, dear
Mrs. Bernard, that there is no room for doubting;
it is indeed 'look and live.'”
170
Olive Loring's Mission.
1
"If I could only have faith for myself.
I can
see how He can save others, but it seems too
great a blessing for me.
""
"It was for you He died, and therefore the
blessing must be meant for you; and He is wait-
ing to give you welcome to his flock.”
"Teacher, will you repeat the poem you learned
for the Sabbath school concert last month! It
seems as though that would be so good for
mamma to hear. Perhaps God will let it speak
to her for Him," petitioned Maggie.
Agnes was again nestled among her pillows, a
sweet repose marking look and mien, in place of
the nervous restlessness that had betrayed her in-
ward anguish, and as Olive, fearful of taxing her
strength by so long a conversation, asked if she
was not too weary for longer listening, she an-
swered,-
"Oh, no, dear Olive. I feel as though I should
never weary of hearing about Jesus, and His
great work of love for us. It seems as though
-Into the Light.
171
I had been in a foreign land all my life, hearing
a strange language, and had just now reached
home, and was learning the dialect of my native
land. I never felt so happy in all my life be-
fore. I feel like Whittier, that I can truly say
of this wonderful joy that seems to light up every-
thing,-
' And so the shadows fall apart,
And so the west winds play;
And all the windows of my heart
Are open to the day.'
And the Saviour makes this day. fairer than ever
day was before.
O, mother, mother, you must
share this bliss with me."
"And father must, too," said Maggie.
now, teacher, please repeat the poetry."
"And
"It is called, Pilgrim of Earth,'” said Olive;
"and it is full of encouragement to those who
hope amid weakness. This is it:
'Pilgrim of earth, who art journeying to heaven!
Heir of Eternal Life! Child of the day!
Cared for, watched over, beloved and forgiven,
Art thou discouraged because of the way?
→
172
Olive Loring's Mission.
'Cared for, watched over, though often thou seemest
Justly forsaken, nor counted a child;
Loved.and forgiven, though rightly thou deemest
Thyself all unlovely, impure and defiled.
"Weary and thirsty-no water-brook near thee,
Press on, nor faint at the length of the way;
The God of thy life will assuredly hear thee-
He will provide thee strength for the day.
'Break through the brambles and briers that obstruct thee;
Dread not the gloom and the blackness of night;
Lean on the Hand that will safely conduct thee,
Trust to His eye to whom darkness is light.
'Be trustful, be steadfast, whatever betide thee,
Only one thing do thou ask of the Lord,-
Grace to go forward wherever He guide thee,
Simply believing the truth of His word.
'Still on thy spirit deep anguish is pressing,
Not for the yoke that His wisdom bestows;
A heavier burden thy soul is distressing,
A heart that is slow in His love to repose.
'Earthliness, coldness, unthankful behavior-
Ah! thou may'st sorrow, but do not despair;
Even this grief thou may'st bring to thy Saviour;
Cast upon Him e'en this burden and care!
'Bring all thy hardness,-His power can subdue it;
How full is the promise! The blessing how free!
"Whatsoever ye ask in my name, I will do it ;"
Abide in my love, and be joyful in me.""
Into the Light.
173
وا
"A heart that is slow in His love to repose ;'
that is just like mine," Mrs. Bernard said, very
sadly;
"but I am determined in this one resolve,
that I will never give up till light comes; God
helping me, I will yet leave caring so much for
this world's good, and more for hopes that find
their foundation in Christ. I shall have to be
taught each step of the way as a little child, but I
am certain that peace and comfort and strength
can be found nowhere else. I have tried every-
thing else, and they have all failed me, and now
I will cling blindly till I can see Christ's pardon-
ing hand outstretched to me."
Little Maggie was full of subdued happiness,
and Agnes, casting all her pain and weariness,
her regrets and griefs, on the Lord, was daily
finding new cause to love Him who had done so
much for her.
i
Her beautiful room became, as it were, the
very "gateway of heaven," as Maggie had said,—
and prayer and praise, holy conversation, and lov-
174
Olive Loring's Mission.
ing acceptance of the blessings sent them, hal-
lowed its very atmosphere.
Little by little, peace came to Mrs. Bernard,
and the husband and father was earnestly remem-
bered at the throne of grace.
One lovely spring afternoon, he came into
Agnes' room, and drawing his chair to his
daughter's side, asked lovingly, "What would
be the pleasantest tidings I could bear to you?"
Agnes laid her little wasted hand on his, as she
answered," That you've learned to love Jesus,
dear father."
The father bowed his head till his manly brow
rested against the brown curls of his darling, as
in broken accents he said,-
That is what I am going to tell you. I have
felt for the last twenty-four hours that the de-
spair and darkness with which I have been bur-
dened has been all dispelled, and that, instead,
I feel around me the everlasting arms of the Re-
deemer, upholding and guiding me. My child,
Into the Light.
175
your father has been a great sinner, but Christ
died for such, and though one of the chiefest
among them, I am convinced He will never turn
a deaf ear,-
never leave or forsake me."
"O father," said Agnes, an hour later, when
the whole family, now one in the Lord, with
Olive and Dr. Castleton, were gathered in her
room, "only think, if Maggie had n't gone to
grandma's, we might not have learned about
Jesus, and been so happy. Maggie was first at-
tracted by Olive's prayer at the opening of school in
the morning, and through her writing to me of
this, and her continually mentioning Olive and
Olive's teachings of holy things, I was led to
think of them myself, and mother also, and then
you; and all this because Olive was faithful, and
God was good to bless."
"You speak too warmly of what little I may
have said and done," interposed Olive. "Maggie
was as anxious to learn as I was to teach. God's
Spirit must have worked upon her heart."
!
176
Olive Loring's Mission.
"Yes, teacher darling, but do n't you know
you've told me many a time that God gives us
work to do for Him, and I guess He told you to
pray as you did that first morning of school, for
I never felt really that I wanted to be His child
till then; and then you were so good to teach me
about the holy lessons in the Bible, that I shall
always feel that you led me to love God."
'We all feel so," added Mrs. Bernard, while
the doctor begged for the singing of "My Ain
Countree," as a fitting finale for so glad an after-
noon.
!

CHAPTER XII.
NEWS FROM ABROAD.

N DUE season, Olive was glad-
dened by tidings from Paul. Happily
and peacefully as her days were gliding,
there were yet many hours when her
heart yearned for the absent, and his letters were
precious indeed.
From one full of many pleasant descriptions of
London, a few extracts, which Olive herself read
to Agnes and Maggie, may be fitly introduced
here:-
A few days ago, we attended service
at St Paul's. I can not find words to describe
my emotions as I stood within the shelter of this
178
Olive Loring's Mission.
magnificent structure. Though it occupies a very
prominent place in the metropolis, it is yet diffi-
cult to get a correct external view of it, it is so
closely surrounded by other buildings, so that
much of the beauty of its architecture is lost to
the beholder.
"Only think, Olive, the first church occupying
this site was reared four hundred years before the
Norman Conquest. The great fire that swept
through London in 1666 destroyed it, and after-
ward the present grand monument to the archi-
tectural skill of Sir Christopher Wren was
erected, being the fruit of thirty years of study
and labor. Towering three hundred and sixty
five feet toward heaven, its lofty dome can be
seen for many miles around. Its interior is ex-
quisitely ornamented by six paintings by Sir
James Thornhill, which illustrate scenes in the
life of St. Paul.
"Would that I could command the use of
words, that would preserve on paper my emotions
News from Abroad.
179
as I sat through that morning's service; but this
is impossible.
"Another white day' we spent in the Na-
tional Gallery. I wanted you there, for I but
half enjoyed the glorious collection with you so
far away. There are Holy Families by almost
every artist of note, and Madonnas and Mag-
dalenes by the score. I think I felt just as I
have read of others being impressed, when gazing
at the pictures of Christ: that is, that something
is wanting in them all, a god - like look that can
be felt and believed in, but not painted. It
seems to me that, for this
ever feel satisfied with his
reason, no painter can
attempts at exhibiting
Christ. There is more humanity than divinity
in most of these pictures. Correggio's Ecce
Homo,'-you know we have seen a small copy of
it,—is the one I like best, and yet this falls far
short of my conception.
There was
"A dead Christ,' that pleased me
very much, and a very beautiful youthful
ت
180
Olive Loring's Mission.
head by Guido. As I gazed on the first of these,
I found myself repeating those grand old Latin
lines which you like so much :
'Recordare, Jesu pie,
Quod sum causa tuæ viæ,
Ne me perda illa die.
Quærens me sedisti lassus,
Redivisti crucem passus;
Tantus labor non sit cassus.'
I almost forgot where I was, and seemed once
more in dear Mr. Leonard's pleasant study, re-
citing, as of old, my Latin lesson with you.
୧୧
You will remember that, in my last, I men-
tioned our intention of passing a couple of days
at Oxford. That plan has been carried out, and
delightful days they were. You know how we
used to wonder over the description of the insti-
tutions there, which ran somewhat as follows:
There are, in number, twenty incorporated and
distinct Colleges, and five Halls, with no endow-
ment of estates, or corporations, but in other re-
spects not much different from the Colleges. The
buildings are many of them very fine.' But
News from Abroad.
181
this gives you no idea of the grandeur and varied
styles of the architecture, much of it richly
adorned with magnificent stone carvings. Here
we also visited the famous Bodleian Library,
said to comprise half a million printed books and
manuscripts. Just imagine this if you can.
We spent a few hours at the Taylor and
Randolph Gallery, where are the works of vari-
ous great masters, embracing nearly three hun-
dred sketches of Raphael and Michael Angelo,
besides casts of all Chantrey's statues and busts.
୧୯
Last Wednesday, we visited Westminister
Abbey. The gray old building looked sadly
grand in the murky light of a foggy day, and
English fog, as we have learned, is a little the
foggiest of all fogs. Shall I tell you a little of
what I saw and learned that day? The long,
gothic, cross-like edifice stretches away in length
four hundred and eighty-nine feet, and spreads at
its greatest width at the transepts, two hundred
and three feet. Its roof is ninety-two feet high.
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Olive Loring's Mission.
One who stood near me on that never-to-be-
forgotten day of our visit, spoke eloquently of
the rich and varied memories that cluster around
the somber pile. Only bring to mind,' said he,
that just here once stood a heathen temple,
where wreaths were twined, and incense burned
in honor of Apollo; and it is said that an earth-
quake wrought its ruin during the life and reign
of Antoninus Pius. Out of its fallen splendors
Sebert, King of West Saxony, built a church
which was dedicated to the worship of God, but
this was destroyed by the Danes. Phoenix - like
another church arose during the reign of Edward
the Confessor, which was taken down one hun-
dred and sixty years afterwards, and a new one
built by order of Henry the Third, which re-
quired fifty years of labor.
This building, formerly called a Minster, lat-
terly an Abbey, was much injured by fire in 1274,
but was repaired by the first and second Edward.
In the year 1700 it had so fallen into decay, that
1
News from Abroad.
183
C
Parliament granted a sum of money for repairing
it, and since that time much wealth has been
expended on it.'
"We found the inside very much more beauti-
ful than the outside. Among other rare orna-
ments the marble altar, given by Queen Anne, and
said to be the most exquisitely beautiful of its
kind in the world, is well worthy of note. It is
erected on a pavement of porphyry and Lydian
stones of great richness, and enclosed in curious
balustrades. I thought, as I gazed around, how
many of England's noblest and wisest rest quietly
here, after the weary struggle of life.
"To-morrow, God willing, we go to the
Temple.' I shall write again soon.”
Maggie drew a long sigh as Olive laid aside
her letter, after reading aloud this portion, and
said, with a grave earnestness that won a smile
from both her sister and Olive,-
"That sounds just like a book. I should n't
wonder if he wrote a book of travels, and if he
184
Olive Loring's Mission.
does, I shall ask papa to get me one.
It's next
to loving him to love dear Olive, and then I
don't believe he would write anything but the
truth, and papa says a good many travelers do n't
keep to the truth at all."
"Thank you for your good opinion of my
friend, Maggie dear,"returned Olive ; " perhaps I'd
better suggest to him the propriety of writing a
book, so you can be the wiser for its perusal."
A smile of touching sweetness played around
Agnes' lips, as she said, "I have laid so many
plans for going to Europe, and now I shall never
enjoy this pleasure. Instead of that, I hope to
reach a fairer city, where new beauties will fill eter-
nity with gladness.".
"And no regret over the loss of pleasures
denied you on earth will ever reach you there,
dear Agnes. I love to read out of my Bible the
description of the holy city, and hang around it
all my brightest fancies, assured all the while
that its glory far exceeds all I can imagine.
News from Abroad.
185
·
Just listen. Paul's most glowing accounts are
tame compared with this." And she read as
follows:
"And he carried me away in the spirit to a
great and high mountain, and showed me that
great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of
heaven from God; Having the glory of God,
and her light was like unto a stone most precious,
even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; and
had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates,
and at the gates twelve angels, and names writ-
ten thereon, which are the names of the twelve
tribes of the children of Israel. On the east, three
gates on the north, three gates; on the south,
three gates; and on the west, three gates. And
the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in
them the names of the twelve apostles of the
Lamb. And he that talked with me had a gold-
en reed to measure the city, and the gates there-
of, and the wall thereof. And the city lieth
foursquare, and the length is as large as the
X
186
Olive Loring's Mission.
breadth. And he measured the city with the reed,
twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the
breadth and the hight of it are equal. And he
measured the wall thereof, a hundred and forty
and four cubits, according to the measure of a
man, that is, of the angel. And the building of
the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was
pure gold, like unto clear glass. And the foun-
dations of the wall of the city were garnished with
all manner of precious stones. The first founda-
tion was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third,
a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; the fifth,
sardonyx; the sixth, sardius ; the seventh,
chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz ;
the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth
the twelfth, an amethyst. And the twelve gates
were twelve pearls; every several gate was of
one pearl; and the street of the city was pure
gold, as it were transparent glass. And I saw
no temple therein for the Lord God Almighty
and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the
News from Abroad.
187
And the
city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon,
to shine in it; for the glory of God did lighten it,
and the Lamb is the light thereof.
nations of them which are saved shall walk in the
light of it and the kings of the earth do bring
their glory and honour into it. And the gates of
it shall not be shut at all by day, for there shall
be no night there. And they shall bring the
glory and honor of the nations into it."
"And Christ has gone to prepare a mansion
within that glorious city for all His followers,
even for me, who have only just learned to love
Him," whispered Agnes, as Olive closed the
Bible, too deeply moved for loud utterance.
"Yes, and He alone knows how poor, and
weak, and tired His followers get here, and how
many temptations they have. I sometimes think
that one of the greatest blessings of heaven will
be that we shall there be free from all temptations
to do wrong. As nothing evil can enter therein,
there can be nothing that will tempt us to go
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Olive Loring's Mission.
¿
astray. There are so many little things that
come np here, that sometimes, almost before we
are aware, we feel or act wrongly, and then we can
not fail of suffering from remorse."
"Do you ever do anything wrong?" Maggie
looked so incredulous, that Olive could scarcely
repress a smile, as she replied,-
୧
Oh, so often, Maggie; I sometimes wonder
at myself, that I do so often go astray, when I
know Christ will give me such constant aid if I
only ask Him. The trouble 18, I don't go to
Him for help, but try to walk in my own strength,
and that fails me.'
""
"Why, I thought you always remembered," said
Maggie. "I forget, but then I'm only a little
girl, and just beginning to learn the way; and I
thought that, when I got older and wiser, I
should find it easier to keep to the right always.
Do n't it grow any easier?"
Why, yes, Maggie; the more we try to live
close to Christ, the less likely are we to go astray,
News from Abroad.
189
and the easier we find it to do right; but I fancy
the best people in the world find life to be made
up of strivings and repentings, forgiveness re-
ceived and peace in being forgiven; but when we
reach heaven we shall never sin any more, and
the rest which remaineth for the people of God'
may be enriched by the consciousness that these
strivings against evil are ended."
Every good thing given us, and every evil
thing at once and forever absent;' something like
this I once read somewhere; then I did not think
much about it, but it crept in among the mem-
ories of pleasant sayings which I have gathered
up, and now, as I sit here day after day, with the
prospect of heaven so near at hand, it comes as a
glimpse of what I may some day hope to see
clearly."
""
"Dr Castleton wished me to hand this to you,"
said Mrs. Bernard, who had just returned from a
morning ride, as she passed a small box to
Olive.
190
Olive Loring's Mission.
Olive removed the cover, when a whiff of deli-
cate fragrance drifted out into the room, and,
with an exclamation of delight, she lifted fromn
their bed of moss two exquisite bouquets of
English violets. A slip of paper pinned to one
bore the words, "A prescription for Agnes, to
be taken immediately." Beside the other lay a
tiny note, addressed to Olive. Will Miss Lor-
ing," so it read, "please accept this little bit of
out - door sweetness, and also, if it be agreeable,
allow me the pleasure of her society for a drive
this afternoon ? "
ce
Olive handed the note to Agnes, who read it
aloud, with the remark, "That will be charming.
I've rode with him a few times, and found him
the prince of companions."
Maggie clapped her hands in glee, and added
her quota of encouraging words. "I'm glad
for you. I went once with him, and I thought
he must have had six pairs of eyes, for he saw
every beautiful thing there was to be seen."
News from Abroad.
191
"I think I'd better hand over my invitation to
you, Maggie. It hardly seems best for me to
go. I fear the doctor will find me a dull com-
panion."
"Oh, but you must go," said Maggie, ear-
nestly. "The doctor will be so much disappointed
if you do n't."
୧୯
Certainly you must go," Mrs. Bernard add-
ed. "I think it will do you good; we must n't
be selfish and keep you so closely with us that
you lose your roses. The doctor is a most
genial companion, and the ride, on such an after-
noon as this, will be delightful."
Thus the matter was settled.
Dr. Castleton must have been blind indeed not
to see loveliness in the face beside him, as
the May sunshine fell radiantly around them that
bright afternoon. The brown hair rippling back
from the white forehead,-the eyes luminous with
genuine content,-all the features warmed into
richer beauty by the crimson of the lips and the
A
192
Olive Loring's Mission.
delicate flush on the dimpled cheeks. The blend-
ed gray and blue which composed her bonnet and
dress harmonized wonderfully with the quiet air
of repose and tranquillity that marked look and
mien.
The doctor, self-possessed man as he was,
felt his heart fluttering in an unusual manner, as
he found himself for the first time alone with the
woman who was fast gaining the warmest place
in his heart. Olive, quite ignorant of his state of
mind, unwittingly increased his trouble by her
confiding friendliness.
The breeze blew freshly from the ocean as they
passed out from the quiet street wherein Mr.
Bernard's house was situated, through the great
business thoroughfares, into long, narrow, back
streets, with the splash of waves and the peculiar
freshness of the ocean air coming nearer and
nearer,-on to the ferry-boat, amid the tramp of
horses, the quick hurrying of foot passengers,
the rattling of chains, and the noisy jargon of
News from Abroad.
193
scores of voices that expressed all sorts of emo-
tion in as many different tones and ways.
Giving his horse into the care of a boy stand-
ing near, Dr. Castleton lifted Olive from the
carriage, and with her took his stand where the
eye could take in the whole broad expanse of
land and sea spread around them.
The busy
tumult of the city left behind, the multitude of
ocean craft of varied form and size, the lighthouse
far off in the hazy distance, the spires and ware-
houses on the shore they were nearing, the com-
ing of another boat from the opposite side, its
way marked by a long line of white foam, the
constant splash and toss of the water, linked in
with the whirr and beat of the engine,-all these
were new to Olive, and Dr. Castleton watched
her speaking face as the fairest study of all.
Again on shore, through the broad streets of the
island city, with its tiny squares, and narrow
gardens clothed in verdure, and dotted with
groups of daffodils and crocuses,-over the long
194
Olive Loring's Mission.
bridge with its outlook over ship-yards and pass-
ing vessels, through the pleasant ocean - washed
town, on and on till at last the boundless blue of
the great sea lay before them, with its long
stretch of sandy beach strewn with pebbles and
shells and seaweeds, lying amid crystals in the
rays of the sinking sun. Far on, the great white
breakers rose, line on line, striking with a regu-
lar, thunderous roll against the shore, and leaping
up on to the pebbly beach with a gurgle like glad
laughter.
There was little need of words. Olive sat
down with a mingling of awe and rapture, on a
weed-strewn rock, and the doctor threw himself on
the sand before her. Lower and lower sank the
sun, and then, from the eastern curve of the
horizon, rose the great round moon, its silvery
light stretching over the waters in great sheets of
brightness. Every moment the beauty and
grandeur increased, till Olive, no longer able
to repress her feelings, exclaimed, with clasp-
News from Abroad.
195
ed hands and eyes brimming over with happy
tears:
"And before the throne there was a sea of
glass like unto crystal.'
The doctor werk on as she paused. "Yonder
glory seems as fair as our ideas of the gateway of
heaven. I often wonder at our blindness when
God spreads before us so many glorious pictures ;
and we go on heedless of all these precious teach-
ings."
"And you believe, do n't you, that everything
good and lovable here is a type of something fairer
in heaven? I love to think so."
"Most certainly I do, Miss Loring; and when
in the old world I have stood side by side with
those who denied all knowledge of God, and
rejected a belief in his power and goodness, I have,
as with them I gazed on some wonderful monu-
ment of His skill, felt grieved to my inmost heart
that such beauty brought no answering throb of
adoring love. If it could only be that loving
196
Olive Loring's Mission.
the beautiful always ended in loving the Creator,
then would the highest end of all beauty be
fulfilled."
Now silent and now interchanging thoughts
welling up from hearts attunel to the time and
scene, the moments sped on, and at last, with one
long, lingering backward look, they started on
their homeward way.
"I must thank you," said the doctor as they
neared Mr. Bernard's, " for one of the happiest of
my afternoons."
Olive looked up in amazement, as she replied:
"The thanks should come from me. Your kind-
ness has brought to me a world of pleasant
memories, that will, should I live, gladden many
future hours."
"Nevertheless I persist in thinking myself
the one favored; your life seems such a mission
of self-forgetfulness and constant aim for others'
happiness, that there is real selfish pleasure in
doing something to give you enjoyment. Be-
News from Abroad.
197
sides, I like your way of enjoying the grand and
beautiful; it might teach many a wordy shallow-
brain a true lesson of real, silent admiration.
You have taught me more than one truth, that I
pray God may bless my coming days."
Dr. Castleton spoke in low, thrilling tones,
while his face, more eloquent than his words, told
Olive what, until this moment, she had never
suspected at all,-that she was making, all un-
knowing it, a nestling place for her image in the
noble heart beside her. A sudden pang swept
through her inmost soul. Not for the world
would she wittingly give him pain; and yet with
one like him, so fervent and earnest, the evil
might be already accomplished. If he only knew
about Paul; but how could she tell him? Would
he not look upon such uncalled - for confidence as
ill-timed and unmaidenly?
As in a dream, she responded to the doctor's
parting words, in which he expressed the hope
that this afternoon might be one among many
198
Olive Loring's Mission.
that they should enjoy together, felt the warm
grasp of his hand, and then went slowly in, to
be greeted as she entered her room by the fra-
grance of the violets which his kindness had
provided. Just a minute she paused for a little
simple prayer, that, as she had tried to make it
her aim to bring all the real happiness she could
to other lives, she might not now be left to cause
sorrow; then she joined the family in Agnes'
room.
"I can
see the blue waves and hear their
splashing, as you talk," said Agnes, as she told
of the glorious beauty of the ocean scenes she had
been viewing; while Maggie questioned,
"Did n't I tell you that the doctor was a splendid
man to ride with? he knows and sees so much."
It was evident that they dreamed of no shadow
to darken this pleasant acquaintance.
worry herself over what might after all never be?
at any rate she would try to do right and leave it
all with God.
Why

CHAPTER XIII.
UNDER-CURRENTS.

LIVE had ever manifested so deep
an interest in Jessie's work, and had so
constantly encouraged her efforts, that
the girl felt the absence of her friend
as a great privation, and often grew weary in the
midst of her labors. Confined to her room and
chair, she lacked the healthy outdoor friction
which gives vigor to both mind and body, and
was thus inclined to yield to a morbid sensitivc-
mess from which a stronger and better balanced
body would not have suffered.
Often, in these times of weariness and despond-
ency, Olive's coming, Olive's words, the very
200
Olive Loring's Mission.
atmosphere of intense vitality that seemed her
native breath, acted like a mental stimulant to the
girl, and she missed her sorely, — all the more
now that Donald had gone back to his studies,
and Louisa was absent on a visit to friends among
the hills of Vermont.
The energy with which she threw herself into
the work of writing her second book, told on her
strength; and as the lonelier she became the closer
she held herself to her work, a fitful feverishness
often rendered her days burdensome and “her
nights sleepless. Poor child! There was no
one to whisper caution and urge a careful guard-
ing of strength. As she grew daily more irri-
table and full of morbid notions, she fancied
herself losing all her hold on the Saviour's help-
ing hand, and sometimes doubted even if she was
really His follower, not knowing that the physic-
al reacts on the spiritual, and that a neglect of
the laws of health is a sure forerunner of mental
and spiritual disturbance.
Under - Currents.
201
In the frequent letters which passed between
Olive and herself, she often expressed inany of
these feelings, and, though not comprehending
the whole extent of Jessie's needs, Olive often
hit upon just the right vein of consolation.
"Under - currents of strength," Jessie called
the letters of her friend, and so, though absent,
Olive was yet fulfilling her mission, by helping
the little overtasked worker. As she better un-
derstood her needs, she influenced Jessie to greater
attention to recreation, by giving some of her
time to the pictures she was now neglecting; she
also suggested that she call about her half a dozen
happy young hearts, and, now singing with
them, now showing them the simpler methods of
picture-making, make herself the center of health
and cheerful life. Besides gaining the confidence
and love of these little ones, she would herself
enjoy the consciousness of having made others
happy, and thus grow stronger and better con-
tented.
202
Olive Loring's Mission.
Little by little Jessie took the great truths
home, and tried to mold her life by them, clinging
all the closer to the bond of affection which linked
her heart to Olive's.
We will let Louisa speak for herself. She
wrote thus:
"MY GOOD ANGEL, OLIVE:-
"You can never guess the great amount of good you have
done me. Ambitious for great things, I neglected lesser ones,
and might have gone on in this neglect, had it not been for
your guiding words and the sweet lesson of your daily life,
faithful to the call of every duty, even the humblest. Indeed,
I sometimes fancy the humblest ones attract you first, for the
very reason that they are so likely to be neglected. Faith-
ful in little things, it seems as though God were widening your
ways, and giving you greater and greater opportunities for
doing good. I have had much time to think of all this since I
have been here. The days pass very quietly; the only real en-
livening element has been sugar - making, whích I have enjoy-
ed as a novelty of sweetness.
"You speak of your pleasant acquaintance with Dr. Castleton.
Here I am, in one sense, even with you. I found as an inmate
in my uncle's family, a physician, who, if he lacks the grace
which polish, travel, and the constant society of cultured in-
tellects confer, yet rides over these hills like a monarch about
his realm, and has stood by the side of so many sick beds, that
the very sound of his horse's feet seems to win recognition and
welcome.
Under- Currents.
203
"Did you ever think how much good a physician has it in his
power to do, besides his efforts to win back health to the sick
and suffering? I never thought so much about it as since I
have had daily opportunity to mark the constantly recurring
littles by which Dr. Williston makes his life a power for good.
You and he would be kindred spirits. I have changed my
opinion somewhat. I now think you are especially fitted to
be a doctor's wife; you'd help his cures wonderfully by
your skill in gathering sunshine for people. Dr. Williston
often reminds me of you. He remarked, the other day, that
he believed God often tried our skill and willingness by first
giving us little things to do, and thus proving us, ere he gave
us more ample work. I wish I could remember this, for I am
constantly longing for some great thing to accomplish. You
will think I am always writing on one theme. The truth is, I
am so continually tried with my own weakness that I get dis-
couraged. I somehow feel like reaching out my hands to you,
as the best earthly help God has provided me. God and this
poor heart of mine only can know how much you have helped
me, though you will say, I fear, that I have been a very poor
learner.
"But I was about to tell you of what was to me a very pleas-
ant incident. Not long after I came here, I went one evening
to ride with Dr. Williston. I think he saw I needed a lesson,
for I had been reading that day a very interesting account of
Mrs. Ware, and the great amount of good she accomplished,
and somehow I was woefully disheartened and well - nigh
ready to find fault with my lowly fate. I presume I showed
my feelings in some way; if not, the doctor guessed them, for
he has a wonderful faculty of reading one's thoughts. At tea
time he asked me if I would like to ride with him during the
evening. You know how well I like sleigh-riding, so you can
*
204
Olive Loring's Mission.
guess what my answer was. The roads were hardly trodden,
after one of those still, damp snow-storms that leave the
snow in white, feathery heaps, wherever there is a point for
it to rest; and the moon was near its full, a great ball of
glory, amid the white fleeciness of the clouds, with here and
there a star set into the deep blue of the sky; the air was still,
but cool as though it had blown over ice - fields. I was well
wrapped, and did not care for the cold. We made two or three
calls among the farm-houses scattered here and there, and
then, as the doctor dashed down a by-path evidently made by
the lumbermen, he said, 'I will give you a glimpse of life a
little different, perhaps, from any you have heretofore seen.
There is a camp of wood-choppers in the forest, on the banks
of the river, and I have a patient there.' My curiosity was ex-
cited, and I think the selfish repining that had reigned in my
heart all day lost a little of its hold. By and by our way led
amid the unbroken smoothness of a broad, level field, dotted
here and there with single trees, and neither house nor other
symptom of human life in sight. I could think of nothing save
the snow-covered steppes of Russia. Just as I spoke of this
to Dr. Williston, the deep bay of a dog broke into the still-
ness so suddenly that I gave a perceptible start. The doctor
has a rarely merry laugh, and it joined its music now to the
peal of the sleigh-bells, as he asked me, if I thought that the
howl of a wolf, that I jumped so? When we entered the forest
path, the snow came sifting down from the heaps that lay like
immense blossoms among the branches of the pines and hem-
locks, and the moonlight, shining through, gave such a silvery
luster to the whole, that, as we glided by, it seemed almost as
if we were catching glimpses of the dimly lit aisles of some
vast cathedral.
"The camp was an enormous, log-built, slab-roofed building,
Under- Currents.
205
partly set into the side hill, just where the sun would shine in
most freely, on the southern slope, above the river bank.
Great icicles, huge enough for a giant's spear, hung from the
low eaves, and the faint gleam of a light shone out from the
uncurtained windows.
"After the doctor passed in, I sat busily wondering how peo-
ple could content themselves with such a life, when he came
out and asked if I would not like to go in and sit by the fire,
as he might have to stay some time? It was a strange looking
place. There was a roaring fire in the huge stove. They
kindly gave me a seat on a rough bench, of which there were
many scattered about. The room was large and dimly lighted.
There were several women and children; one, a dear little in-
fant of a few months, who came fearlessly to me, her beauti-
ful black eyes sparkling with baby glee. On a bed in the
corner lay the doctor's patient, an old man, and evidently very
sick. Groups of workmen, who all day long had filled the
forests with the sound of chopping, sat silent as statues, or
crept noiselessly out into other apartments. At the head of
the bed, a rude cross testified to an effort on the part of some
one to lead the sick man's thoughts to sacred things. Hardly
any of these people could speak English, and my French was
not very valuable in keeping up a conversation; so I had to
confine my remarks to the mother of the baby, a pretty, girlish-
looking little woman, with such a diffident eagerness to pre-
serve due matronly reserve, and yet let her own sunny heart
show its real gladness at having somebody to admire her baby,
and talk with her about her home interests and the quiet
beauty surrounding her dwelling. She was a devout little
Catholic, that I could see; and I felt ashamed of myself at
her nothing-doubting trust, when I, with my purer faith and
clearer knowledge, was so often desponding. I asked, as she
206
Olive Loring's Mission.
prattled on of her kind husband and many comforts,-' But
don't you get tired, and wish you were in a different place?
and when you have so many men and so much noise around
you, don't you long for a quiet little home, with only your
own husband and child?'
"Her answer was a lesson: 'Why, don't you see, the more
folks there are about, the more there are to do good to, and
make happy; and then my mother used to tell me, when I was
a wee bit of a girl, that it did n't do one mite of good to worry
about what I could n't help; 'twas always best to take things
as they came. I hope, if we're prospered, that Louis and I
shall have a home of our own some time, when baby gets big
enough to be learning. I do want to have her know more
about books than I do; but she's too little for that yet, and
now she's doing good here, for they all call her the sunbeam.
Pierre, that's one of the men,-called her so one day, and
now they all like the name. Yes, little Sunbeam,' she con-
tinued, rapturously kissing her baby, 'we're very happy, and
papa says so, too.'
"Plut au ciel que nous ne fussions jamais plus malheureux,'
said a pleasant voice near us, and the little woman lifted her
head with a proud smile, as she said, 'That is my husband. If
baby is a little sunbeam, he's a big one; he's always saying
something happy;' and the great, broad-shouldered fellow
smiled back again, bowed with a certain rude grace to me, and
went away on some errand into another room for the doctor.
"What do you think of such living as that?' Dr. Williston
asked, as we were on our way toward home.
"I should hardly call it living,' I answered; 'it's only
staying. How I pity that poor man, to be sick in such a
place.'
"He has the tenderest care; there's not one there, even the
Under- Currents.
207
roughest of them, but would make any sacrifice for his comfort.'
"Then that little woman; she seems happy, but I do n't see
how she can be; she looked too refined for such a life.'
Oh, little Dame Dupce; never you fear; there's no feigned
happiness there, she's the busiest little honey - gatherer I ever
saw. Nobody could have the blues where she is. I never saw
her like; devout little Catholic as she is, and blinded by some
of the dogmas of that impure faith, she is yet, I sincerely
believe, a true Christian at heart, and has done more good
among that gang of men than any preacher could have done.
They say there's not one but has given her the promise to keep
from swearing and drunkenness; and Sundays, as there's no
church of their faith in the region, she reads to them, and
sings, till sometimes, when I've been there of a Sabbath even-
ing, as I've had occasion to do several times, I have felt that,
as far as God had given her light, she was a rare missionary.
And now, Miss Louisa, there's one pleasant thing more I want
to tell you, Mrs. Dupee told me. One day, as she was chatter-
ing in her happy way of the wonderful blessings God had
given her, she spoke of having worked in the factory when
she was a little girl, and of how she became sick, and a kind
lady found her a place in a farmer's family in a beautiful vil-
lage called Lakeville, and how there was a sweet young lady, a
neighbor's daughter, taught her to read, and gave her several
books, and was always talking to her about finding something
to do for others, and how much happier doing kindnesses made
19; so that, when her father moved away, she carried with
her the blessing of knowing how to read, besides the settled
purpose in her heart of trying to follow the example of this
kiud young friend, who, she verily believed was as good as
many of the saints, and if she was only a Catholic, would surely
be sainted. The lady's name was Olive Loring, and, since you
have been here, I am convinced that the friend whose life of
208
Olive Loring's Mission.
active usefulness you so often mention, has been leading that
young heart into many sunny paths, even if they be humble
ones. She told me, the other day, that old Mrs. Logue, the
wife of one of the men, never hears her mention Miss Loring's
name, or sees one of the books she gave her, without crossing
herself, as when she says her prayers. You see here the
fruits of taking up little duties, Miss Louisa. You said, to-day,
you grew hungry for something to do. I wanted to have you
see this contented little French woman, and to see also the
fruit that has come from the seed your friend planted. And
then, too, I would like, if you will not be offended, to repeat
to you a poem that I love very much. It is called, I believe,
Your Mission, and is a mine of truth.'
"I can not reproduce the wonderful sweetness which he threw
into the lines; but, as he has since given me a copy, I will
write them out here for you. I feel certain you will think
them beautiful.
"Here they are:
If
you can not on the ocean
Sail among the swiftest fleet,
Rocking on the highest billows,
Laughing at the storms you meet;
You can stand among the sailors,
Anchored yet within the bay,
You can lend a hand to help them
As they launch their boats away.
'If you are too weak to journey
Up the mountain stcep so high,
You can stand within the valley
While the multitude goes by;
You can chant in happy measure
As they slowly march along;
Under Currents.
209
Though they may forget the singer,
They will not forget the song.
'If you have not gold and silver
Ever ready to command,
If you can not toward the needy
Reach an ever open hand,
You can visit the afflicted,
Oe'r the erring you can weep,
You can be a true disciple,
Sitting at the Savionr's feet.
'If you can not in the conflict
Prove yourself a soldier true,
If where fire and smoke are thickest
There's no work for you to do;
When the battle - field is silent,
You can go with careful tread,
You can bear away the wounded,
You can cover up the dead.
'Do not, then, stand idly waiting
For some greater work to do,
Fortune is a lazy goddess,
She will never come to you;
Go and toil in any vineyard,
Do not fear to do and dare,
If you want a field of labor,
You can find it anywhere.'
"It seemed to me that all this is just what you are doing; and,
Olive, I do think I've tried since that night to keep my eyes
open for little opportunities; and while years perhaps must
go by before Donald and I can take up the great work to
which we hope we may be called, I won't be so much of an
}
210
Olive Loring's Mission.
idler as I have been. As mother thinks she can spare me, I
hope now I shall remain here, and teach the summer's school,
and then, may be, if God permits, go back to my studies in the
autumn. The doctor says, a summer among these hills will
be a good investment in the bank of health, and that there's
lots of good can be done here besides. You will be surprised
at this long cpistle, no doubt, but I have written at odd
moments, rather than tell it by installments in my regular
letters.
"I almost forgot to add that I've been more then once, since
that night, to visit the little French woman. You ought to have
seen her delight, when I made known to her my acquaintance
with you, and the eager rapture with which she listened to my
tidings. I found, too, that little Sunbeam's real name is
Olive, and you may well be proud of your namesake, for
she's pretty and bright enough to be a princess royal.
Won't you write to the woman? I know she would
be perfectly delighted. Aunty is calling me to tea, so once more
adieu.
LOUISA."
To say that Olive was not extremely pleased
at the contents of this letter would be somewhat
of a deviation from the truth, and she not only
gladdened Mrs Dupee's heart by a letter, but
enclosed a photograph of herself, while Maggie,
who was much interested in the story, insisted on
sending a string of coral for the little baby
Olive.
When Olive wrote to her mother of the
Under - Currents.
211
tidings she had received of her quondam pupil,
Joe very irreverently added a postscript to
his mother's answer, in which he expressed
the idea that this was an instance of bread
cast on the waters and returning after many
days, buttered, and so she had better keep on with
her doing good.

CHAPTER XIV.
HOME PICTURES.

ой
OWARD the last of May, Olive
went home for a visit.
Joe and John
were very anxious she should see how
nicely their farming and gardening oper-
Olive had never before
ations were going on.
been so long absent from home, and so was
equally desirous to see and hear whatever was of
interest.
It was evening before she reached home, but,
late as it was, Joe lighted a lantern and insisted
that she must go out and view the hot - beds of
their own manufacture. Olive's
words of praise
were by no means stinted, and they were as well
Home Pictures.
213
deserved as they were abundant, for the boys
were doing finely.
It's all owing to you, Olive."
Joe spoke
ee If you
earnestly, and John nodded approval.
had n't helped and encouraged us last year to
have our garden look so well, it would never
have been noticed; and our vegetables would not
have attracted attention at the Fair, if it had n't
been for your nice way of fixing them. You
merit all the praise, and I'm glad to hand over my
share to you."
"So am I," echoed John; "and those little
books you sent us have been lots of help. That
one, Farming by Inches,' is splendid. Emma
has read it so much, I did n't know as there
would be anything left of it.”
୯
"I liked My ten - rod farm,' best of all," in-
terrupted Emma. "Bessie and I often wish we
were big enough and rich enough to have a green-
house."
"The children have all enjoyed the books very
214
Olive Loring's Mission.
much," said Mrs. Loring; "and they have served
also as a source of encouragement to them. I
think, with them, that you have
guide of the whole company.
really been the
What you have
said, and would say, has been often upon their
tongues. If every elder sister only used her
power as wisely as you do, there would be more
useful and united households than are now seen ;
of that I am certain."
"O mother, mother! You all love me so well,
you magnify whatever of good I may do, and are
so charitable over my wrongs, there is clearly
danger of my thinking myself without faults."
"No danger at all, Olive; you won't think
any such thing, for you won't be likely to think
about yourself very much, any way. I trust our
praise won't harm you; so don't worry." John
was n't usually as much of a talker as Joe, but
this time he spoke first; and with a feeling that no
one was ever quite so richly blessed as she was,
Olive once more laid herself down to rest in her
Home Pictures.
215
own especial little room, and slept the sleep of
quietness and trust.
By the noon of the next day, she laughingly de-
clared her readiness to be distributed in fragments
among her friends, as she was wanted in so many
directions at the self-same moment.
Seems to me the sun never did shine quite so
brightly before." This from Bessie, who had
hurried home from school so eagerly, that her
hot little face bore evidence of the warmth of the
sun's rays, if not of their brightness. She went
on: "Miss Gray said my lessons were better
than usual, and I'm marked perfect every day,
so she meant this for pretty high praise; and I
told her 't was just because my sister had come
home, and everything was easier for that. The
lessons really seemed to learn themselves."
"What did Miss Gray say to that?" asked
Emma.
"Oh, she just gave me one of her kisses, and
said she wished she could see her sister, she
216
Olive Loring's Mission.
thought everything would go easier for her then.”
"Sisters like Olive are blessings." Emma
took Olive for her pattern, and thought her per-
fection.
"I almost forgot," exclaimed Bessie. "Aunt
Hannah Johnson stopped me when I came by,
and wanted me to tell you, that she was really
*hankering after a sight o' your sweet face;' that's
just what she said, only I can't give the words
the queer sound she gives them.'
""
"I must go and see her by and by," decided
Olive; " and there is Jessie, too, she will be look-
ing for me to - night, if she knows I have reached
home."
"I declare!" exclaimed Joe, as they seated
themselves at the dinner table, "this does seem
like election, Fourth of July, Christmas and New
Year's, all clustering round a glorious Thanks-
giving; 't ain't been so jolly since Olive went
away."
"Throw in May - day and all our birthdays,
Home Pictures.
217
and even then you haven't half expressed it,"
answered Emma. And so passed one beautiful,
golden day. Just at its close Olive went to call
on Aunt Hannah Johnson, who welcomed her
young friend with looks and words of delight.
The old lady was very pleasantly situated, and,
day by day, fervent prayers for blessings to rest
on the two young hearts that had so thoughtfully
wrought out her present comfort, went drifting
heavenward from her grateful soul.
"I heard you'd come," she went on, when
Olive had been duly installed in the best rocking -
chair, after the cushion had received the proper
amount of shaking and patting, and the good old
lady's apron had wiped off every speck of the
imaginary dust from the stand whereon Olive's
hat was laid. “I heard of it this morning; some
of the school children told of it, and I did want to
set my eyes on you to - day. I said to Miss
Barker, ses I, 'Miss Barker, if that blessed creetur
only knows how much I want to see her, she'll
218
Olive Loring's Mission.
come, I'm sartin o' that;' so I jest stopped that
little sister o' yourn, who's growin' to be the
image o' you, to tell you how I hoped you'd come,
and then we both fixed up to see you.
I've kept
this cap you gave me to wear on special occasions,
and this seeing o' you is one, to be sure."
"And I'm glad to see you," Olive said; "and
glad to see you so well and happy, though I knew
you'd be happy with Mrs. Barker; one could n't
help it," casting, as she spoke, a bright, loving
glance at the sunny - faced old lady who sat plac-
idly knitting near. Mrs. Barker answered,-
"I'm the one to be thankful.
I have n't been
so happy since my John died, as since Miss
Johnson came here; she's one
she's one of the Lord's
blessed ones, that I feel sure of; and
of; and you did
me more good than you did her when you
planned to have her come here."
Thus with mutual congratulations and kindly
words the hour passed; and Olive wished Aunt
Hetty could but see the sweet contentment that
Home Pictures.
219
lighted Aunt Hannah's wrinkled face,-that she
might know how unjust her assertion had been,
that she would be as happy at the Alms-house
as anywhere. An unspoken desire crept into
her breast as she bade her aged friends adieu, .
and bent her steps toward Jessie's home, that
Paul might but be there to crown her happy day
by his presence, but she laid the wish away to
rest, and carried a happy face into the lame girl's
room. To her surprise she found Effie at home
also, with such an array of work spread around,
as somewhat to arouse Olive's curiosity.
Ce
I've been watching for you all day," was
Jessie's first greeting; and Jessie indeed looked
the yearning she had all day felt for the vivifying
presence of her friend. "I have missed you so
much, and then I've blamed myself for being so
selfish, for I knew you was doing good; but I
needed you, too."
"And I've come to answer your need if I can;
and glad indeed am I to see you; my thoughts
*
220
Olive Loring's Mission.
have been with you very often," returned Olive.
"I have n't seen a copy of your book yet."
Jessie opened a drawer in the table beside her,
and placed in Olive's hand a small volume,
which she took from it. On the title page was
written: "Olive Loring; from one who looks
upon her as
a sure foreshadowing of what the
heavenly companionship must be."
ee Will you
accept it?" she whispered.
"I did want to
dedicate the book to you, but somehow there
seemed too much of sacredness in such a friend-
ship as mine for you, to admit of idle critics talk-
ing it over."
Olive felt the tears fill her eyes, as she bent
over Jessie and kissed her, with warm thanks for
the precious gift, and the still more precious af-
fection; and then as she felt the tremor of Jessie's
frail physical frame, she divined how lonely and
weary the girl's heart had often grown, and de-
termined, if possible, to break the spell that
seemed to enslave her.

Jessie opened a drawer in the table beside her and placed in
Olive's hand a small volume. Page 220.
Home Pictures.
221
"I wonder what all this means!" she said,
glancing at Effie's piles of work. A warm blush
dyed the cheeks of the elder sister, and Jessie
answered, archly,-
"Why, the truth is, Effie has concluded to
leave her situation and take a new one; and as
Ned Morris has come to the same resolve, they
have agreed to go together."
What, the young Mr. Morris who is Mr.
Newton's clerk?"
"Yes, he is the very one.
دو
"He's a fine young man, Effie.
I rejoice for
you; you will have a good man for your compan-
ion if you marry him, and you will be as true a
wife for him; of that I'm sure."
"I hope you will stay at home till after the
wedding," Jessie went on, a questioning glance
lighting up her sweet face.
"How far distant is that?"
"A fortnight from today; and there will be
but a few friends here, our rooms are so small;
J
222
Olive Loring's Mission.
but we've been hoping you would be at home. I
was going to write you in my very next letter, but
Effie did not wish to have me mention it till she
came home, and she only came yesterday.
This
sister of mine has a great horror of being talked
about."
"I think I can make my plans to stay. And
now about the second book; have you finished
it ? "
"Yes, and sent it off last week. I have not
found it so easy writing a second volume as I did.
the first. Sometimes I felt that I could never
succeed in writing anything that would be ac-
cepted, and now and then laid down my pen,
totally discouraged; then something would bid
me go on. Often this encouraging whisper came
to me through the medium of your letters, and I
would go to work again; but if others criticise
my book half as severely as I did myself, it will
have a hard fate."
"You worked too hard; and, looking through
Home Pictures.
223
the atmosphere of your weariness, things looked
dark; that was all, depend upon it. I hope your
book will prove a greater success than the other
did, and I have faith that it will. You must
rest a while now. You've over- worked, and
must have a play - time."
"I'm trying to help Effie a little, but I salt
down some of my work in selfish tears; for I think
how lonely I shall feel when she goes, and I know
that she has gone to stay,-to have another
home."
"Not selfish tears, darling, but loving ones;"
and Effie, throwing down her work, went to her
sister's side, and, smoothing the bright hair from
her temples, tried by tender words to allay the
feeling of sadness that was fast stealing over
both their hearts.
In a little while Joe came to walk home with
his sister, and Olive left the two girls, deter-
mined to put into practical form some plan for
leaving Jessie less time for lonely musing, and
224
Olive Loring's Mission.
giving her more of the stimulus of cheerful so-
ciety.
One pleasant afternoon gathered in its compass.
a call at Mrs. Lancaster's, and an equally pleas-
ant interview with the Bentleys; and at last the
week rounded into completion, and the Sabbath
dawned with its air of rest and its summons to the
house of God. What a homelike feeling threw
its spell over Olive's heart as she took her wonted
seat among friends and companions in the choir!
In through the open windows floated the breath
of the apple blossoms, and she thought how,
with God's help, we might make our lives as
fragrant with the bud and bloom of a faithful en-
deavor, and her soul lifted a silent prayer for di-
vine aid. Right into the midst of the singing fell
fragments of bird melody, as the orioles, like
scraps of golden sunshine, flitted back and forth
in the branches of the elm, that lifted itself sen-
tinel - like, beside the church. Dear Mr. Leon-
-
ard's words of loving entreaty and tender com-
Home Pictures.
225
passion fell from his lips as drops from the very
fountain of truth, refreshing and quickening his
listeners.
"Jesus only" was his theme, and speaker's anď
listeners' eyes
eyes alike grew dim with tears as he told
of one, an earnest young gospel minister, who,
as he stood in his pulpit for the last time, took
these two words as his text, from which to tell
his hearers the old and yet ever new story of
Christ as a redeeming Saviour; and then the
next day, girding on his sword, went out with
loved ones from his own congregation, and fell
on the field of battle, fighting for right and
country, dying just as the sun dawned on the
morning of his twenty-seventh birthday, with
the words he so loved," Jesus only,"-lingering
last on his lips, and left as a precious legacy to
his friends.
er The dear old times have come back;" so the
young Lorings declared, when, as the twilight
gathered around them, they sat in the hush, and
226
Olive Loring's Mission.
sang the hymns they all loved, and which to the
older members of the group were linked with the
holiest memories.
The days glided away swiftly, and, one pleas-
ant June morning, when the bob -o -links seemed
going crazy with delight over whole fields of crim-
son and white clover blossoms, and the growths
of May were putting on a deeper emerald, Effie
Campbell stood up in the little room devoted to
Jessie, and said the words which joined her fate
with that of another for weal or woe.
The plain little room was fair with its twining
wreaths and wealth of flowers, the bride in her
blooming loveliness, and Jessie in her easy chair,
her pale face shining out like a star amid her
white deckings.
"You will stay all day with me, won't you,
Olive dear?" pleaded Jessie, as one by one the
guests departed, after the two so lately given to
each other had gone. And Olive, laying aside
the hat she was about putting on, felt that per-
Home Pictures.
227 ·
haps her duty that day lay in that little room, and
strove to lead Jessie's thoughts away from her
own loneliness to pleasanter themes.
I have a plan which I think will serve you.
I have talked the matter over with some half doz-
en of the most cultivated people in the village,
and they have agreed to form themselves into a
class, and meet once a week and read selections
from any of our best authors they may choose;
and if you would like to have them, they will
meet here with you.'
""
"How good you are! how good everybody is
to me! That is just what I have wished I could
enjoy; but thought it must be, like so many other
pleasant things, only a dream."
And
"Well, I trust you'll find it a reality.
still another thing. Mr. Leonard says he will
appoint a prayer-meeting here occasionally, if you
would like the plan, and they all said they would
try and bring some of the joys of outside life to
you, if you could n't go to them. Esq. Grant
228
Olive Loring's Mission.
said your book was a great success for one so
young to achieve, and that it could never be other-
wise than wholesome to any one, and that is
much more than can be said of many of the books
written for the young. And he added, that his
library was at your service, and he should do
himself the honor to furnish you with a list of
what his shelves contain, and would gladly bring
you any you may select."
re
"O Olive, Olive! I am thankful; so thankful;
and yet every word you say makes me feel more
and more wicked. If I did n't think you'd de-
spise me, I'd tell you how wrong I've been feel-
ing."
Jessie laid her flushed cheek on Olive's shoul-
der, and then in her low and now peculiarly mourn-
ful tones went on: "I know it is wrong to mur-
mur, and I know, too, I have a great many bless-
ings. I sometimes think that nobody ever had
quite so many kindnesses as I do; but it has
seemed to me, since Effie has been so
happy get-
Home Pictures.
229
ting ready to go away, and especially when Ned
has been here, and to-day when they looked so
contented and happy together, that I never real-
ized how different I am from other people. I
can't look forward to having any one to love and
care for me, as Ned does for Effie. I can't make
anybody's home happy. I can't be anything but
a lonely woman all my life. O Olive, is it
wicked for me to feel badly when I think of all
this?" and the girl's words merged into tremu-
lous sobs, and her convulsive weeping shook her
frame like an aspen. Olive held her closely in
silence for a few minutes, while her heart sent up
a quick call for help in speaking comfort; and
then she said, very tenderly,-
"No, darling, I don't think it is wicked for
you to have these feelings; it is but natural that
you should have them; the wrong will be in let-
ting them overshadow other hopes and blessings
left you; and that you won't do, I'm sure."
"But to be helpless and lonely all my life; you
230
Olive Loring's Mission.
can't realize how I feel when I think about it.”
Ce
But, Jessie, you 're very young yet"-
And that is what makes it seem all the hard-
er, never to go out among people any more,
always to be helpless, and have people speak of
me in pity, instead of love."
୧୯
Jessie, you mustn't talk like that. You have
hosts of friends who love you, and if they pity
you, it is because they first felt a love for you.
What I began to say was, you are young yet,
and may get better; doctors are sometimes mis-
taken; and one thing I have been wishing to pro-
pose to you, is to submit to an examination by
some noted surgeon. I feared to arouse hopes
that might be doomed to disappointment; and
then, besides, you might have to suffer a great
deal"
"I would be willing to suffer anything, if I
could only get well. Do you think there is any
chance for me?"
"I do n't know, and I hesitated about saying
Home Pictures.
231
anything lest I might be wrong. We must leave
that with God. He will do just what He sees is
best for you. I think His having blessed your
efforts with your pen is one way of comforting
you, and you must think over all the good things
He is crowding into your days, when you get
lonely, and the way looks long and dark before
you. You were trying to do what you felt was
a duty when this trouble came upon you. There
are none of your friends but would rejoice if
they could bring back health and strength to you;
but mingled with the pity you say you don't
want, is a large proportion of pride in your
bravely earned success, and a real admiration
for your patience. Now, Jessie, darling, can't
you go on being patient, and leave all these long-
ings for what you have been led to believe can't
be, in His hands who never errs?"
"He knows just how fretful and fault - finding
I've been," said Jessie, mournfully.
"Yes, He knows all about it, and is more
232
Olive Loring's Mission.
ready to forgive and comfort than you are tc
have Him. For we have not an high priest
which can not be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as
we are, yet without sin. Let us, therefore, come
boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may ob-
tain mercy, and find grace to help in time of
need.' This is your hour, your real time of
need, and He will do more than you ask of Him,
if you go aright."
"You've made me feel better, Olive; and now
please forget how foolish I am, and I'll try to
keep from plunging into the shadows, when I
ought to walk in the light. I will try to be
whatever God chooses to have me; I will try to
leave it all with God."
Do you know what I am going to prescribe
for you, now?"
"No, indeed; something wise, I'm sure, from
your look."
Well, I want you to lie down and rest.
I'll
}
Home Pictures.
233
draw the curtains to shade the light just
right, give you this white rose for a bedfellow,
and little Jenny Wren, who is so merry out in
the apple tree, may sing you to sleep while I go
to the Post-office and see if we are to be blessed
with letters."
And so with a smile and a kiss Olive left the
now tranquil girl to an hour of rest, and went out
into the sunshine, still thinking over what Jessie
had told her; and though she had tried to cheer
her, it did seem a dreary life for a loving little
woman to anticipate; and as usual she mingled
with her thoughts an effort to plan something that
should aid and cheer her. "I'll tell Dr. Castle-
ton about her, and see what he thinks of her
case," she said half aloud; and then her fancies
took a new turn, and she was wishing she had
brought home her "Patience Strong's Outings,"
when she came from the city, there were so many
dear, sweet lessons to be learned from its pages;
Jessie might find something just suited to her
&
234
Olive Loring's Mission.
needs. At the Office she found a bright letter
from Maggie, and a package for Jessie, with a
letter and magazine.
Maggie was urgent to know when they should
look for her return, and added, "I do want to
tell you something beautiful. Agnes says I
mustn't, that we want the pleasure of seeing the
light creep into your eyes, and the smile about
your lips, when we tell you; so I'll only hint at
something very full of what we hope will be hap-
piness.'
When Olive went softly into Jessie's room,
she found her asleep with a peaceful smile about
the patient little mouth, and she crept out
again to find Mrs. Campbell, who was busy amid
her household duties. Sitting down in the
shaded door - way, she beguiled the chatty Scotch
woman into what Olive enjoyed,-a talk about
Scotland, and at last, when Jessie's bell sum-
moned her, she ended the conversation with,-
"I shall always believe, Mrs. Campbell, that
Home Pictures.
235
there is some Scotch blood in my veins, for I
do so love whatever appertains to the land of
Burns and Scott."
When Jessie was once more in her easy chair,
Olive produced what she had brought from the
Office, and with much curiosity the two opened
the bundle. It contained the manuscript of a
story Jessie had sent away to a Boston publisher
some months previous, and a copy of "Patience
Strong's Outings ;" the letter gave an explanation.
"Thank you," so it read, "for the pleasure which
the perusal of your story has given me.
sorry to say, however, that it is not just the style
of story to stand alone; it will do better for a
magazine article. Don't be discouraged, and
allow me to show my sympathy and appreciation
by begging you to accept this volume as an ad-
dition to your library."
I am
"Just what I was wishing you could read,"
and," Is n't he a kind and thoughtful man?"
were the simultaneous exclamations of the two
236
Olive Loring's Mission.
girls; and if the earnest worker who makes the
sunshine he loves to walk in all the more radiant
by bringing cheer to other hearts, could have
known all the pleasant talk and still pleasanter
fancies that grew out of his kindly deed, he would
have felt that this was indeed what Jessie pro-
nounced it," A real true Outing," and would
have found himself richly repaid.
"What with you and the publisher, the day
has ended happily after all," was Jessie's fare-
well.

CHAPTER XV.
DOWN BY THE SEA.

།
OW what do you suppose our
grand secret is?" asked Maggie, the
evening after Olive returned from her
home visit.
"I can not guess, I'm s
me," answered Olive.
I'm sure; you
you'll have to tell
"Well, father went to Gloucester last week,
and engaged a boarding place with a nice old lady,
and we're all going there the middle of July;
father says, the first of the month, if we can only
get ready."
"The doctor says he thinks I shall be better
238
Olive Loring's Mission.
there than in the city," added Agnes.
will enjoy it, won't you?'
ee You
A glow, like the heart of one of those rose
tinted shells brought from the South Seas, burned
in Olive's cheeks, a deep delight settled into her
words, as she answered, "No wonder Maggie
called it a hint of something delightful. I am
child enough to say that the very thought is pleas-
ure to me."
"Mother and you, and Agnes and I, are to go
and stay; we are to take Nora with us, and Kate
and Bridget are to be left, to take care of things.
Kate is thoroughly faithful you know; and father
will come out once a week, and perhaps oftener.
At any rate, he will spend his Sundays with us.”
Maggie was growing eloquent in her anticipations
as she went on. "And Dr. Castleton will come
out often; as he
has promised." Her recital of
what they hoped, was cut short by the appearance
of the doctor himself, whose first salutation was,-
"What mischief are you concocting now, Miss
Down by the Sea.
239
Maggie, and by what right are you employing
my name in your planning?
""
Maggie, with whom the gentleman was prime
favorite, laughingly explained, while the doctor
turned to Olive with a warm greeting.
"We have missed you sorely," he added; "and
it has seemed as though there never was a time
when there were so many rare flowers and beauti-
ful paintings and other things worth the seeing,
as since you went home; we have wanted you con-
tinually."
Before the doctor left, Olive spoke of Jessie,
and found an attentive listener; giving as plain
an account as she could, and repeating what her
physicians had said of her case, she told her own
settled wish, that she might see other and abler
practitioners, before she settled down into the
belief that a cure was impossible. Dr. Castle-
ton sat silent as she closed her account, seeming-
ly lost in thought. At length he said,
ce
I can not, of course, speak positively of your
こ
​240
Olive Loring's Mission.
1
friend's case without seeing her, but from what
you tell me, I do not by any means consider it
hopeless. I had an old friend at the medical
school who was lame for years, and at last God's
blessing on his own persevering endeavors and
his physician's skill, brought about a complete
cure; and he used to say he would never let such
a case go without doing something, if possible,
if he could reach the patient."
Loving Jessie as her friends do, there is not
one among them but would be truly thankful to
any one who could help her, and they would do all
in their power to aid in the effort to reach such a
result," said Olive.
"I'll find out, if I can, where Frank Williston
is; I've lost sight of him within the last few
years; and then, if it is agreeable to him and all
the rest, we'll go and see Miss Campbell, and
may be something will come of the visit."
"Did you say your friend's name was Willis-
ton?" queried Olive, remembering Louisa's hero,
Down by the Sea.
241
and wondering if he might not be identical with
the doctor's friend.
୧୯
Yes," he returned, while Maggie's eyes spark-
led with delight, as she asked,
"Why, Olive, was n't the doctor of whom
your friend in Vermont wrote, named Williston?
""
Olive replied by giving a brief account of
what Louisa had written, and all the circumstanc-
es served to convince Dr. Castleton that there
was no need of a prolonged search to find his
friend.
"At any rate, I'll venture to write, and ascer-
tain if it is he," he said, as he took his departure.
In due time an answer came, settling beyond a
doubt the doctor's conjectures, and then, arrange-
ments having been made, the Bernards and Olive
started for Gloucester, and the two old friends
went to Lakeville to decide on Jessie's case.
Olive would have gladly gone with them, but she
found it impracticable to do so, and so contented
herself with sending a letter of encouragement
242
Olive Loring's Mission.
to patience, whatever their decision might be.
Three days later, Dr. Castleton made his ap-
pearance at their boarding place, and before Olive
could frame her request to know the result of
their examination, into words, she was saluted
with,
"Not a question is needed, Miss Loring; your
eyes ask all that are necessary, and I am happy to
be able to give a favorable answer. Your friend
will most likely have much suffering to endure,
but we really hope, and with a good share of con-
fidence, that she may be cured."
Olive's fervent "Thank God," was a sure index
to her grateful gladness, and then the doctor
went on to explain what he, conjointly with Dr.
Williston, viewed as favorable omens.
Agnes was seemingly better, and though her
physician assured her parents that a complete cure
was impossible, it yet seemed highly probable
that the restful state, in which her mind found
such rare contentment, was adding greatly to her
Down by the Sea.
243
length of days, and, united to the best of care,
might keep her with them for months. The con-
stant murmur of the waves seemed like music
lulling to repose, and her days passed in a quiet
joy.
"I expect a reward for such good tidings," as-
serted the doctor, as the fresh afternoon breezes
swept inland, and the sunlight and shadow strove
for victory.
Olive looked up inquiringly, and the gentle-
man continued
"I shall have to go back to-mor-
row morning; but this afternoon I mean to be
care free, and should much delight in a long drive
if I can have you and Maggie for company.
There was no reason why she should not go, and
a half hour saw them on their way. On through
the pleasant streets of the old sea - side town,
with much that was now and strange constantly
meeting the gaze, till, passing out from the busy
hum of city life, their way led around the head
of the broad harbor, and Dr. Castleton drew his
241
Olive Loring's Mission.
1
reins, and pointed out objects of interest embraced
in the view before them. "That Island with the
light-house, and the smaller one near it, are
called Ten and Five Pound Islands," remarked the
doctor.
"What queer names!" exclaimed Maggie.
"It is said the names are derived from the sun
first paid for their.possession. On the larger one,
where the light-house is, when the fog lowers,
the keeper blows an immense horn to warn off
passing vessels from the rocks.
the very extremity of Eastern
Still farther, on
Point, there is
another light-house, and there they have a fog -
bell, which it requires a full hour to wind up,
and then it will ring of itself for six hours."
"There are two flags visible in the distance;
where are they?" inquired Olive.
"They mark the location of the two forts; if
we have time, we will visit one of them; and
the extreme point of the land, we can see 'Nor-
man's Woe," off the Manchester coast.'
""
Down by the Sea.
245
•
Oh, I know all about that." Maggie was
full of the intensest interest. "I've read all about
it in Longfellow's poem, of the skipper and
his little daughter, and all; don't you know it
ends,
'Christ save us all from a death like this,
On the reef of Norman's Woe'?
But there's a little speck on the waters still far-
ther on; do you know what that is?
""
"That's called Half-way Rock, and lies off
Salem, just midway between Gloucester and
Boston."
"You
"How nice it is to go with you," remarked
Maggie, her face aglow with satisfaction.
can tell us so many things."
Dr. Castleton laughed as he thanked the little
girl for her kind appreciation of his society, while
Olive, pointing to the harbor with its fishing craft
of every description, specked with little dories
and pleasure boats, said: "How I wish Jessie
could share the charm of such a picture as that."
246
Olive Loring's Mission.
"We'll hope she may sometime; and now
Maggie, do you see, yonder, a long row of little
smoke houses and other buildings for the prepa-
ration of the fish for market, just back from
the wharves, I mean."
-
"Where there are so many chicken coops?"
asked Maggie. "They must have a good many
chickens."
Dr. Castleton burst into a hearty laugh.
Ce
They
are just what I wanted to have you notice," he
said; "but how came a little city - bred girl like
you to know anything about chicken - coops?
e
""
Oh, grandpa always has them for his chick-
ens. I've seen ever so many in the country."
Well, Maggie, your idea of a resemblance to
little coops is a very good one; but still you are
mistaken; they are covers for the protection of
the fish when they are placed on the flakes, or
long benches, for drying; at night they are
gathered into heaps, and these covers are put
over them; they are used also in rainy weather."
Down by the Sea.
247
१९
Well, I've learned something as well as you,
Maggie," Olive remarked as the doctor resumed
the reins, which had been lying loosely during
this conversation, a favor which the horse had
been duly appreciating; and they passed on to
view new wonders.
"There is a delight in the very act of breathing
here," she continued; "the air seems so pure and
bracing, and the soft light enfolds everything in
such a peculiar manner, not like ary inland
atmosphere. I shall never forget how strangely
I was affected on my arrival here. It was just
like a story, as Maggie says. I thought of all
the old legends and sea-port stories I ever heard or
read of. I have n't quite got over the feeling yet;
and there is something so strange and delightful
also in waking up in the heart of the night, and
hearing the distant roar of the ocean. I am so
happy here; I really feel as though God put
strength and gladness into everything I see and
listen to."
248
Olive Loring's Mission.
"Do you want I should tell you what Agnes
says?" questioned Maggie.
"
"Yes, dear."
She says you have just the very finest way of
making what you call an 'Outing' out of every
little pleasure; and that she'd rather see you glad
than be glad herself, for your gladness is always
sure to spread itself all about you, and creep into
other people's hearts, too."
Olive's, "O Maggie," was cut short by the
doctor, who stopped to call a boy who was ap-
proaching them with his hands full of flowers,
and having purchased all he had, laid them in
Maggie's lap, with the remark, "You shall have
the pleasure of making them into four bouquets,
as a just reward for your pretty speech."
"How very beautiful!" fell again and again.
from their lips, as one by one the flowers were
tenderly lifted, and a due division made into four
parts. There were gorgeous clusters of laurel,
like cups of waxen beauty, - pond lilies, with
Down by the Sea.
249
golden hearts hid amid the pinky pearl of their
fragrant petals, and buds and blossoms of such
matchless sweetness as words could not describe,
which, in their rare loveliness, were a wonder to
both the girls.
"What are they?"
are they?" was their earnest query.
"Don't you remember," was the doctor's reply,
"what Whittier says, of the wonderful valley,
'Hid in the depths of Gloucester woods,
Full of flowers that love the sunshine,
Blooms from warmer latitudes;
Where the Arctic birch is braided
With the Tropic's flowering vine;
And the white Magnolia blossom
Stars the twilight of the pine'?
"And these are Magnolia blossoms!
How
strange that they should be found here," remarked
Olive. "I don't think I ever quite understood
those lines before."
Dr. Castleton watched Maggie's graceful ar-
rangement of the bouquets, as he answered, —
"I have heard, whether with strict regard to the
•
1
250
Olive Loring's Mission.
truth or not I can not say, that there is no other
place in the eastern states where this gem of the
sunny south is to be found wild; and I fancy that
Whittier must have believed this when he wove
his beautiful lines. Look there," pointing as he
spoke. "Little Good Harbor Beach lies peace-
fully in the sunlight, albeit those foam - crowned
waves do leap so furiously in their onslaught
against it. Here is a story for you, Maggie.
They say that a ship was once driven by stress of
storm and wind to take refuge here, and when,
after safely riding out both night and tempest,
she sped once more on her way, her seamen gave
their friendly haven the name of Little Good
Harbor."
"And so made their gratitude an enduring re-
membrance?"
ce
So it would seem. Yonder, in the distance,
lies Thatcher's Island with its two light - houses;
it is a pretty sight to watch the gleam of the
lamps in the early twilight, growing brighter and
Down by the Sea.
251
brighter as the darkness deepens, beacons with
a friendly warning."
You are well acquainted here," Olive observed.
"I spent my boyhood in this place. Over
yonder lie Bass Rocks; I am promising myself
the pleasure some day of taking you there to
gather sea mosses, as very beautiful specimens
are to be found there; and that was a favorite
fishing locality of mine in my young days; many
and many a string of cunners have I caught there.
I remember there was a poor, lame woman lived
close by my home, and many a time I have hung
a string of fish or a pail of berries on her door -
handle, and then giving a sly rap, have run away,.
and watched to see her open the door slowly, and
then it was always a new surprise to hear her say,
and she always said the same, 'The Lord be
praised; if that boy has n't been up to his blessed
tricks again;' and the next time I went by I had
to play blind and deaf or she'd overwhelm me
with her thanks. She's been dead many a year,
3
252
Olive Loring's Mission.
and yet I seem to see and hear her now. Grand-
ma used to tell me I had better go and carry my
gifts properly; but some how I liked my way
best, graceless boy that I was. I used to beg off
when grandma wanted me to go there on errands
for her. I was so afraid I should laugh in the
good soul's face, she had, to me, such an inde-
scribably funny way of saying, 'You're a little
dear; and you tell your grandmarm I thank her
kindly;' and I was such a great boy in my own
view.
"But to go back to Bass Rocks. Some time
during the summer I hope to take you there, and
enjoy a real old-time hunt after the mosses I
used to think such treasures.'
""
There was such a hearty pleasantness in Dr.
Castleton's goings back into boyhood, that Olive
enjoyed listening, and was glad when, after a
little silence, he went on :
"I hope you won't call me an egotist, but all
these old familiar scenes do so bring back the
G
Down by the Sea.
253
15
.
past, and you and Maggie possess the charm of
being such good listeners, that you lure me on to
use the letter I inore than I ought.”
The girls only encouraged him to go on.
"This part of the town is called Rocky Neck,
and joins the Point, whither we are now going,
to the main land. There, Maggie, are your
chicken coops, and all these buildings are used in
curing fish for the markets."
And so the day rounded into completeness,
each hour crowded full of fresh experiences and
sight seeing,
the beautiful fresh water pond
lying so near the ocean, the Fort, -the Light-
house at Eastern Point, the white smoothness
of Niles's Beach, where the rippling waves broke
gently around the horse's feet, all came in for
their share of admiration; and with a whole heart
full of pleasant pictures for future inspection,
Olive thanked Dr. Castleton for her happy after-
noon, and holding one of the fragrant nosegays
as a tangible remembrance of her enjoymen, went
254
Olive Loring's Mission.
7
to Agnes's room to tell her of what they had seen.
"I'll give you my bouquet, mamma," was
Maggie's first greeting; "and the doctor is bring-
ing one for Agnes; he has one more which he
says he's going to carry to a poor girl in the city,
who is sick and can't get flowers."
They sat long after tea, in the quiet of the
evening, for they were out of the city's tumult;
and for many months Olive looked backed to her
feeling of complete contentment as a rare and
peculiar treasure.
Unexpectedly
But a great grief was at hand.
Mr. Bernard made his appearance, and somehow,
she could never tell exactly how, it all came out.
Paul, her Paul, was dead; far off among strangers
he had breathed his last, and been laid to
rest beneath foreign soil. The gentleman with
whom Paul was traveling, had written to both
Mr. Bernard and herself at the young man's re-
quest, and here were the letters, and a few lines,
traced trembling characters by fingers that
Down by the Sea.
255
were growing cold in death. How full of sweet-
ness were the words:
"DEAR OLIVE:-
"I'm going fast. We shall meet no more on earth. Do
not grieve too sorely for me, for God knows best, and He will
comfort you. I shall live in your memory, I know; but do n't
let your sorrow shut out the sunshine from your life. I think
your influence, your example, led me to Christ, and we shall
meet again in heaven. Dearest, you have been the guiding
star of my earthly hopes, and I have, since we have been sepa-
rated, so fondly anticipated our reunion. If I could but see
you once more, but farewell, and God be with you, my own
beloved."
As though written after many efforts, these
words seemed like whispers from that dying bed,
and as the one thing bringing her nearer to him.
Olive held the blotted sheet close against her
heart through the long hours of that terrible night,
when, like one stunned, she lay with hot, tearless
eyes and throbbing temples. Not a feeling of
rebellion marked her reception of the tidings, but
such a weary, crushing sense of desolation, that
it wrung the hearts that loved her so dearly.
Dr. Castleton, who would gladly have borne
256
Olive Loring's Mission.
all her anguish for her, thrust bravely back upon
his own heart the knowledge, new to him, of the
love she bore this lost friend; and, like a true
and faithful brother, left no means untried to
break the stony calm of her grief; yet still the
wide open eyes looked straight forward, and her
power of will seemed suspended.
Poor Olive, down by the sea, where she had so
lately felt that grief could scarcely molest her,
the bitterest anguish of her whole life had come
to her; and, crushed and well - nigh helpless, she
could only creep wearily into the shadow of that
great rock in a weary land," and wait for God's
hand to heal and comfort. The summer sun-
shine had grown strangely dark, and her heart
yearned for the mother - love that grieved for her,
in that old farm - house among the clover fields of
Lakeville. All that love and tenderness could
do was done to cheer and strengthen her; and as
the days wore on, she grew more like her olden
self, and now and then a smile, sweetly sad,
Down by the Sea.
257
lighted her pale face. Dr. Castleton thought
she had never looked half so fair, and more and
more, almost unconsciously to Olive, did he so
surround her life with thoughtful kindness, that,
ere she was aware, she was learning to trust his
guidance, and lean on his strength when her
lonely heart yearned for a human utterance of
God's comfort; and never in her happiest hours
had she so lived for others, or so made her life a
mission of good to all around her.

1
CHAPTER XVI.
WALKING WITH GOD.
+

ITH the early days of September
the Bernards went back to their city
home. Agnes, in her wasting strength,
scarcely paler than was Olive; but
if Olive's faith had been a recommendation of re-
ligion, in the hours when the deep fountains of
her life reflected only brightness around and blue
skies overhead, how much more so was it now,
when the shadows hung darkly around, and
the flowers faded, and the waves of grief surged
over them so fearfully.
"It is a living faith," remarked Mr. Bernard
to his wife, as they were speaking of her happy
Walking with God.
250
influence over their household," a faith which
bears the test of grief. I often think when I
watch her quiet walk onward in life, of a little
picture I have somewhere seen ;—a hand reached
upward and clinging to a cross, and underneath
the words, ' Et teneo et teneor.' Truly she holds
closely to the upholding cross.'
""
"I have never heard a murmur," his wife
answered; "and it is touching in the extreme to
see how she links herself in with all the hopes
and plans of those she loves, as though trying to
make their happiness fill up the place of her
vanished joys."
"I am going to propose her taking lessons on
the harp. Fond of music as she is, it will at
once give comfort and employment; and what
say you, as to-morrow is her birthday, to giving
her, as our token of remembrance, a harp? I
looked at some yesterday, and found one that Dr.
Castleton, whom I waylaid to assist me in my
search, pronounced exquisite."
•
260
Olive Loring's Mission.
"Just what I would like best of all. She has
indeed been a blessing to us, and we can not do
too much for her."
With the evening came a package from Lake-
ville, and letters; but Mrs. Bernard yielded to
the temptation to lay them aside till morning ;
which was all the more easily done, since Olive
and Maggie had gone to visit a poor family in
whom they were deeply interested, and came
in with quite a lengthy story to tell of their
proteges.
Another year begun," Olive whispered to
herself as she opened her eyes to the morning
light. A year ago
"A year ago Paul was with me and
now how long it seems since they told me he was
dead. How kind they all are to me; I do n't
believe God ever gave anybody kinder friends
than I have. If souls in heaven rejoice over the
good that blesses their loved ones on earth, Paul
must be glad for me."
Olive still kept up her old habit of self-con-
Walking with God.
261
versation, and Bridget, who had grown to love
her with all her warm Irish nature, often de-
clared, as she heard her murmuring to herself as
she moved about the house, that she "belaved
the swate crater, for shure, talked with the howly
saints thimsilves."
Family devotions were held in Agnes's room,
and this morning it seemed as though Mr. Ber-
nard, who was an eager learner in the language
of Canaan, never more lovingly and devoutly
mingled praise and petition. Olive's eyes were
full of tears that could not be called those entirely
of grief, for there seemed to creep into her heart
such a deep and full sense of God's love and
care, that she recognized her grief as a part of
the faithful discipline that He knew to be best
for her.
"We must try and strew this stepping-stone
with flowers; they may be immortelles if you
choose, sacred to remembrance," Mrs. Bernard
said, as she drew Olive to a table on which were
262
Olive Loring's Mission.
a packing case.
Ce
placed several bundles, and against which leaned
"You will let these things,"
she went on, speak our affection and gratitude
toward you;" and the girl's eyes filled afresh
with tears, that were now those of thankfulness,
when the beautiful harp was taken from its wrap-
pings, and Mr. Bernard's proposal, that she
should receive instruction thereon, was made.
known to her. Besides this beautiful gift, there
was an exquisitely delicate pin, set round with
pearls, and containing a tiny braid of Agnes's
hair, a stereoscope and views from Maggie, and
the home bundle and letters. Opening the for-
mer, Olive found it to contain a copy of Jessie's
second book, little tokens from each member of
the home circle, and a box having photographs
of several rare pictures, and a ring of gold nestled
amid one of her own soft curls that Paul had
carried with him. A trunk of valuable articles
that were now sacred, as having belonged to the
loved and lost, had, through the thoughtfulness
Walking with God.
263
of Paul's friend and the kindness of a returning
traveler, been received by the Lyndon family;
and this box, which bore Olive's name, had been
given to her mother to forward to her.
It was as if the dead had returned to add a
share to the day's blessings, and her ring was
diamond - gemmed with tears as it took its place
upon her finger. Her words were few, and
when, laying aside her unopened letters, she went
softly out, with her hand closed over that little
circlet of gold, and her face alive with emotion,
they knew she was going with her sorrow
and thanksgiving where she found it a blessed
privilege to go, to the throne of God's mercy.
By and by she came back, and her gently
spoken thanks gave her friends the truest pleas-
ure. When the sun looked with golden smile
into Agnes's quiet room, he lighted up a pretty
picture. Maggie, busy with her lessons,—for the
parents, bereaved so often, felt it best that her stud-
ies should be carried on at home, where her health
264
Olive Loring's Mission.
could be properly cared for, — Agnes, fast asleep
amid her pillows, and Olive with her precious
home letters, eagerly perusing their contents.
When she laid them aside, Maggie crept to her
side, and begged her to look at the views they
had selected for her stereoscope.
"Dr. Castleton helped me select them," she
whispered eagerly; "and there is one which he
said made him think of you; here it is; it is
called, 'Walking with God,' and I think just as
he does."
-
Olive took the picture. It represented a broad
stretch of plain, here rough and strewn with
tangled brambles and sharp edged rocks, there
smooth and bordered with flowers, and gladdened
by shading trees and the rippling silver of a
brook. Thus varyingly the path led, and travel-
ing tranquilly on, with girded robe and staff in
hand, walked a youthful pilgrim; while from
above a luminous gleam shot across her way, and
a hand, reaching from the brightness, seemed
Walking with God.
265
guiding her on, to where, afar off, the golden
gates of a fair city shone like a blaze of glory.
"He said," Maggie continued, pointing to the
hand, "that just so you seemed to be led; and
whether the way was rugged or smooth, you
went right on."
God does indeed lead me, dear Maggie; and
very tenderly He lights up my way; and this
little picture shall help me to remember it
when I am tempted to forget, and to step mourn-
fully aside into some other path than the one His
mercy lights up for me."
Just at the dinner hour Dr. Castleton came in,
and Prang's Easter Morning, and an exquisite
bouquet of tuberoses and delicate green sprays
were added to Olive's list of treasures.
"My favorite among all chromos; how good
you were to bring it to me. I can never repay
one half the kindness you have all shown me to-
day." That is what she was saying when the
door partly opened, then closed again, and then,
›
266
Olive Loring's Mission.
as Maggie sprang forward to see who was there,
Nora came shyly in, a warm glow lighting up
her honest face, and placed in Olive's hand a
lovely Parian vase, a lily set amidst a frame-
work of sculptured leaves.
It is a gift I shall prize highly, dear Nora,"
exclaimed Olive; "not only for its beauty, but for
the sake of the givers, and the love which
prompted it; and Nora, delighted at Olive's
gratitude, fled precipitately out, lest, as she in-
formed Katie, she should cry with joy.
As the autumn waned, Agnes faded slowly,
and when the last of the beautiful golden Indian
summer days enfolded the land with a haze of
brightness, she fell asleep in Jesus, happy to the
last in a constant sense of trust and peace.
How different the grief which filled her parents'
hearts, as they bent over the casket so lately
animated by the spirit, from what they had ex-
perienced under like afflictions in days gone by.
Then all was darkness; now a light from the
Walking with God.
267
cross showed them the thorn - crowned but love -
lighted face of Him who died to save, and rose
to show us that death was itself conquered, and
who is now preparing homes of rest for all who
seek His aid and pardon.
In chastened tenderness they communed to-
gether of holy things, as became those who had so
nearly caught a glimpse of heaven, as their dar-
ling passed over the river to the shining shore ;
and when Thanksgiving week came, following
Olive's example, they strove to sanctify and
lighten their own grief by brightening other
desolated homes where poverty was added to the
burden of grief; and then, as Olive was anxious
to be with her own family on that day of reunion,
Mr. Bernard proposed to go with his wife and
Maggie and spend this anniversary with his parents
at Lakeville.
Wednesday afternoon saw them safely there.
Olive thought of the one who had been so inter-
woven with all her dreams of the future, and her
268
Olive Loring's Mission.
grief swept over her like a new bereavement, as
home brought all these hopes and their sudden.
blight more vividly to mind, and, nestling in her
mother's arms, she wept herself calm. Then there
came a request that she would go to Paul's home,
where his aged parents, bowed by their great sor-
row, lived in the desolation of childless old age.
They had been very proud of Paul, and al-
though they had never openly opposed his love
for Olive, they were never exactly satisfied that
his choice had fallen on one so little likely to
bring wealth to him, and this love of riches
blinded their eyes to the gentle girl's real worth.
They had not learned of Christ; and when all
their hopes of their idolized son's coming success
in life were so suddenly blighted, they longed for
the faith he had professed, and which he so often
had said had been shown him in its beauty, and
urged upon him, less by the words than by the
simple daily service of love that was Olive's life.
And, day by day, as they turned over the leaves
Walking with God.
269
of their long neglected Bible, they hoped and
waited for her coming, for, as Mother Lyndon
said when they welcomed her," Paul said you
led him to Christ; and we want the same teacher."
Mingling her tears with theirs, Olive talked
with them of Christ and His salvation,-and like
little children they listened, taking the precious
truths home as never before; and when she left
them, the old lady, kissing Olive with her trem-
bling lips, said, brokenly,-
"I believed it all before. I've kept reading,
till I could n't help seeing the truths of it; but I
never took them home; now I shall take the
poor, tired old heart, with all its sin and sorrow,
Jesus. You're a blessed child,
and carry it to
and He'll honor you with a comforted and happy
life, I feel sure; for His Word tells us that those
who honor Him He will delight to honor, and
you've given Him the best of your life." And
Mr. Lyndon walked home with his young friend,
and taking her hand in his broad palm, when
270
Olive Loring's Mission.
they parted, said, in broken accents," You
must n't forget the old people, my daughter; you
are all the earthly comfort we have now, and we
shall feel that you belong in part to us, you were
so dear to Paul.”
Joe and John, who looked upon their sister with
a species of awe mingled with affection, the grief
that had come to her having invested her with a
something of sacredness,—at first hesitated about
going to her as of old with a recital of their suc-
cesses and failures; but they soon found her
sympathies and interests for and with them were
not lessened; and the little group gathered once.
more around the home - hearth at peace with
themselves and all about them.
"We'll have the Lyndons to dine with us
to-morrow,” said Mrs. Loring, guessing at Olive's
unspoken wish; for the girl, as ever thoughtful
of others' happiness, hesitated about making the
request, lest the younger ones should find their
gladness marred; but not a discordant note was
Walking with God.
271
com-
heard in the song of thanksgiving thus
menced, and with the early morning Olive went
over to tender their invitation. She found the
two, with their untasted breakfast spread before
them, bent over their Bible as with one accord
searching its blessed pages.
Olive's presence was the one thing wanted to
crown their morning, and, with tears and smiles,
the old man said,-
"I've come into the vineyard at the eleventh
hour; but Jesus has filled my old heart with His
welcome, and now if I can't work but one hour
for Him, I'll try and do it faithfully. Martha
and I have walked together many years, and we
could n't go apart now; she got into the king-
dom a few hours ahead of me, but the dear soul
was all the time reaching back after me; and
this morning the light shone into my darkness
and made the way all plain."
"We were trying to set up a family altar to
commence our thanksgiving day with, and now
1
O
272
Olive Loring's Mission.
you'll join us, won't you, dear?" asked the old
lady, drawing Olive down into a seat between
them. The Bible which Mrs. Lyndon handed
her was open at the book of Psalms, and Olive
commenced reading the one hundred and thir-
tieth,-" Out of the depths have I cried unto thee,
O Lord," and continued through several of
these triumphal songs of praise.
"I never felt them before, as anything I could
really say from the heart," said the old man as
the reading was ended, and his wife added her
fervent satisfaction. Then the three knelt, and
in humble confidence Father Lyndon sent up his
psalm of praise and prayer for help; and once
again Olive felt that, if Paul could see, how he
must rejoice.
Olive's invitation was warmly accepted, and
with a soul filled with a sweet wonder at what
God had wrought, she retraced the way toward
home. "One of God's ways of comforting," she
said, when the remembrance of all the past
Walking with God.
273
months had brought to pass, drifted across her
୧୯
mind; His ways are sure to lead us into a
blessing, even when they look darkest."
The day she had almost dreaded, from a vague
feeling that it would be harder even than ordinary
days to endure, passed peacefully, almost hap-
pily,
, away; and with the next day came a note
inviting the family to dine at old Mr. Bernard's,
where a new surprise awaited Olive. The son
had been faithful, and letter after letter, tenderly
telling of a Saviour and pointing out our need
of Him, had been written, and the dear old wife,
after years of constant prayer, had at last had her
faith rewarded. Her husband, the doubter of God,
the scoffer at revealed religion, now sat as a lit-
tle child at the foot of the cross, and was willing
to learn even of Maggie.
Grandpa loves our Jesus, dear Olive," was
Maggie's rapturous greeting. "He's so different
from what he used to be, and grandma is so hap-
py; is n't it a blessed piece of news?"
274
Olive Loring's Mission.
"Blessed indeed, my darling," was Olive's
heartfelt answer; and the very Spirit of God was
so breathed into the day and its quiet, peaceful
intercourse, that Joe said, when they reached
home, that two such days as they had enjoyed
were enough to crown the whole year; and as
for himself, his mind was made up to live for
God, and to begin from that hour.
"I think I have loved God for more than a
year," said une quieter John; "but I mean to
live out my love more, and try to help others
find Him." And Emma and Bessie joined in
the resolve, in which the household as one were
determined, that, come what would, they would
serve God.

CHAPTER XVII.
PARTING GLIMPSES.

WO days at home, and not a sight
of Jessie; I must go there today,"
exclaimed Olive, on the Saturday after
her return home; and she did not catch
the quick look that passed between her mother
and Emma.
As she drew near Mr. Campbell's, she saw a
slight girlish form moving lightly, though slowly,
among the chrysanthemums, that, late as it was,
were yet in bloom in the sheltered warmth of the
garden; and when, as she drew near, the face
that looked out from the encircling blue of the
hood showed Jessie's sweet smile, she stopped in
276
Olive Loring's Mission.
amazement at the evidence of regained vigor.
How lovingly now
was it Jessic's turn to
speak comfort, mingled with words of the deepest
gratitude at the part Olive had in her recovery.
"You shall, next to God, have my first grat-
itude, dear Olive," she said, when they were once
more in her little room; and your influence has
brought me more of a gift than even you dreamed
of. With God's blessing, Dr. Williston is fast
curing me; and, Olive, he is a man in whom any
woman might trust; and I am allowed to trust
him ;" and the happy girl laid her head on her
friend's shoulder and burst into tears.
"And you've kept all this from me," Olive
said, half reproachfully.
"I suffered dreadfully at first, and then when
I began to get better I thought I would surprise
you, and so told them not to let you know; and
about this new happiness that God has given me,
I felt it would be selfish to intrude upon your
grief with such tidings."
Parting Glimpses.
277
"Never feel like that, darling. I am more re-
joiced for you than words can express."
"And I am so grieved for you; I have so
longed to see you that I might tell you so, face
to face."
Mrs. Campbell took Olive in her warm, moth-
erly embrace, and with the sweetest of her loving
Scotch words, called blessings to surround and
comforts to crown her, for the gladness she had
been the means of bringing to their home; and
so another day placed in her hands fresh proofs of
God's faithfulness and peace.
Louisa and Donald were fitting themselves for
their work in heathen lands, humbly leaving all
obstacles with God, and seeing them one by one
removed; and Mary Spofford was living a life
of faith, and unconsciously that of a missionary,
too, in the happy influence she exerted over her
own family, and, through them, over the neigh-
borhood around.
Mr. Bernard's family claimed Olive to gladden
278
Olive Loring's Mission.
their winter, and so, as it seemed a sacred duty,
and after all their kindness to her, she went back.
with them.
Dr. Castleton was her constant friend, and
more than once, when word or look or deed
showed his affection for her, she remembered
Mother Lyndon's advice: "Don't think, precious
daughter, that you must live a lonely life because
Paul has gone. You are too true a woman not
to find a heart that will make you as the crowned
queen of a happy home." And while she cher-
ished Paul's memory as a sacred legacy, never to
be less dear, she was fast learning to take this
comforting love as a new blessing from heaven;
and as the winter wore on toward spring, with
tender sympathy for her past grief, and a simple,
manly utterance of his love, which dated back to
the first evening he had met her in Agnes's room,
and heard her sing in the twilight, the doctor won
her promise that, if God willed it, she would
share his life, and make her mission one with his.
Partiny Glimpses.
279
She tarries for the coming of the fitting hour, and
the good doctor waits patiently.
Reader, Olive Loring's mission in Life is only
begun. Whether her days are few or many, its
influence will be endless as eternity. It was and
is a mission wrought out in simple duties, ardent-
ly looked for and humbly performed as doing
God' service; and though her way has not been
thornless, the helping hand has never failed her,
and she and we alike may be assured that it never
will.
OUR BOOK TABLE.
POOR PAPA. By Mary W. Porter. Illustrated. Boston:
D. Lothrop & Co. Paper covers, 50 cents. Of all the lately
published books in which children bear a principal part,
one of the most natural and charming is Poor Papa. It
breathes the very spirit of childhood, and one is inclined to
believe that the author must have drawn her characters from
living models. Few writers have the faculty of describing
children as they are, and many of the so-called "juvenile "
books published are dreary failures simply because their
writers have no sympathy with their subjects. The children
whom Miss Porter describes are genuine children and not
make-believe. They have all the indescribable ways and
peculiarities that make little people oftentimes riddles to
their elders. Their journey abroad with "Poor Papa," who
comes all the way over the ocean for them, their adventures,
their quaint observations on what they see and hear, their
thorough enjoyment of everything, the comical surprises
they are continually giving those around them, are delight-
fully set forth, and will be as fascinating reading for the
older as for the younger ones.
"Poor Papa" is sure to be a favorite. It is a graphic
story of the perplexities of a father, left a widower, to care
for two children. The father is an artist, absorbed in paint-
ing, and having no knowledge of child-nature; while his two
children, loving and true, are like young colts, with irrepres-
sible life and spirits, and perpetually in trouble. They have
many amusing adventures in Italy, from their rollicking love
of freedom and fun, and barely escape with life from a
governess, whose martinet habits transform her into an ogre,
delighting in torture. But the troubles of papa and children
find a happy solution in the advent of a new mamma, the
sister of a brother artist, whose fine womanly instincts have
helped the children already over many a hard place. Sum-
mer travellers will have many a hearty laugh over the vol-
ume, and enjoy equally the humor of the children and the
perplexities of “Papa.”
x
THE SEVEN WORDS FROM THE CROSS.
By Rev. WILLIAM H. ADAMS. Price, $1.00: Boston: D.
Lothrop & Co.
The author has treated these discourses in an original
manner, and from first to last they are redolent with the
spirit of Him who hung upon the cross.-N. Y. Observer.
These sermons, upon the most impressive words that
dropped from the Master's lips, are at once practical and
eloquent. The volume will be welcomed by both profession-
al and lay readers.-Zion's Herald.
In style simple, fervid and fresh, we doubt not that these
discourses will prove spiritually quickening to all who may
read them.-Boston Daily Advertiser.
As spiritual, tender, reverent, suggestive meditations upon
the most sacred of all themes, these discourses will be found
peculiarly helpful.-The Advance, Chicago.
They are full of sacred suggestiveness, and cannot fail to
quicken the love and encourage the faith of all who read
them.-Christian at Work.
A most valuable addition to our devotional literature.
Prepared for sacramental occasions, it breathes the very
spirit of sacramental devotion. The beauty of style is com-
bined with much clearness of thought, and there is a tender-
ness of application that will make them most precious to the
tempted, doubting, or mourning Christian. - The Earnest
Worker, (Presbyterian) Richmond, Va.
Full of spiritual food, of truth, suggestion and pure Chris-
tian sentiment. It is well written, and in every respect a
commendable volume.-Northern Christian Advocate, Syra-
cuse, N. Y.
Those who love to linger around the Cross will find here
seven golden censers full of sweet incense for their altars.
These sweet spices were expressed from the words of the dy-
ing Saviour by careful thought, which, passing through the
warm atmosphere of a loving heart, exhale in delightful
odors.-Charleston, (S.C.) News and Courier.
Excellent reading, specially good for meditative hours.-
National S. S. Teacher.
•
J
EXCELLENT BOOKS.
SIX MONTHS AT MRS. PRIOR'S. By Emily Adams. Illus-
trated. Boston: D. Lothrop & Co. 1.25.
"In this fresh little story, which is addressed especially to
young girls, the author tries to impress the lesson that the
disagreable and annoying duties of life may be made pleasant
by accepting them as inevitable, and asking help from
above. Mrs. Prior is the widow of a clergyman, and has
been left with five little ones to support. She discharges her
servant, and divides the lighter duties of the household
between herself and the two eldest of her children, Minnie
and Helen. Unaccustomed to any thing but study and play,
the girls find it very hard to have their old time appointments
for enjoyment circumscribed, and complain bitterly at first.
The book gives a history of their experience, and shows how
the work that was so irksome at first became in the end a
source of pleasure and means of healthful discipline.
"Six Months at Mrs. Prior's" is a sweet story of womanly
tact combined with christian trust. A widow, with scanty
means, makes a home happy for a group of children, restless,
wayward and aspiring, like many American children of our
day. The mother's love holds them, her thrift cares for
them, her firmness restrains, and her christian words and
life win them to noble aims and living. The influence of the
christian household is widely felt, and the quiet transform-
ing leaven works in many homes. We can't have too many
books of this kind in the family or Sunday-school."
MISS PRICILLA HUNTER, by Pansy, opens a new view
for that charming writer, but one eminently popular at the
present time. It deals with the payment of a church debt,
and shows how an humble woman, with a Christian charac-
ter which gave power to her words, raised the money to pay
off a debt which had long been a hindrance to church growth
and to Christian benevolence. Why she did it, and how she
did it, is told in Pansy's best fashion: her encounters with
crabbed folks, and stingy folks, and folks determined not to
give to the church debt, are highly amusing, as well as her
devices to get something from everybody.
BOOKS FOR YOUNG HEROES AND BRAVE
WORKERS.
VIRGINIA. By W. H. G. Kingston. 16 mo.
Illustrated.
$1 25
A stirring story of adventure upon sea and land.
AFRICAN ADVENTURE AND ADVENT-
By Rev. G. T. Day, D. D. 16
URERS.
mo. Illustrated.
The stories of Speke, Grant, Baker, Livingstone and Stanley
are put into simple shape for the entertainment of young readers.
NOBLE WORKERS. Edited by S. F. Smith,
D. D. 16mo.
I 50
I 50
STORIES OF SUCCESS. Edited by S. F.
Smith, D. D. 16mo .
I 50
MYTHS AND HEROES. 16 mo. Illus-
trated. Edited by S. F. Smith, D. D.
KNIGHTS AND SEA KINGS. Edited by
S. F. Smith, D. D. 12mo. Illustrated
Two entertaining books, which will fasten forever the historical
and geographical lessons of the school-room firmly in the stu-
dent's mind.
Inspiring biographies and records which leave a most whole-
some and enduring effect upon the reader.
I 50
1 50
CHAPLIN'S LIFE OF BENJAMIN FRANK-
LIN. 16mo.
Illustrated
•
LIFE OF AMOS LAWRENCE.
I 50
12mo. Ill.
I 59
Two biographies of perennial value. No worthier books were
ever offered as holiday presents for our American young men.
WALTER NEAL'S EXAMPLE. By Rev.
Theron Brown. 16 mo. Illustrated.
Walter Neal's Example is by Rev. Theron Brown, the editor of
that very successful paper, The Youth's Companion. The story
is a touching one, and is in parts so vivid as to seem drawn from
the life.-N. Y. Independent.
TWO FORTUNE-SEEKERS.
Stories by
Rossiter Johnson, Louise Chandler Moulton,
E. Stuart Phelps, Ella Farman, etc. Fully
illustrated
I 25
I 50
FAN SY'S PAGE
FOUR GIRLS AT CHAUTAUQUA.
Pansy. 12 mo.
Illustrated
By
$1 50
The most fascinating "watering-place" story ever published.
Four friends, each a brilliant girl in her way, tired of Saratoga
and Newport, try a fortnight at the new summer resort on Chau-
tauqua Lake, choosing the time when the National Sunday-school
Assembly is in camp. Rev. Drs. Vincent, Deems, Cuyler, Ed-
ward Eggleston, Mrs. Emily Huntington Miller, move promi-
nently through the story.
HOUSEHOLD PUZZLES. By Pansy. 12mo.
Illustrated
How to make one dollar do the work of five. A family of
beautiful girls seek to solve this "puzzle." Piquant, humorous,
but written with an intense purpose.
THE RANDOLPHS. By Pansy. 12 mo. Il-
lustrated
I
I 50
I 50
A sequel to Household Puzzles, in which the Puzzles are agree-
ably disposed of.
GRANDPA'S DARLINGS. By Pansy. 16 mo.
Illustrated.
I 25
A big book, full of "good times" for the little people of the
family.
ESTER RIED
By Pansy.
I 50
JULIA RIED
I 50
THREE PEOPLE
WISE AND OTHERWISE.
CUNNING WORKMEN
JESSIE WELLS .
I 50
THE KING'S DAUGHTER
I 50
""
I 50
•
""
I 25
""
75
DOCIA'S JOURNAL
·
","
75
BERNIE'S WHITE CHICKEN
HELEN LESTER.
A CHRISTMAS TIME
75
75
15
MISS JULIA A. EASTMAN is one of the most popular
of our modern writers.
YOUNG RICK. By Julia A. Eastman. Large
16mo.
Twelve illustrations by Sol Eytinge. $1 50
A bright, fascinating story of a little boy who was both a bless-
ing and a bother.- Boston Journal.
The most delightful book on the list for the children of the
family, being full of adventures and gay home scenes and merry
play-times. "Paty" would have done credit to Dickens in his
palmiest days. The strange glows and shadows of her character
are put in lovingly and lingeringly, with the pencil of a master.
Miss Margaret's character of light is admirably drawn, while Aunt
Lesbia, Deacon Harkaway, Tom Dorrance, and the master and
mistress of Graythorpe poor-house are genuine charcoal
sketches."
STRIKING FOR THE RIGHT. By Julia
A. Eastman. Large 16mo. Illustrated
While this story holds the reader breathless with expectancy
and excitement, its civilizing influence in the family is hardly to
be estimated. In all quarters it has met with the warmest praise.
THE ROMNEYS OF
OF RIDGEMONT. By
Julia A. Eastman.
BEULAH ROMNEY.
16 mo. Illustrated
16mo.
Illustrated
By Julia A. Eastman.
Two stories wondrously alive, flashing with fun, sparkling with
tears, throbbing with emotion. The next best thing to attending
Mrs. Hale's big boarding-school is to read Beulah's experience
there.
SHORT-COMINGS AND LONG-GOINGS.
By Julia A. Eastman.
16 mo.
Illustrated.
A remarkabls book, crowded with remarkable characters. It
is a picture gallery of human nature.
KITTY KENT'S TROUBLES. By Julia
A. Eastman. 16 mo. Illustrated
"A delicious April-day style of book, sunshiny with smiles on
one page while the next is misty with tender tears. Almost every
type of American school-girl is here represented the vain Helen
Dart, the beauty, Amy Searle, the ambitious, high bred, conserv-
ative Anna Matson; but next to Kitty herself sunny little Paui-
ine Sedgewick will prove the general favorite. It is a story fully
calculated to win both girls and boys toward noble, royal ways of
doing little as well as great things. All teachers should feel an
interest in placing it in the hands of their pupils.”
I 75
I 50
I 50
I 25
I 50

1
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UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
812L435 00
Lawrence, Annie M.
Olive Loring's mission.
3 1951 002 097 688 G
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