THE 
 
 MAKING OF A MISSIONARY 
 
PRINTED BY 
 SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE 
 LONDON 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2015 
 
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' tivo baskets hung by cords over his 
 shoulders: i 
 
.MS 
 
 THE 
 
 MAKING OF A MISSIONARY 
 
 OR 
 
 DAYDREAMS IN EARNEST 
 
 BY 
 
 CHARLOTTE M. YONGE 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 'THE HERD BOY AND HIS HERMIT* 'THE PATRIOTS OF PALESTINE' 
 ETC. 
 
 The Son of God goes forth to war 
 
 A kingly crown to gain, 
 His blood-red banner streams afar ; 
 
 Who follows in His train ? 
 
 Bishop Reginald Heber 
 
 WITH FIVE FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS 
 BY W. S. STACEY 
 
 LONDON 
 
 j^ATIONAL ^OCIETY'S pEPOSITORY 
 
 BROAD SANCTUARY, WESTMINSTER 
 
 New York : Thomas Whittaker, 2 & 3 Bible House 
 
 \,All rights reserved] 
 
BY THE SAME AUTHOR, 
 
 THE HERD BOY AND HIS HERMIT. Price 3^. 6^. 
 
 THE PATRIOTS OF PALESTINE. Price 3^. 6^. 
 
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PREFACE 
 
 This tale was begun, and indeed nearly completed, 
 before China had become the scene of more than 
 the sudden raids of fanatics, such as those 
 Vegetarians who fell on the Stewart family and 
 their helpers at Kucheng. Of the cruel persecu- 
 tion by the so-called Boxers, nothing then was 
 known, and the war had only just begun when the 
 last chapters were written. In fact, only the first 
 attacks had then been made, and the terrible 
 atrocities that followed were yet unperpetrated. 
 The end is not yet come, but by the time this 
 tale actually appears there will probably have been 
 much more to lament, and thus far we can only 
 feel that 
 
 The martyrs' glorious army still is ours 
 
 and join in the thanksgiving of the Church for 
 Brooks, Robinson, and Norman, and the countless 
 
vi 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 Chinese Christians whose names we shall never 
 know, but who have won their crowns in Paradise. 
 For be it remembered that all agree that when a 
 Chinese is converted, he is so from his heart, and 
 in reality. 
 
 I have not attempted many Chinese scenes, for 
 want of sufficient information as to the habits of 
 the converts, and I have avoided names of persons, 
 as it is dangerous to invent or to copy names from 
 a language not understood ; and besides, the chief 
 details to be had were from Southern China, 
 where, though the written language is the same to 
 the eye, a totally different dialect is spoken. 
 
 In fact, my object has rather been to trace 
 the growth of the purpose of self-devotion, and 
 what it may lead to when once the seed, however 
 small, has been planted. 
 
 C. M. YONGE. 
 
 June 12, 1900. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. The Lantern ii 
 
 II. Thirty-fold 19 
 
 III. Great Examples 33 
 
 IV. Cold Water 43 
 
 V. Turned Aside 56 
 
 VI. Home Cares 65 
 
 VII. Mabel's Native 76 
 
 VIII. The Break-up ...... 86 
 
 IX. Old Friends 96 
 
 X. Dedication 108 
 
 XI. The Choice 119 
 
viii CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 XII. Church or World 131 
 
 XIII. Those at Home 141 
 
 XIV. The St. Augustine Scholar . . .150 
 XV. The Land of Sinim 160 
 
 XVI. To THE Flowery Land . . . .173 
 
 XVII. Sadness and Joy 179 
 
 XVIII. Welcome 193 
 
 XIX. The Bower of Bliss . . . .202 
 
 XX. Mabel's Views Realised . . . .209 
 
 XXI. Martyrdom 215 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 ^TWO BASKETS HUNG BY CORDS OVER HIS 
 
 SHOULDERS' Frontispiece 
 
 Is THAT ALL YOUR BAG?' DEMANDED HIS GRAND- 
 FATHER" . . 45 
 
 The keeper suddenly appears .... 84 
 
 Edward Bryant and his mother . . .123 
 
 Edward Bryant came out of church behind 
 
 them 160 
 
THE 
 
 MAKING OF A MISSIONARY 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE LANTERN 
 
 In heathen lands afar 
 
 Gross darkness broodeth yet. 
 Arise, O morning star, 
 Arise, and never set. 
 
 LECTURE was being given in Lang- 
 bridge school-room — illustrated by a 
 magic lantern. There were Red 
 Indians with feathers, wampum belts 
 and mocassins, dancing wildly about their fires. 
 By-and-by came a missionary wrapped in furs, on 
 his sledge drawn by a little brisk pony. The men 
 drew round him, as he stood under a large branch- 
 ing, snow-laden fir tree, and by-and-by in the 
 
12 
 
 THE LANTERN 
 
 next group, the chieftain was pointing up to the 
 sky, and the lecturer said he was declaring that, 
 now they knew who the Great Spirit was, they 
 would follow Him and renounce their heathenish 
 and cruel practices. Then there appeared a lake 
 enclosed by woodland, where the missionary in his 
 surplice stood on steps to baptize the chief, going 
 down into the water ; and the series closed with 
 wigwams round a little church with a pine shingled 
 roof Another set of slides represented the India 
 of the East, a monkey temple with comical apes 
 in all positions, a faquir with nails grown through 
 his clenched palm, and another swinging on hooks 
 implanted in his naked sides. Old men carried 
 down to die in the Ganges, with cowdung in their 
 mouths. A widow laid on her pile as a Suttee, 
 and especially the Car of Juggernauth, with the 
 three horrid idols and the pilgrims lying down in 
 its path to be crushed. Finally, the scene shifted to 
 China, where pagoda roofs towered above trees, and, 
 in the foreground, an unfortunate baby was being 
 buried alive — looking so natural that some of the 
 spectators began to cry before they were relieved 
 by a missionary in a broad hat, and a lady in a big 
 bonnet, who were bargaining for it and rescuing it. 
 
THE LANTERN 
 
 13 
 
 To most of the beholders the scenes were only 
 a succession of wonders, passing by them as if they 
 had been only Alpine scenery, or Arctic views, with 
 a due proportion of bears and shipwrecks and 
 \ "0 icebergs ; but there was one boy who stared at the 
 stretch of his brown eyes, as he sat on a bench 
 too low for him, propping his chin on his hand and 
 his elbow on his knee. And when the concluding 
 hymn was sung his young voice chimed in with : 
 
 Shall we whose lamp is lighted 
 
 With knowledge from on high, 
 Shall we to men benighted 
 
 The light of truth deny ? 
 Salvation, oh salvation, 
 
 The joyful sound proclaim 
 Till each remotest nation 
 
 Have learnt Messiah's name. 
 
 When the boy part of the audience had come 
 scrambling and tumbling out, glad to be in the 
 open air and moonlight, he was still humming it 
 to himself ; but he waited a few moments till the 
 quieter ones were coming out, each with a little 
 pictured tract that had been put into their 
 hands, and then, joining himself to two young 
 girls in broad white hats, he said : * Hollo, 
 Aline ! hollo, Frances ! I thought I saw you 
 there ! ' 
 
14 
 
 THE LANTERN 
 
 ^ Yes, we got leave to come. Wasn't it nice ? ' 
 said the elder of the two maidens. The three 
 were all about the same age, on each side of 
 twelve years old. 
 
 * Betsy was to take us home,' said the other ; 
 ' but I think she is gone off with her young man. 
 You will see us home, Edward, then mamma 
 won't mind.' 
 
 So the three went along a broad path through 
 the churchyard, where the rising moon made long 
 shadows of the headstones. Edward began hum- 
 ming again — 
 
 Salvation, oh salvation, 
 The joyful sound proclaim. 
 
 * How you have got that old thing into your 
 head, Edward,' said Frances. 
 
 ^Old thing! It is all like a real call,' 
 responded the boy. 'Just fancy going and 
 standing up before that horrible car, and spread- 
 ing out one's arms to the poor pilgrims and 
 saying : " See here, ye poor deluded folk. Don't 
 worship those dreadful idols of death, but turn, 
 turn to the living God of life and mercy.' He 
 suited the action to the words, and stood with 
 arms outspread and face lifted up. Aline gasped 
 
THE LANTERN 
 
 15 
 
 with a touch of the same feeling ; but Frances 
 laughed * Very soon the car would run over you ! ' 
 
 'Then I should be a martyr! The best of 
 deaths.' 
 
 * Oh-h ! ' gasped Aline. 
 
 ' Nonsense/ said Frances. * There aren't 
 martyrs now. The English police has put a 
 stop to all that. Didn't you hear him say so ? ' 
 
 * Yes/ added Aline. ^ Now we British have 
 got India we won't let the foolish people throw 
 themselves under the car, nor the widows be 
 burnt ! So it is all done, you see.' 
 
 ' But those people are all in the dark. They 
 want to be taught. Didn't you see the great 
 map, with all the black heathen places t ' 
 
 ' Where they bury the poor babies/ said Aline. 
 But there was a mission lady saving one.' 
 
 * The joyful sound proclaim/ went on Edward. 
 ' I'll tell you what — I mean to do it, I mean to 
 be a missionary to the heathen ! ' 
 
 Both the girls received the announcement with 
 a burst of laughter, and Frances said : ' It was to 
 be a sailor last week, or a photographer. Which 
 was it .^^ ' 
 
 ' I mean it this time/ said Edward. ' Don't 
 
i6 
 
 THE LANTERN 
 
 laugh, Frances, I do ! And did you see who was 
 helping him with the slides ? ' 
 
 ' Fm sure I didn't see,' said Frances ; * I thought 
 it was only an assistant sort of person/ 
 
 * Assistant sort of person ? ' repeated Edward. 
 * Why, he was Mr. Goodrich, our master that I am 
 up to.' 
 
 'Well, that is an assistant sort of person,' 
 argued Frances, laughing. 
 
 * I tell you he is a gentleman, a real jolly sort 
 of fellow, and I believe he is going to be a clergy- 
 man.' 
 
 * I wonder what this is that he gave us,' said 
 Aline. * It is some sort of picture that the 
 children will like.' 
 
 She spoke in the superior sort of way in which 
 twelve years old talks of the younger folk of the 
 family. 
 
 They were by this time near an iron gate, 
 close in front of a house, where lights peeped from 
 behind the blinds ; and here the three parted, the 
 two girls to run round to the back entrance of the 
 house of their father, Mr. Millar, the union doctor, 
 and Edward Bryant to go further down a darken- 
 ing lane, and then across two fields, one silvery 
 
THE LANTERN 
 
 17 
 
 with beards of barley in the rising moonlight, and 
 the other scattered with cows lying down, and to 
 be heard munching as they chewed their cud. 
 Beyond rose the dark-tiled roofs of barns around 
 an old farmhouse, once very handsome of its kind, 
 but now a great deal out of repair. 
 
 Old Mr. Bryant had in his youth been a 
 prosperous man, holding his own land after many 
 generations, and almost ranking with the gentry ; 
 but misfortune had fallen on him, and he could 
 hardly keep his land in cultivation, far less make 
 improvements, for which he had the less heart 
 since all his children had been short-lived. Dr. 
 Millar said that the cause probably lay in the un- 
 altered drainage of the farm court ; but to this he 
 turned a deaf ear, as to new-fashioned fancy, and 
 indeed he could not have gone to the expense 
 of rectifying it. 
 
 None of his whole family were left to him, 
 except the row of graves, small and large, in 
 the churchyard, and the grandson of his eldest 
 son, Edward, who lived at the farm with his 
 mother. 
 
 She was the daughter of a corn merchant, and 
 had known ease and fair circumstances ; but trouble 
 
 / B 
 
i8 
 
 THE LANTERN 
 
 had likewise overtaken her relations, and except 
 that 50/. a year had been secured to her by an 
 uncle, she had no dependence save on the old 
 grandfather, for whom she managed, as far as he 
 would allow her, or her own delicate health would 
 permit, while her son Edward went daily to a 
 good grammar school at Cokeham, a town about 
 two miles distant. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THIRTY-FOLD 
 
 Keep thou, dear child, thine early word 
 Give Him thy best : Who knows but He 
 For His eternal board 
 May take some gift from thee. 
 
 ' Lyra Innocentium.' 
 
 ARLY hours were kept at Birkfarm, but 
 Mrs. Bryant was waiting for her boy 
 when he came to the back door at nine 
 o'clock. 
 
 *Well, Eddy, I hope you have been enter- 
 tained.' 
 
 * Mother, I never heard anything like it, and I 
 saw it too ! There were poor widows being burnt, 
 and the horrid tall car running over the poor 
 creatures, and a faquir swinging by hooks in his 
 sides.' 
 
 ' I read about it long ago, my dear, and saw 
 
 B 2 
 
20 
 
 THIRTY-FOLD 
 
 pictures of it ; but I thought it was all done away 
 with now.' 
 
 ^ So the Rector said, and that English laws 
 hinder the worst of it ; but they don't really know 
 any better, and they put poor old men into the 
 Ganges to die, with a bit of cowdung in their 
 mouths ! Men are wanted, ever so much, to teach 
 them better ! Mother, I must go and be a mis- 
 sionary.' 
 
 'You had better be eating your supper than 
 talking of what you know nothing about.' 
 
 ' But, mother, there was Mr. Goodrich — our 
 Goodrich of my form — helping him,' said Edward 
 impressively. 
 
 * I suppose he is some cousin of his. Come, do 
 go on with your supper. Grandpa won't go to 
 sleep till he hears you safe upstairs.' 
 
 * But, mammy dear, you must go and hear the 
 gentleman preach to-morrow. Now promise me.' 
 
 * Well, if grandpapa can spare me, and if Susan 
 gets forward enough with the joint—' 
 
 * And, mother ' 
 
 ' Do make haste, Eddy as his bread and 
 cheese halted on the way to his lips, 'or grandpapa 
 will be knocking overhead.' 
 
THIRTY-FOLD 
 
 21 
 
 Nor would she listen to a word more till she 
 had driven her son up to his own little room, and 
 shut the door on him, his last words being : * You've 
 promised, mother ! ' He said his prayers under 
 the vine-sheltered window as usual, and a thought 
 of the scenes on the wall made him pause over 
 * Thy kingdom come/ When he rose up, he went 
 to his money-box and shook it out. There were 
 two threepenny bits in it — one would have to be 
 given in church to-morrow (for it was reckoned 
 mean and ungrateful not to give silver) — fivepence 
 in coppers, and half-a-crown, given by a visitor of 
 his mother. He was saving in hopes of a pair of 
 skates, and had been sorry to hear the collection 
 announced, because the little silver bits would 
 have to be sacrificed, and he looked twice at the 
 bright half-crown, and thought of 'The joyful sound 
 proclaim.' Perhaps it would not freeze next winter ! 
 He would see how he felt about it to-morrow, and 
 be prepared, at any rate ; so the half-crown and the 
 threepenny pieces both went into his Sunday 
 jacket pocket before he lay down. 
 
 His mind was full of the same subject when he 
 awoke, and he gave hearty help to his mother in 
 forwarding the needful work about the house, and 
 
22 
 
 THIRTY-FOLD 
 
 he hunted her up soon after ten o'clock to put on 
 the black silk in which she always looked so lady- 
 like. 
 
 * Going to church, Missus ? ' said the farmer, 
 who had just come in from inspecting the calves, 
 and was unfolding his Sunday newspaper. 
 
 * Yes, grandpa ; Eddy wants me to go and hear 
 this Mr.— Mr. ' 
 
 * Smithson,' suggested Edward. * He has been 
 among the Red Indians.' 
 
 * I hear he is a very fine preacher,' added Mrs. 
 Bryant. 
 
 ' Missionary sermon, eh ? Ah ! hunting just to 
 get money, a regular dodge — better spent at home. 
 
 And what's this ' picking up Edward's paper. 
 
 * Who's been sticking tracts about here } ' 
 
 * Oh, grandpa, let me have it. They gave it to 
 me last night, and I had not time to see it' 
 
 ' Parsees and Chinamen ! Rot ! Only fit to 
 light a pipe with.' 
 
 He crushed it, and threw it into the grate, but 
 the fire was low, and Edward watched to rescue it, 
 while his mother was saying : 
 
 * Well, I like to hear a good preacher now and 
 then, and I have put everything 'ready for Susan, 
 
THIRTY-FOLD 
 
 23 
 
 so if you don't want me particularly, grandpapa, I 
 should be glad to go for once in a way.' 
 
 He gave a sort of grunt which, at any rate, 
 was not a refusal. Mrs. Bryant was a good 
 woman, and had been a regular church-goer in her 
 youth ; but since she had lived at Birkfarm, her 
 own frail health at first, the needs of her young 
 child, and then of the household and the old man, 
 had made the distance seem longer and longer, so 
 that she was out of the habit, though she always 
 read her Bible and one or two sermon books on a 
 Sunday, and sent Edward regularly ; besides that, 
 she always made him read a chapter in the Bible, 
 and heard his Catechism in the evening. 
 
 It was a very fine day, and the walk through 
 the fields was pleasant before the sun had become 
 powerful. There was the sweet Sunday quiet all 
 round, and the bells began to peal. 
 
 ' How odd it must be to be in a country where 
 there are no church bells,' said Edward. 
 
 * Your uncle — my poor brother Charlie — when 
 he came home from Canada, he could never 
 hear enough of our bells at Awmouth — he 
 said he was quite lost without them in the back- 
 woods.' 
 
24 
 
 THIRTY-FOLD 
 
 ' What did uncle Charles do ? Did they have 
 no church at all ? ' 
 
 * Oh, I believe there was one twenty miles off, 
 that a clergyman came to once a month, and that 
 sometimes your uncle rode over to it. I think 
 the place is more settled now ; but I have not 
 heard since poor Charlie died. What stories he 
 did tell me about the Indians ! ' 
 
 ^ Were they Christians, mother ? ' 
 
 * I am sure I don't know. They made 
 beautiful bark baskets and canoes, worked with 
 porcupines' quills. I had one for a long time, but it 
 was lost when I moved here. They were harmless 
 enough, that tribe ; but there are terrible savages 
 over in the States that would think nothing of 
 scalping you, and hanging your scalp up by the 
 hair to their belts.' 
 
 ' And does no one try to teach them ? ' 
 
 ' Oh ! this was all five-and-twenty or thirty 
 years ago ; everything may be changed since 
 then. It was reading about " Leather-stocking " 
 in Mr. Cooper's books that made your uncle 
 want to go out ; but, there, he did not find it 
 one bit so romantic as he expected, and the 
 Indians were nasty dirty fellows.' 
 
THIRTY-FOLD 
 
 25 
 
 Edward decided on looking for * Leather- 
 stocking ' — if such were his name — among his 
 mother's old books in the parlour cupboard ; and 
 therewith they came into the lane, where more 
 church-goers appeared, and presently, from Dr. 
 Millar's gate, came Frances and Aline, also a tiny 
 boy, proudly strutting in Sunday knickerbockers, 
 and a little girl endeavouring to carry a big red 
 prayer-book, as well as a small fringed parasol 
 over her shoulder, in an opposite direction from 
 the sun. 
 
 ' Mamma is at home with baby, and papa has 
 been sent for to old Mr. Mason,' explained 
 Frances, * so we are taking the children to church ; 
 and Mabel and Bertie have promised to be very 
 good.' 
 
 * I have got my big bright penny for the poor 
 babies that get buried, and perhaps Pharaoh's 
 daughter will come and save them ! And see my 
 book tha{ Aunt Bessie gave me.' 
 
 While she was displaying the large book, down 
 went the penny on one side, and the parasol on 
 the other, and while Edward was hunting for the 
 penny in the grass Master Bertie captured the 
 sunshade, shut it up, and began to poke him in the 
 
26 
 
 THIRTY.FOLD 
 
 back with the point, and peace was only restored 
 by Mrs. Bryant persuading the boy that he would 
 be taken for a girl with such a feminine imple- 
 ment. 
 
 She offered to take him to sit with her, but 
 this was contrary to the dignity of all concerned, 
 and she had to withdraw her offer. Mabel had 
 more to say about the Chinese babies, and Aline 
 explained that they had been reading to her the 
 story below the illustration on the paper that they 
 had brought home, which had much struck her 
 little mind. 
 
 Their seat was just in front of Mrs. Bryant, so 
 that she might help in time of need ; but the 
 children were good on the whole, Bertie much 
 occupied with counting the O's in the Benedicite^ 
 and staring at old Mr. Briggs's bald head till he 
 went to sleep ; Mabel listening with open mouth. 
 
 The text was, * How shall they hear except there 
 be a preacher, and how shall they preach except 
 they be sent ? ' and an eloquent and striking picture 
 was drawn of the contrast between the heathen and 
 those who dwelt at home in ease and comfort with 
 all the blessings of religion, carrying with it civili- 
 sation and peace. Mr. Smithson told how, in the 
 
THIRTY-FOLD 
 
 27 
 
 islands of the Pacific, every village spoke a 
 different language, so that a missionary said surely 
 they had come straight from the Tower of Babel, 
 and how, what was worse, each village was at feud 
 with its neighbour, so that a man could not safely 
 walk a few miles beyond his own precinct without 
 being in danger, and how the people themselves 
 were weary of their perpetual strife, and called on 
 the Christians on other isles to bring them the 
 words of peace. 
 
 The Words of Peace — this most appropriate 
 name by which the message of the Gospel is 
 known, even by those who have not yet surrendered 
 themselves to it. And in these spheres of action 
 the crying need was for Men to receive those who 
 were stretching forth their hands to beg for the 
 light we have ourselves received. Therewith the 
 preacher replied to the too frequent objections in 
 people's minds, who asked, *Why should we 
 disturb the native, who is very happy as he is,' by 
 showing what this undisturbed happiness is, when 
 every village is at feud with its neighbour and 
 slaughter prevails at each moment ? Or when a chief 
 cannot die without a witch doctor denouncing 
 whom he will as the author of the illness, and all 
 
28 
 
 THIRTY-FOLD 
 
 the family — wives, children, and relations — being 
 cruelly murdered in revenge ? Or, even in India, 
 though the burning of widows be prohibited by 
 English rule, yet the widowed girl, even though 
 she be betrothed in infancy, and have never seen 
 her husband, becomes the persecuted family slave, 
 with no hope or favour in store for her, but com- 
 pelled to lead so dreary and miserable a life that 
 the flames were really thought preferable? Or, 
 again, the contempt of life and destruction of 
 infant girls in China 
 
 At that moment little Mabel burst out in an 
 irrepressible gasping cry, half scream half sob. 
 Frances tried to remove her, but she drew up her 
 heels and sat fast. Edward, who was just behind, 
 leant over, took her up in his arms and carried her 
 out, Frances following, while she still sobbed, 
 words breaking out between—* Oh the poor little 
 dear baby girls.' 
 
 They sat her down in the churchyard, and 
 Frances shook her and scolded her, but still she 
 did not leave off crying * the babies, the babies.' 
 Perhaps she had been half asleep, and some dream 
 of the picture had mixed itself with the words to 
 which she had awakened, of the girl-babes whose 
 
THIRTY-FOLD 
 
 29 
 
 fathers were about to bury them ahve unless a 
 sum were paid for them. 
 
 The congregation were beginning to come out 
 of church, and Frances wanted to lead her out of 
 the way, being very much ashamed of her conduct ; 
 but she would not stir, and went on sobbing out 
 something about King Pharaoh's daughter, the 
 babies, and her penny, so that Edward, who had 
 of course missed the collection himself, offered to 
 take her back to give it. 
 
 So he did, meeting one of the churchwardens 
 with his bag, going to the vestry. Edward told 
 him, and he smiled pleasantly, saying, * Good 
 little maid ! ' 
 
 But, alas ! the penny, which had been nursed 
 within the little thread glove, was not to be found 
 there. Where could it be ? They went back to 
 the seat where Mabel had been, and looked up 
 and down, and still it did not appear. Mr. Brooks 
 said he could wait no longer, and the little girl 
 was just breaking into another howl, when Edward 
 said ' Here,' and thrust between her fingers what 
 felt like a penny as she dropped it triumphantly 
 into the bag — and then, rather in a fright at 
 finding herself in the big empty church, her little 
 
30 
 
 THIRTY-FOLD 
 
 boots went clattering down the aisle. Frances 
 and Aline were waiting for her, and Bertie, holding 
 his head very high, and declaring that he didn't 
 cry. 
 
 But Mabel had her own story to tell, though 
 nobody but Aline listened to her. ^ I lost my 
 penny, and we hunted for it all over the pew ; but 
 at last Eddy found it, and do you know, Alley, it 
 had all turned into silver ! And I gave it to the 
 bag to save the poor little babies, just as Pharaoh's 
 daughter saved Moses in the ark of bulrushes.' 
 
 Aline thought that Mabel must have picked 
 up one of the round tin tickets that the school- 
 children had ; but she was a kind sister, and did 
 not laugh at the little one's belief in the trans- 
 formation. And poor Mabel had to be received 
 at home in disgrace for having cried at church : 
 * Such a great girl as she was ! ' 
 
 Edward had run after his mother, and did not 
 hear ; but he had not heard the end of the ^ big 
 silver penny,' for as he was strolling about the 
 fields — in some hesitation whether he would go to 
 evensong, doubting between sunshine with re- 
 search after a weasel's hole, and weariness with 
 the possibility of some more missionary stories in 
 
THIRTY-FOLD 
 
 31 
 
 the sermon — the Rector, accompanied by Mr. 
 Goodrich, came to the back gate of the rectory 
 garden and hailed him. ' Ha ! Edward Bryant ; 
 I thought it was you ! You took Dr. Millar's 
 little girl up to give her offering, didn't you ? 
 Well, it was half-a-crown. Was not it a mistake ? ' 
 
 Edward turned as red as a girl might have 
 done, and mumbled, ^ She had lost her's, sir.' 
 
 ' It was yours, then ? You meant it ? ' asked 
 the Rector, in a kind leading voice, that seemed to 
 draw out of Edward the exclamation — ' Oh, sir, I 
 do want to know more about those missionary 
 gentlemen.' 
 
 The Rector stopped, and smiled, saying : * Well, 
 Mr. Goodrich is the man to tell you. He is pre- 
 paring to go out to India to help in the work 
 there as soon as ' 
 
 * As soon as there is reason to think I am in 
 some degree ready,' said Mr. Goodrich quietly ; 
 but with a look on his face that greatly struck 
 Edward. ' Would you like to see some books, 
 Bryant } If you will come to my rooms I can 
 lend you some that I think will interest you.' 
 
 * Thank you, sir ' ; and there it ended for that 
 evening with Edward. But Mr. Goodrich said 
 
32 
 
 THIRTY-FOLD 
 
 eagerly, as they returned into the garden : * A nice 
 chap, that. Are there hopes of any purpose in 
 him?' 
 
 * No man can say. His grandfather — great- 
 grandfather, in fact— is an unprosperous old 
 broken-down farmer of the stolid stamp, his 
 mother a quiet, overdone, commonplace woman. 
 Troubles and hard work before him, I should 
 think, and no sympathy for aspirations.' 
 

 
 
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 CHAPTER III 
 
 GREAT EXAMPLES 
 Each stepping where his comrade stood. — * Marmion.' 
 
 =^DWARD set out for his walk to his 
 grammar school, at Cokeham, at eight 
 o'clock the next morning, for it was 
 nearly an hour's distance, and this 
 school opened at nine. Just as he had crossed 
 the fields and come into the public road, he was 
 overtaken by Mr. Goodrich, also on his way, and 
 they walked on together, the boy feeling very 
 shy, and as if he would rather have avoided a 
 whole mile alone with a master ; but presently 
 Mr. Goodrich said, also like a shy man : 
 
 *You would like to borrow a book of mine 
 about missions ? ' 
 
 * Yes, sir ; thank you.' 
 
 C 
 
34 
 
 GREAT EXAMPLES 
 
 ^ Is there any you would especially care to 
 hear of ? ' 
 
 * No, sir. There were so many in the lantern, 
 and it does seem such a shame that nobody 
 should do anything for those poor people.' 
 
 * Not quite nobody,' replied Mr. Goodrich. 
 * There have been noble workers, and grand 
 blessings in success have been granted to them ; 
 but many more are wanted before the promise 
 shall be fulfilled, " The earth shall be filled with 
 the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the 
 waters cover the sea." ' 
 
 * I suppose that is in the Bible, sir 1 ' 
 
 * You will find it in the second chapter of 
 Habakkuk, and very nearly the same in the 
 eleventh of Isaiah. Those were the very last 
 dying words of the good Bishop Broughton, under 
 whom the teaching of Australia was begun.' 
 
 ^ But is not Australia mostly English convicts 
 and settlers } ' 
 
 ' Not convicts in these days ; but there are 
 natives, who are said to be the most difficult 
 persons to deal with, having little intelligence, and 
 great wildness and savagery ; but I believe that 
 though much evil has been done to them by angry, 
 
GREAT EXAMPLES 
 
 35 
 
 impatient settlers, in what one can only call 
 wickedness, yet a way to the hearts of some has 
 been found by those who carry out our Master's 
 words : " Go ye into all the world and preach the 
 Gospel to every creature ! " ' His eye was on the 
 golden east as he spoke, with a certain tone of 
 eagerness in his voice that touched Edward to 
 the heart, and made him almost ready to take off 
 his hat, as if he were in church. 
 
 * And one ought ! ' he said in a low voice. 
 
 * I did not say that everyone ought,' said Mr. 
 Goodrich, ' only those to whom the call is sent' 
 
 * I should like to,' muttered Edward. 
 
 ' Ah ! you have long to wait, and to be pre- 
 pared before the call can come to you ; but I shall 
 be very glad, as long as I am near you, to give you 
 anything to read that can be a help in knowing 
 what the work is, and who are the men who have 
 carried it out thus far.' 
 
 At this moment, two other scholars — George 
 and Jim Sparrow — came forth from a field path. 
 They generally did join company with Edward 
 Bryant ; but they were rather surprised to see 
 him with the master, who, however, shook hands 
 with them in a friendly way, and began at once 
 
 c 2 
 
36 
 
 talking about the next football match just in an 
 ordinary tone, to which the boys replied stiffly 
 and shyly. But Edward was all the time feeling 
 that he should never think of Mr. Goodrich again 
 quite as he had done before he had seen the light 
 on his face. When they had entered the town, 
 and the master ran up to his lodgings, George 
 asked, ' Whatever were you about with old 
 Goody ? ' He answered, rather gruffly, * He had 
 been sleeping out at our parson's at Langbridge, 
 and was going our way.' 
 
 ^ What a bore,' responded George, and Edward 
 said nothing to the contrary. He would not for 
 the world have let them, or, indeed, scarcely any 
 one else, guess at the thoughts which were rising in 
 his heart. Indeed, it was as if to confirm them 
 that, in the course of the morning's lesson, an atlas 
 was opened, when, by some accident, a map was 
 unfolded which showed in colours the various 
 religions prevailing in the world, and Edward was 
 startled to see how small a proportion had the red 
 line of Christianity, how much was yellow for 
 Mohammedanism, how much black for heathenism 
 of different kinds. He was so struck by the 
 thought that he did not recall his attention in 
 
GREAT EXAMPLES 
 
 37 
 
 time to answer about the effect of the distribution 
 of the oceans upon climate, and Jim Sparrow took 
 his place. 
 
 When he had eaten the lunch (or dinner) pro- 
 vided by his mother, he went in to Mr. Goodrich's 
 lodgings : he was taken into the little parlour, bare 
 of most things excepting one print of St. Paul 
 preaching at Athens, and another of him and St. 
 Barnabas preventing the men of Lystra from sacri- 
 ficing to them as gods. Mr. Goodrich had gone to 
 speak to the head-master, but he had left half-a- 
 dozen books out on the table with a message by 
 the landlady that Bryant was to look at them and 
 choose which he would like to borrow, and take 
 it home if he himself did not come back in time 
 before school. 
 
 Edward peeped into one after another, and 
 thought that the names of Bishops Heber, Patteson, 
 Hannington made them sound too grand and too 
 formal, and ' Lionheart,' the title of one book about 
 Bishop Hannington had a childish air about the 
 early part, which he was just old enough to begin 
 to shun. ' Henry Martyn ' looked a little dry, and 
 he was most attracted by the scenes in the life of 
 John Paton in the Pacific islands of Tanna and 
 
38 
 
 GREAT EXAMPLES 
 
 Aniwa, where the black bride is depicted who ap- 
 peared at public service with all the European gar- 
 ments she could collect, including a pair of sailor's 
 trousers thrown over her shoulders like a scarf. 
 Also there was the wonder and delight of the 
 natives when Mr. Paton dug their first well, and 
 thus w^on their hearts to him as a wise man, to 
 whose words they might listen. There, too, was a 
 chief in his ornaments, performing a war dance, 
 but declaring that no god had ever heard his 
 prayer save the Jehovah God of the missionary, 
 and, in the next picture, burning his idols. 
 
 Edward was caught by the excellently told 
 history, and when Mr. Goodrich returned, held up 
 the book, saying : ' This, if you please, sir.' 
 
 Mr. Goodrich was, perhaps, a little disappointed ; 
 but he said : ' Yes, it is a noble story, full of in- 
 terest ; an excellent one to begin v/ith. You will 
 remember that Mr. Paton was a good and faithful 
 member of the Presbyterian Kirk of Scotland — 
 and that when he speaks of the Church " that 
 is what he means. But most truly do the 
 words apply to him, He that is not against Me 
 is with Me." Yes, take the book, it is most 
 inspiriting.' 
 
GREAT EXAMPLES 
 
 39 
 
 The book was well packed up in brown paper 
 as he spoke, not only to protect the cover, where a 
 savage is pointing a gun at Mr. Paton, but to 
 prevent the other boys from seeing it and chaffing 
 about * Goody's ' loan ; and, as it was, Bryant had to 
 make answer whether he had been in a row or had 
 a * jawing,' or what Goody could have wanted with 
 him. 
 
 However, he brought himself and his book 
 home in good time, and was very soon absorbed 
 in the wonderful and simply told account of the 
 daring and suffering of the missionary, which 
 caught his whole fancy, so that he could hardly be 
 called off to eat his supper or go to bed. 
 
 Only the thought that Mr. Goodrich might 
 take away the book, if it made him neglect his 
 tasks, led him to get up in time to finish his sum 
 and prepare his construing before he returned to 
 his book in the morning ; and when he committed 
 it to his mother's charge, as if it were the most 
 precious thing in the world, he begged her to 
 read it, telling her she would never be able to 
 leave it. 
 
 She laughed, and said : * And what would become 
 of your shirts or grandpa's dinner if I sat dawdling 
 
40 
 
 GREAT EXAMPLES 
 
 that way ? No, no ; books are all very well for you 
 young folks, but I have plenty besides to do.' 
 
 Somehow Edward became more and more 
 taken up with Mr. Paton ; he told the stories to the 
 Millar girls, only Frances said she did not want to 
 know anything about those tiresome missionaries 
 and black people, and Aline grew wearied, counted 
 her knitting, and merely said ' Oh,' at proper in- 
 tervals ; but little Mabel was never tired of listening, 
 and always sidled up to ask whether Eddy had read 
 any more about the funny black men. 
 
 It did not do much good to his studies, and 
 when, after twice reading the book over, he brought 
 it back to Mr. Goodrich, and ventured to ask for 
 another, * There was no reading like it,' he said. 
 
 *Yes, it stirs one's spirit,' said Mr. Goodrich, 
 with his eye on St. Paul's uplifted hand. 
 
 * To go after them t ' said Edward, with bated 
 breath. 
 
 ' Yes ; but, Bryant, have you been working at 
 your present duties as you ought ? ' And, as the 
 colour came up in the lad's face : * I have had to 
 make many more marks in this essay than usual ; 
 and Mr. Bell tells me your arithmetic has been 
 hurried through, without proper attention. If 
 
GREAT EXAMPLES 41 
 
 these books take you from your right employ- 
 ments, they become temptations, and I cannot lend 
 you more/ 
 
 ' Oh, sir, ril try/ 
 
 * Make this resolution, Bryant, or I shall not 
 feel justified in making you the loan of this Life of 
 Bishop Mackenzie." Never touch it till you can 
 honestly feel that you have properly prepared 
 for the next day's work.' 
 
 * I won't, sir, I promise ; but ' 
 
 ' But what } ' 
 
 ' It doesn't seem of much good to a missionary.' 
 
 ' Doesn't it, my dear old chap ? Well, is the 
 missionary to go out without power of calculation 
 or estimate — in case he finds himself prime minister 
 to some tribe, or to deal with subscriptions ? Or, 
 as to knowledge of soils, could Baton have dug 
 his well without it ? Or if he only knows his English 
 Bible and Prayer-book, would he be competent to 
 translate or explain the Greek — not to say the 
 Hebrew — words in their proper force ? Depend upon 
 it, all you learn here is so much preparation for 
 the strange, indescribable work you may have to 
 undertake. Besides, to get one of the scholarships 
 would be the very way to help you to the work.' 
 
42 
 
 GREAT EXAMPLES 
 
 ^ I see, sir/ said the boy with more alacrity. 
 
 * And, the most important preparation of all — 
 that of knowing how to give up your own will and 
 enthusiastic fancy for the sake of an immediate 
 dry duty.' 
 
 The school bell rang, they both started up to 
 the * immediate dry duty ' ; but the words stayed 
 with Edward. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 COLD WATER 
 
 All things are best fulfilled in their due time, 
 And there is time for all things. — Milton. 
 
 DWARD tried to bear in mind and act 
 upon Mr. Goodrich's advice and his own 
 promise ; but he did not find it always 
 easy to do so. There was the strong 
 temptation to slur over his work, and if he found 
 a doubtful word in the lexicon, to make it do^ and 
 not seek any further ; or if his sum would not prove, 
 to decide that the proof must be wrong, and let it 
 go, even if his answer had not common sense. 
 That would probably have been the case with 
 anything he was eager about ; but his grandfather 
 began to observe how much he read, and when he 
 was catching every moment available before start- 
 ing for school, or curled up in the window seat on 
 
44 
 
 COLD WATER 
 
 a Saturday, would come on him with, * Holloa ! 
 what are you after ? We don't want bookworms ! 
 A young chap like you ought to be after foot- 
 ball or somewhat. 
 
 ' Football ain't come in yet,' said Edward. 
 
 (Grunt) — ' There's enough for any lad to do that 
 has got a mind to it. You've not been out rabbit- 
 ing lately, and they are punishing the turnips in the 
 Outfield like a flock of locusts.' 
 
 ' You were at me last time for wanting to take 
 your gun,' muttered Edward. 
 
 ' Eh ! what's that ? Gun ? Ay — take it ; only 
 mind what you are about with it. Don't shoot 
 yourself or old Barnes ; and mind you bring 
 home enough of the little thieves for Missus's 
 pudding here.' 
 
 That old-fashioned fowling-piece was a great 
 treasure of Mr. Bryant's, and though his great- 
 grandson had long ago learnt to use guns, it 
 always made him angry for the lad to touch it ; 
 so it was plain that it was meant as a bribe to 
 forsake the beloved book. However, as Edward 
 tramped out, with the weapon on his shoulder, he 
 was thinking of the joy of releasing a poor negro 
 from a heavy yoke of timber shaped like a Y, and 
 
'IS THAT ALL YOUR BAG ( DEMANDED HIS 
 
 grandfather: p. 45. 
 
COLD WATER 
 
 45 
 
 debating in his mind whether it were permissible 
 for a missionary to fight in such a cause. 
 
 When he saw the poor bunnies scudding away, 
 and showing their little white tails as they 
 rushed for their burrows in the copse, his spirit rose 
 to them, and he shot three, and carried them 
 home triumphantly over his shoulder, with the 
 greater satisfaction because Billy Blake came and 
 envied him his gun, and wanted very much to 
 handle it, which Eddy was too wise, or too 
 obedient, or both, to allow him to do. 
 
 * Is that all your bag? ' demanded his grand- 
 father. * When I was your age I should have 
 been ashamed to bring home no more than that, 
 with only an old flintlock fowling-piece, too ! But 
 boys are not boys now.' 
 
 So he mourned and growled while he was 
 eating the rabbit pudding which Mrs. Bryant had 
 made so carefully with onions and beautiful suet. 
 He ate it, indeed two helpings ; but declared all the 
 time that if Ted had been half the chap he was at 
 his age, they would be eating the conies instead 
 of the bunnies — the conies — preying on his 
 * turmots ' ! 
 
 Opposition is apt to make people, especially 
 
46 
 
 COLD WATER 
 
 lads, more and more earnest in their own pursuits, 
 and the more Edward's reading was interfered 
 with the more set upon it he grew. He dreamt 
 a good deal over his plans, and worked diligently 
 since he had been told that the scholarship would be 
 the first step. Even his mother, though at first she 
 liked anything that kept him quiet and out of mis- 
 chief, began to wish he was more like other lads, and 
 to snub him when he tried to tell her of some strange 
 adventure, a noble exploit, a wonderful conversion. 
 
 ' There you are at it again ; I'm quite sick of 
 hearing of those nasty Red Indian blacks.' 
 
 ' Oh, mamma, you know better ; Red Indians 
 ain't black.' 
 
 ' All the same, horrid murderous savages, that 
 would take your scalp and eat 3'ou as soon as that 
 porker,' said Mrs. Bryant, who, perhaps out of 
 perversity, had mixed up her geography, though 
 she had once known better. And it was worse 
 when i\Ir. Bryant happened to fall upon a book 
 with a map, and a coloured picture of the Red 
 Indians in all the feathers and war paint. 
 
 ' Holloa ! You've got one of those missionary 
 papers again. That's what you are always after, 
 is it ? ' 
 
COLD WATER 
 
 47 
 
 * I wish you would speak to him, grandpapa/ 
 wailed Mrs. Bryant. ' He is always at them — 
 neglecting his studies and all.' 
 
 ' I never do ; IVe promised not/ muttered 
 Edward under his breath ; but he w^as not heard, 
 except by his mother, who was generally ready to 
 take his part ; but just now had been made angry. 
 
 ^ Well, his studies ; maybe that's his master's 
 look-out ; though I'm sure he doesn't give half time 
 enough to them. But, as for the rest, I told him 
 to run out and cut me a bit of parsley for the cold 
 pork. " All right, ma/' he says ; never stirs, and 
 I may go and whistle for my parsley.' 
 
 * I only wanted to finish ' 
 
 * Ay, that's the way,' broke in the grand- 
 father. * I tell you what, Ted, you are going just 
 the way to be good for nothing. A scholar won't 
 make nothing of this here farm.' 
 
 ^ No one will make much of the farm,' muttered 
 Edward, who was old enough to have some notion 
 of the state of affairs ; but he could not have 
 said a more unsuitable thing, for it put his grand- 
 father into such a passion as he had never seen 
 before. 
 
 In a rage, the old man went back to the 
 
48 COLD WATER 
 
 rougher language of his youth. He swore that all 
 this impertinent idleness came of his being given 
 to that reading, and snatched at the book to throw 
 it into the fire. Edward threw it into his much 
 terrified mother's lap, crying out that it was not 
 his, but Mr. Goodrich's —and this, though it saved 
 the book, stirred up a fresh storm. ' If I find one 
 of them books about again, I'll Goodrich it, you 
 may tell the parson fellow. So that's what he's up 
 to ! Putting all this stuff in your head and 
 making you turn against the station where God 
 has called you. That was what the catechis " said 
 in my time ; but now you must be after all this rot 
 and rubbish ! One word more of it, and I'll have 
 you home from your new-fangled school, and make 
 my fine gentleman follow the plough, as your 
 betters have done before you.' 
 
 He struck his thick oaken staff upon the floor as he 
 spoke with worse words of wrath than are here set 
 down, and Mrs. Bryant, dreadfully frightened, and 
 expecting every moment that he would bring on a fit, 
 hustled her son out of the room as fast as she could. 
 Edward had a notion of staying to protect her, but 
 she hastily said : * Oh ! no, no ; you only make it 
 worse. Go off to bed and have done with it' 
 
COLD WATER 
 
 49 
 
 He could not go to bed, but sat on the stairs in 
 the dark, hearing the grufif, angry voice roar at 
 her till it died away in coughs, and though it broke 
 out again, once or twice, there was at last a lull, 
 and it was plain that the old gentleman was 
 smoking himself into a calmer state. 
 
 Edward ventured noiselessly to come down 
 into the kitchen to get a candle and some supper, 
 and presently his mother came out to him, looking 
 quite pale after what she had gone through, and 
 bringing the book. 
 
 * Take it away, Eddy,' she whispered, holding 
 up her hand so as to show that the silence must be 
 preserved ; * and never you bring one in again. 
 How could you ? I thought he might have died of 
 it, and then what would you have felt ? ' 
 
 * But, mother, you know yourself, that ' 
 
 * Hush, hush ! He is your great-grandfather — 
 over eighty years old ; no need to vex him. 'Twill 
 all come after ' 
 
 * And then I shall have got the scholarship, 
 and be educated, and be free to go out and give 
 myself ' 
 
 His mother nearly screamed out her * Non- 
 sense.' 
 
 D 
 
COLD WATER 
 
 ' I mean it, mother/ he said, wound up as he 
 was by the excitement of the night. 
 
 *Then you mean just to break my heart,' she 
 declared, bursting into tears and suppressed sobs, 
 partly the effect of the scene she had gone through, 
 but partly the outbreak of the dismay that had 
 been growing upon her ever since she had begun 
 to watch the course of Edward's reading. 
 
 ' You ought not to say that, mother. It is the 
 most noble thing a man can do, to work for his 
 Master, and to spread His Name among the poor 
 heathens that have never known Him ! ' 
 
 ' Oh, oh ! ' But it might be well for both 
 that there were sounds like waking in old Mr. 
 Bryant's sitting-room, and outside, the steps of the 
 maid coming home from her message. The 
 mother composed herself, and Edward ran up to 
 his bed, in a state of passion and of dismay, and 
 feeling that no one save himself and Mr. Good- 
 rich cared for the House of God or the spread of 
 His Name. 
 
 Still he was not wholly comfortable as to meet- 
 ing his mother when he came down the next 
 morning. He never knew whether he should 
 meet his grandfather, who sometimes, when 
 
COLD WATER 
 
 51 
 
 rheumatic, did not come down till very late, but at 
 other times would be exceedingly early in rising, 
 wander about the home buildings, rating the men 
 — who never minded how ^ Old Master ' abused 
 them — and coming in long after Edward was ofif 
 to school, and lecturing on ^the benefit of the 
 master's eye,' and growling at every one's idleness, 
 till he fell asleep. 
 
 Edward was glad to see his boots outside the 
 door, and to gather that it was a sleeping morning. 
 His mother had a nice breakfast for him, and 
 perhaps both felt a little shy as he ate in haste, 
 and the subject was not entered on till he was 
 taking down his overcoat, when she said, * Here's 
 the book, Eddy, and don't you borrow any more. 
 It only upsets the old gentleman ; and don't let me 
 hear more of that nonsense of yours. You could 
 not do it yet, not for years to come, and I hope by 
 that time you'll be grown wiser.' 
 
 ' No such thing ' ; but, happily, he was wise 
 enough to keep the muttering between his teeth, 
 as he swung his strap over his shoulder and strode 
 off, without his usual good-bye to his mother, who 
 looked after him, a good deal pained that, as she 
 would have said, her boy was getting beyond her, 
 
 D 2 
 
COLD WATER 
 
 and with no question in her mind but that she was 
 right and he was fooHsh, and, might be, headstrong. 
 
 He, on his side, was debating whether they had 
 any right to interfere with his reading, when it 
 was of such a kind, and whether he should not go 
 on with it in spite of them, hiding his books in the 
 cart shed, or getting AHne to take care of them. 
 At his age, surely he might choose what he liked ! 
 If it were * Jack Sheppard ' or any of the sporting 
 books the other boys liked, they might object ; but 
 a book like this, and lent him by his tutor — there 
 could not possibly be any reasonable cause for 
 hindering him. He was sure Mr. Goodrich would 
 say the same. His wrath had made him stride on 
 so fast that he found he should be able to avail 
 himself of the half hour allowed for breakfast 
 before school, and he made his way to the 
 lodgings at once. 
 
 Mr. Goodrich rose up from his letters and his 
 paper with ' Good-morning, Bryant ; have you 
 come to change your book already ? ' 
 
 * I have it here, sir, thank you ; but I want to 
 know whether they have a right to stop my 
 reading ? ' 
 
 ' Who are they ? ' 
 
COLD WATER 
 
 53 
 
 * My grandfather- great-grandfather he is/ said 
 Edward, as if that put it a Httle further off, * he has 
 set on mother, and they made ever such a row, and 
 say I must not have such books, and I don't see 
 that they have any right. It is not as if they were 
 bad books, but when you lend them to me, 
 sir ' 
 
 * Hold hard, Bryant ; I don't think I have the 
 right, as you say, to lend you what is disapproved 
 by your authorities at home.' 
 
 Edward's face fell. ' Won't you, then, sir } ' 
 
 * Not unless I could have a talk with your 
 mother about it, and get her consent' 
 
 * I don't know that it would be any good, sir. 
 She is awfully afraid of the old gentleman, when 
 he gets into one of his tantrums ; and, besides, she 
 says it would just break her heart if I was to go 
 out as a missionary.' 
 
 * She may think differently by the time you are 
 old enough,' said Mr. Goodrich. 
 
 * Only, sir,' said Edward, 'she might do some- 
 thing that would always hinder me. There's this 
 old farm that is tied round my neck just like a 
 burden — not that I don't like the place. It has 
 belonged to us since Queen Anne's time, worse 
 
54 
 
 COLD WATER 
 
 luck ; but it has got muddled and mortgaged, and 
 all sorts of things ; and they say if it comes to me 
 I shall never make anything of it, and shall have 
 to live the life of a labourer, all for nothing, and I 
 don't want to be bound down to do that just to 
 pacify the old man, who does not half know what 
 he is thinking of - 
 
 ^ I see,' said Mr. Goodrich, 'it is a hard 
 situation, and a great trial to be patient and 
 dutiful. Your work for the scholarship is in any 
 way a preparation. Remember, your training for 
 the present must be to submit in patience. It is 
 the way to make a man of you, and more, a 
 servant of God ! There's the bell, we must be off 
 Only, my dear lad, bethink you, when you say 
 your prayers, to add the Easter-day Collect, and I 
 think you will find that God will bring your 
 desire to good effect in whatever way it will be.' 
 
 Edward was not at all delighted with his con- 
 versation, nor even to hear again that Mr. Goodrich 
 thought he had a good chance of the scholarship. 
 He thought he had more arguments to bring 
 forward ; but Mr. Goodrich was going out to 
 luncheon, and engaged later in the day. He went 
 home walking hotly and sharply ; but as he came 
 
COLD WATER 
 
 55 
 
 near the hedge of the Millars' garden he heard 
 MabeFs voice going on as if she were reading, and, 
 peeping through the hedge, he beheld her standing 
 in the midst of a half-circle of dolls — one black 
 and curly, another fair and waxen, a third with no 
 complexion to speak of, a fourth very like a 
 painted monkey. * Now, my dear black brethren 
 and sisters, you had better renounce your idols 
 that are only wood and stone, and leave off bury- 
 ing your poor babies, and tying up their toes all 
 horrid, and getting into rivers to die and burning 
 yourselves to death with your husbands ! Don't ! 
 I am come to preach to you better things, and to 
 bring to you the blessed Bible/ 
 
 * Mabel, Mabel, Mab — come in,' called Frances. 
 ' You are at that silly play again that mamma says 
 is just profane, and you have been and taken my 
 Bellanina again that Lady Mary gave me ! Out 
 in the sun and dirt too ; come in directly, you 
 naughty child ! ' 
 
 * Ah ! It is all play and nonsense,' muttered 
 Edward to himself ; ' no better with me than with 
 poor Mab ! That's what the world is made of 
 — care for nothing ! ' 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 TURNED ASIDE 
 
 I watch them drift, the youthful aspirations, 
 Shores, landmarks, beacons, drift alike. 
 
 C. KiNGSLEY. 
 
 DWARD BRYANT seemed to lose 
 heart, or to throw it into another 
 direction, after his interview with Mr. 
 Goodrich. He felt affronted as well 
 as disappointed, and did not try again. He hoped 
 that the master would have talked to his mother, 
 and though there was no great reason to expect 
 much to be gained, yet still he felt it was due to 
 him. He did not know what searchings of heart 
 the young tutor had with himself, in his real affec- 
 tion for the lad, and desire to win so promising a 
 recruit for the mission field, and his own sense of 
 
TURNED ASIDE 
 
 57 
 
 duty and fair dealing towards the boy's mother 
 and grandfather. 
 
 He did talk of the matter with the rector of 
 the parish, Mr. Fraser, but was advised by him to 
 let it alone. * Poor Mrs. Bryant is a timid woman, 
 and evidently much afraid of the old man. Even 
 if you could see her without his interfering, I do 
 not think you would be able to make her under- 
 stand the responsibility of interfering with his 
 aspirations. Of course, at his age, there is no 
 knowing whether the call is real, or whether there 
 is only interest in adventure. Indeed, it is quite 
 doubtful whether he ought to go.' 
 
 Mr. Goodrich, who had his family's blessing 
 and approval, could hardly enter into the rector's 
 scruples. But he gave way when the argument 
 that he had himself used was applied, namely, 
 that thirteen years was too early an age to build 
 upon, and that the really best preparation would 
 be such dutifulness as would form a sound, manly, 
 godly character. 
 
 But at the beginning of the Easter holidays 
 came an urgent call from the Bishop of Saskatche- 
 wan for men who were likely to stand the climate 
 to go out with him to the mission to the Canadian 
 
58 
 
 TURNED ASIDE 
 
 Indians. The head-master consented to the en- 
 gagement being given up, and Mr. Goodrich only 
 returned to the school, before the term began, in 
 much haste to bid farewell and pack up his pro- 
 perties, nor did Edward hear of his visit till it 
 was over, or that he had left a kind message for 
 him. 
 
 But already the world had seemed changed to 
 Edward with the overthrow of his dream and 
 purpose. He did not like to walk to church with 
 Mabel Millar, who always expected him to tell her 
 a missionary story, and when he told her instead 
 a ridiculous tale about the cherry tree that grew 
 out of a horse's back, she was vexed, and said it 
 was not what she wanted. 
 
 He hung back so as not to overtake the girls 
 on their way to church, and on going out, joined 
 company with some other lads, older than himself, 
 and of a rather lower grade, whom he was used 
 to meet at cricket matches. 
 
 They were talking about an expedition to an 
 old ruin four miles off, full of jackdaws' nests, and 
 they turned to him laughing, saying it was of no 
 use asking such a swell to go ; and another de- 
 clared he was half a parson, and of course he 
 
TURNED ASIDE 
 
 59 
 
 would not meddle with * parson birds/ he was just 
 like them. Afraid they had discovered his mis- 
 sionary inclination, Edward loudly disavowed all 
 idea of being a parson, declared (and believed it) 
 that his affections were set on a tame jackdaw, 
 and undertook to meet the other lads after they 
 had gone home and had their dinner. 
 
 And so he did ; but the expedition was not very 
 successful. The walk took longer than had been 
 expected, and was wearisome in spite of the lads 
 cutting sticks and sparring with each other, with a 
 good deal of chaffing and holloaing. And when 
 at length the half-dozen lads reached the ivy- 
 grown old ruin, and Jack Bowser had climbed up, 
 causing a prodigious row among the jackdaws, 
 who flew out, croaking and chattering, he found 
 nothing but eggs ; and suddenly a keeper came out 
 from some unknown quarter, and roared at them 
 to be off. My lord would not have the place 
 meddled with, and if he caught them there again 
 he would have them up for trespass. Sims, the 
 biggest and most impudent, who was apprenticed 
 in the town, tried to reply with some sauce about 
 * Holloa, leggings, don't you wish you may get it' 
 But, of course, this only made him more angry, 
 
6o 
 
 TURNED ASIDE 
 
 and threaten them with immediate ^ prosecution/ so 
 that they had to flee — till they were out of breath ; 
 and Sims having a shilling in his pocket, proposed 
 to turn into a public-house and have a glass of beer 
 all round, which startled Edward Bryant, who had 
 no notion of doing any such thing, and, besides, 
 had no money in his Sunday coat. * His mammy 
 won't trust him,' was the cry, and * Never mind, 
 we'll treat you.' 
 
 It hurt his pride, and he would have marched 
 on, but the more good-natured Hill drew him in ; 
 and though not much money, yet much time, was 
 spent in somewhat rude chaffing and fun, and 
 the lads did not set out for home till far too 
 late for evensong. This was nothing to them, 
 but Edward had of late been generally regular 
 in attendance, though, so far as his home was con- 
 cerned, he could do as he pleased as to the second 
 service. 
 
 On the whole, his mother was far from ob- 
 jecting when he said he had been for a walk with 
 * some other chaps.' In fact, perhaps she viewed it 
 as a sign that the wild project, which she dreaded, 
 was passing from his mind. 
 
 And so it was, though perhaps it might be 
 
TURNED ASIDE 6i 
 
 doubted whether the course of these Easter holi- 
 days left her thinking about her only son as 
 happily as she had done before. He was, perhaps, 
 growing too old to be satisfied with the Millar 
 girls as companions ; and it was unreasonable to be 
 vexed when he proved not to be with them, but 
 about somewhere with Bowser, Sims & Co., and 
 coming home later and later in the evening. The 
 old man growled at her nonsense, when the 
 lad was only getting to be something like a 
 boy at last, and he would not have him meddled 
 with. 
 
 The effect was, that when the holidays were 
 over, and school work began again, Edward could 
 not settle down to diligence. His holiday task 
 had only been hurried over, and was far from 
 perfection, and that slow, plodding, dull James 
 Sparrow soon passed him ; and he saw less and 
 less chance of carrying off the scholarship, but he 
 did not care. His only desire was for diversion 
 that might fill up his mind, and keep it from 
 reverting to the happy days of Mr. Goodrich. So 
 it was that, whenever there was a row, Bryant was 
 sure to be concerned in it, and it came at last to 
 the head-master writing to his mother that if 
 
62 
 
 TURNED ASIDE 
 
 things went on in this way, he should have to 
 consider whether to retain him. 
 
 With many tears, she spoke to Edward, and 
 received only a rough, churlish answer, telling her 
 that women and schoolmasters were the greatest hum- 
 bugs in the world, and he had been doing nothing. 
 
 Then, when he was startled by seeing that he 
 had made her cry, he gave her a hug, and told her 
 not to mind what a horrid old fogey might say. 
 Which did not comfort her much, except that 
 she told the head-master, also Dr. Millar, that her 
 Edward was such an affectionate boy. 
 
 The first thing that made any difference in his 
 goings on was that his grandfather had a stroke. 
 Edward came home, much later than he ought to 
 have done, to find candles flaring about the house, 
 Dr. Millar in the old man's room, his mother on 
 the stairs watching for him, and all in confusion. 
 They did not expect Mr. Bryant to live through 
 the night, and when Edward was drawn into the 
 room, heard the snoring gasps, and saw the drawn, 
 unconscious face, he was very much shocked. 
 
 Dr. Millar laid his hand on his shoulder and 
 said : * Get your mother to go down with you and 
 eat some supper. She will have a great deal to go 
 
TURNED ASIDE 
 
 63 
 
 through to-night, and she should take some food to 
 enable her to go through with it.' 
 
 Edward was too awe-struck to speak much, but 
 he took hold of her hand in the coaxing way he 
 had not used for a long time, and said, * Come, 
 mamma, do ! ' 
 
 ' Yes, go ; you ought to give him his supper,' 
 said the doctor, ^ and take some yourself.' 
 
 * Poor boy ! he has had nothing to eat,' she 
 answered, in a dreamy way ; but she let him lead 
 her downstairs, and sat at the table, helping him 
 and mechanically herself, while she told him how, 
 when she was busy in the kitchen, Alice the maid 
 had called her, saying that master was in a fit, and 
 there he was, almost dropping out of his chair, in 
 the same state as at present. They had called in 
 the shuffler to get him upstairs, but they could not 
 do it till Dr. Millar came and helped. She made 
 sure that he was struck for death, and she let 
 herself cry a good deal, as she had not dared 
 to do since the first, and said he had been her 
 only friend, and what would become of them 
 now ? 
 
 Edward was confused and puzzled ; but he 
 wished to comfort her, so he came over and kissed 
 
64 
 
 TURNED ASIDE 
 
 her, and said, * Never mind, mother, youVe got 
 me, and Til do all I can.' 
 
 He had not kissed her since the days when he 
 first went to school, and it was a great comfort and 
 pleasure to her, before she was obliged to rise up 
 and prepare for her night watch, sending him to 
 bed, and promising to call him if there were any 
 change. And Edward, as he knelt by his own 
 little bed, prayed the first real, though very 
 incoherent and uncertain, prayers that he had put 
 up since Mr. Goodrich discouraged his missionary 
 ' castles.' 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 HOME CARES 
 
 Nothing useless is or low, 
 
 Each thing in its place is best ; 
 And what seems but idle show- 
 Strengthens and supports the rest. 
 
 Longfellow. 
 
 LD Mr. Bryant did not die that night. 
 ^ Much the same ' was the report in 
 the morning, and so it continued. 
 Edward stayed at home for a day or 
 two, to take messages and help his mother about 
 the farm business ; but by the Sunday, it was 
 decided that he had better go back to his school- 
 ing, as long as there was no change. 
 
 Old Barnes had really managed pretty much 
 as he pleased for months past, paying little or no 
 attention to growling orders from his master, and 
 he could go on in the same way as long as the 
 old gentleman was likely to survive. 
 
 E 
 
66 
 
 HOME CARES 
 
 He could speak after about a week, but so 
 indistinctly that hardly any one could understand 
 him ; and he could sit up, though one hand and 
 one foot were useless. Poor Mrs. Bryant, it was a 
 terrible time for her, for she had always to be at 
 his call, day or night, and had all the household 
 business on her hands, besides the poultry and 
 the dairy, and only an untrained girl to help her. 
 
 They brought in Mrs. Barnes, Tom's wife, 
 a rough, homely dame, as charwoman, and she 
 could manage the patient better than any one ; for 
 he never was inclined to submit to his daughter- 
 in-law, and the fractiousness of illness and 
 shattered powers made it harder than ever for 
 her to deal with him, while Mrs. Barnes had no 
 scruple in ordering him, and scolding him when 
 needful. 
 
 * Come now, sir, don't you be cranky and 
 obstreperous ; let me sit you up and open your 
 mouth. On my word and honour, if you bain't 
 as bad a handful as ever was my little Bill, when 
 he had the " electric " fever, and the doctor, he says 
 I never should rear him if he didn't obey orders. 
 So now, be a good lad, and mind me when I tells 
 you what's for your good.' 
 
HOME CARES 
 
 67 
 
 Hopes of * rearing ' poor old Mr. Bryant were 
 misplaced ; but at any rate he was fairly contented 
 under Mrs. Barnes, and Dr. Millar pronounced 
 her to do quite as well for him as a regular nurse, 
 which was a great comfort, as he well knew, con- 
 sidering the expense and inconvenience ; and the 
 invalid's helplessness was likely to last for a long 
 time, while poor Mrs. Bryant had to manage 
 money matters as best she could, and as much as 
 old Barnes thought proper to refer to her about 
 the farm. How could wages and food be pro- 
 vided out of the receipts for dairy and poultry, 
 and might she sell the calf, and go so far as to 
 sell the rick of hay without authority, and only 
 Barnes to bargain for her } 
 
 Edward was in all her counsels and difficulties, 
 and kept his word about doing his best in odd 
 jobs about the farm-yard, and even in keeping 
 back murmurs at having to sit in the kitchen on 
 a cold evening to save the parlour fire, and at 
 having to live on suppers to which he would not 
 have liked to bring in an acquaintance. He even 
 proposed to go without a glass of beer, and his 
 mother thought it so good in him that she quite 
 had tears in her eyes when she declared that he 
 
 E 2 
 
68 
 
 HOME CARES 
 
 was the best son in the world, but she never could 
 consent to his ' skimping ' himself. However, when 
 the little cask was finished, and it came to buying 
 a fresh one, she could not help asking, * Would he 
 mind very much doing without it ? ' 
 
 All this was making him older and more 
 thoughtful ; and he intended to get out of the 
 football team because he was needed at the farm- 
 yard. But when he found that he was not con- 
 sidered a great loss he was disappointed, and felt 
 discontented with the task of shutting the cows 
 home and locking up the poultry ; and a refractory 
 cockerel got hard measure when he and his pullets 
 had to be chased out of the young turnips. 
 Edward even threw a stone at one of the hens, 
 and was relieved that her hysterical cackle proved 
 that she was not hit. It was hard that she should 
 suffer for Ben Jackson's contempt of his activity. 
 
 And though it certainly was dull, and there 
 was a dreary sameness in *Just as usual; only a 
 bit more fretful,' and in being always called upon 
 to help to square those endless accounts of his 
 mother's, which really she could do quite as well 
 as he could, though he had begun book-keeping at 
 school. Only, alas ! no arithmetical powers would 
 
HOME CARES 
 
 69 
 
 make the incomings sufficient for the outgoings ; 
 and to get a cheque from the shaking hand of the 
 grandfather required the united powers of old 
 Barnes, his wife, Dr. Millar, and Mrs. Bryant ; 
 and when he cried afterwards, and said they were 
 robbing him, and ruining him, and the boy would 
 be a beggar, Mrs. Bryant declared she would never 
 try again. 
 
 But all this was changing Edivard, and he not 
 only took more pains at school and in helping his 
 mother, but he thought more gravely of life. On 
 one hand it was a dreary look-out, for he knew 
 that this was only tiding over the time of the old 
 man's decay, and that there would be a great 
 break-up of the home he loved when the end came. 
 But, on the other hand, there came a sense of resolu- 
 tion and strength, and of being the one on whom 
 his mother must rely. 
 
 Frances and Aline avoided him at first, with 
 the childish shrinking from one who is under a 
 great misfortune ; but Mabel ran up and seized 
 his hand, holding it till they went into church ; 
 and all soon grew used to the state of things. 
 
 * Not quite alive, but as bad as dead,' said 
 Frances ; ' I wonder where his mind is ? ' 
 
70 
 
 HOME CARES 
 
 * Father says no one can guess what passes in 
 a person's soul when he seems quite gone from us,' 
 said Aline, very gravely. 
 
 It gave Edward much to think about, all the 
 more because notice of a Confirmation was given 
 out to be held at Cokeham Church for the town 
 and the neighbouring parishes. The rector, Mr. 
 Fraser, gave it out in their own Langbridge Church, 
 and there was no doubt that Frances and Aline 
 should go to be prepared by him. Nor indeed was 
 there any doubt that Edward should. Indeed, he 
 was glad that it should be at his own home, though 
 the masters at Cokeham had classes for their boys ; 
 but some of the lads were Dissenters, and others 
 had no inclination to make the promise, which 
 they seemed to think was the chief point ; and their 
 mothers said : * Well, they were very young, and 
 they need not be forced.' Only one or two laughed 
 about it, but even the more thoughtless silenced 
 them. 
 
 Yet hardly anyone thought about the Seven- 
 fold Gifts of the Holy Spirit which would be given. 
 Even Mrs. Bryant, though she wished her son to 
 be confirmed, as part of his duty as a churchman, 
 only thought of it as taking his vows upon him, and 
 
HOME CARES 
 
 71 
 
 was rather surprised when she had time to Hsten, or 
 to look at what Edward brought home from the 
 rectory and from church. They all went to classes 
 there, with the other children of the place. 
 
 * And/ said Frances, * it is quite disgusting to 
 hear how forward that pert Rose Gray is, putting 
 herself out to answer everything/ 
 
 ' Well, she answered lots of things we could 
 not,' said Aline. 
 
 ' So she ought, always going to the Sunday- 
 school,' said Frances. 
 
 * Yes ; it made me wish I had been taught so 
 much — she knew so much better than I do,' said 
 Aline. 
 
 ' That's just what I thought when I saw how 
 that young monitor— what's his name? — took it 
 all in,' said Edward. * He was up to it all' 
 
 * So he ought to be,' again repeated Frances, 
 * being a monitor.' 
 
 ^ I do wish I understood as much as some of 
 those girls do ! ' said Aline. 
 
 ^ Oh, nonsense — it is easy to get up enough to 
 pass,' answered her sister. 
 
 * It is not passing. It is for our lives,' said 
 Aline. 
 
72 
 
 HOME CARES 
 
 She fell behind with Edward, who, as his mother 
 had read the Bible with him on Sunday evenings, 
 really knew more of Scripture thoughts than either 
 of the girls whose small private school did not 
 attend much to their religious knowledge, and 
 whose mother was too busy to do more than send 
 them to churchj and take care that they said 
 prayers — the same prayers as Mabel and Bertie 
 said. It had not occurred to her to give them any- 
 thing more appropriate to their growth ; but the 
 rector offered them more advanced devotions. Aline 
 was pleased and thankful ; but though Frances 
 thanked him, at home she said it took up more 
 time, when she was hurried in the morning and 
 sleepy at night. This was in the private talks 
 that the rector had with each of his candidates. He 
 had one, of course, with Edward Bryant, but nothing 
 was then said about the lad's former aspirations 
 towards missionary work. Not only did it appear 
 evident that his first business in life would be to 
 attend to his mother, but he felt an absolute sense 
 of shame whenever he remembered that old dream, 
 and, with a kind of twinge, put it from him as a 
 past and foolish thing. 
 
 These young people were all three confirmed. 
 
HOME CARES 
 
 73 
 
 What they thought and felt, they did not tell one 
 another, except, perhaps, that Edward observed ^ he 
 was glad he was not a girl, to think about the set 
 of a veil,' and Aline felt rebuked ; yet not so much 
 so as when little Mabel told her that now she was 
 sure she was going to be very good. 
 
 Edward had to go to the Altar alone the next 
 Sunday, for his mother could not have left the old 
 great-grandfather, and thought it irreverent to make 
 it common * by Communion more than three or 
 four times a year.' He went — full of purpose — 
 chiefly to do his duty towards her. 
 
 The two girls went with their parents, Dr. 
 Millar having found time. Moreover, Aline was 
 resolved that the little ones should not be so 
 ignorant as she had found herself Their mother 
 had read a little book on Scripture history, and 
 taught * First Steps ' to Frances and Johnnie, till 
 there was a bad illness through the family, and 
 then another baby had been born ; the elder 
 children had been sent to Miss Vardon's little 
 school, and home instruction had been dropped. 
 
 The two elder girls were to go to a boarding- 
 school by-and-by, and Mabel was already at Miss 
 Vardon's ; but Aline, in the meantime, determined 
 
74 
 
 HOME CARES 
 
 to teach her and Bertie something of what they 
 ought to know. 
 
 ^ First Steps to the Catechism ' was nowhere to 
 be found about the house. Mabel had a pretty- 
 little nursery book about Joseph and Moses, and 
 there was a great Family Bible, full of pictures, 
 in which all their names were written, but the 
 children were not allowed to turn this over for fear 
 of damaging it, and it was not possible to her to 
 make a Sunday talk or lesson attractive without 
 more means. She tried to borrow ^ First Steps ' 
 from Rose Gray, but it was a torn and dirty little 
 tract, and the children despised it. Indeed Bertie, 
 after the first day, could not be captured at all, and 
 Frances said he was not to be plagued. His mother, 
 when appealed to, said Aline had right notions, but 
 was taking too much upon her ; and Bertie would 
 learn it all fast enough when he went to school. 
 
 Mabel was a more thoughtful, religious-minded 
 child, as well as two years older, and she really 
 liked her time of reading with Aline, and wanted 
 to know the meaning of words and phrases in the 
 Catechism, more than her sister could clearly 
 explain. One day, when Aline happened to meet 
 the rector alone, and he spoke very kindly to her, 
 
HOME CARES 
 
 75 
 
 she blushed up, and with much shyness asked him 
 to lend her a book, like those the school children 
 had, with which to teach her little sister. 
 
 He was pleased with her, took her to his study 
 and gave her two nice fresh books, and presently 
 told her that, in the absence of one of the teachers, 
 there was a little class at the Sunday-school, and 
 he should be very glad if she would like to take it, 
 if her mother approved. 
 
 Mrs. Millar had no objection if Aline liked 
 such work, and there were no infectious disorders 
 in the parish, nor did she mind Mabel's going with 
 her to sit by and hear. It would be one child off 
 her hands and out of mischief 
 
 Teaching because one knew nothing might 
 seem an odd arrangement, but the rector knew 
 what he was doing. The class were very small 
 children, and only needed to be taught what Aline 
 knew or found in her books. She and Mabel de- 
 lighted in the class, and enjoyed their Sundays. 
 Mabel learnt all the hymns, and, moreover, thought 
 about them ; and Aline made many steps in what 
 she wanted to understand. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 MABEL'S NATIVE 
 
 Is there who scorns the little things ? 
 
 As wisely might he scorn to eat 
 The food which yearly autumn brings 
 In little grains of wheat. — Lucy Fletcher. 
 
 HE Millars had a picnic. Aline's and 
 MabeFs birthdays, with five years 
 between, came on two consecutive 
 days in early August, and it was 
 always the custom of the family to have some treat 
 on one of them, especially as the time came in the 
 holidays. 
 
 The favourite plan was to take their dinner, 
 and spend the afternoon at the ruin where Edward 
 Bryant and the other lads had last year had the ad- 
 venture with the keeper and the jackdaws. Leave 
 for picnics there could be obtained by asking 
 permission of the steward, and this was duly done. 
 
MABEL'S NATIVE 
 
 77 
 
 It was a very joyous party that set out, the 
 lesser ones packed into a donkey cart and two 
 pony traps, which also carried the provisions, and 
 the elder ones walking, except the drivers, namely, 
 Edward, and John Millar. The young ones 
 thought it all the more fun that no one of the 
 party was more than seventeen ; but Mrs. Millar 
 was hardly so well satisfied, to judge by the 
 cautions she gave Johnnie and Frances, and her 
 disappointment at finding that Mr. and Mrs. 
 Sparrow, who had talked of being of the party, 
 were both prevented, and only sent Lucy, George, 
 and Jim. 
 
 Talking, calling, shouting, laughter, playing 
 tricks abounded, hot as the walk was ; but every- 
 body got in safety to the ruin. There was not 
 very much of it — there were the remains of a moat 
 with a pond at one end, and the stump of a tower 
 and an ivy-clad wall. The learned had something 
 to say about the history and the civil wars ; but 
 there was nobody who cared for that. All that 
 signified was to rest in the shade, unpack the 
 eatables— and especially the provisions and the 
 gooseberries — and spread the table-cloth. The 
 boys had laughed at the notion, but Lucy and 
 
78 
 
 MABEL' S\ NATIVE 
 
 Frances were determined to do the thing genteelly 
 and to have plates and knives and forks, though 
 the brothers declared that fingers were made before 
 forks, and that pie tasted much better from them 
 alone ! 
 
 Forks or fingers, the meal was much enjoyed, 
 and was as merry as anything that could be 
 imagined, with screams of laughter over jokes too 
 silly to be written down, frights over imagined 
 snakes, and more real frights when the wasps 
 found out the good things. If the elders had 
 been there, perhaps the noise would not have 
 been quite so loud, and some of the tricks might 
 not have been played ; but there was no great 
 harm in them, and Edward Bryant, all care and 
 trouble thrown aside, was the loudest of the loud, 
 almost the roughest of the rough, though perhaps 
 he could not be so absolutely rude as Jack 
 Bowser. 
 
 Mary Black, who was a demure girl, by way ot 
 being lady-like did not care for it, and, after a cold 
 frog from the moat had been dropped into her 
 lap, while impish laughter broke out above her 
 head, she rose up and strolled away in a dignified 
 manner ; but, before long, a wild scream startled 
 
MABEL'S NATIVE 
 
 79 
 
 them all, a real shriek of fright, not like the 
 affected screams of laughter. 
 
 Up they all jumped, and hurrying along met 
 her, flying and breathless : * There's — there's a 
 dreadful — black man,' was all they could make 
 out, and she pointed behind her, and flew into 
 Lucy Sparrow's arms, panting. The girls huddled 
 together, the boys went on, some thinking it was 
 a trick, or some folly on her part ; but they really 
 saw something very dark, in white garments, 
 slowly, as if just awake, rising up from under a 
 big beech tree, where they had left some of their 
 baskets in preparation for their tea. 
 
 * Hollo, you nigger fellow, what are you doing 
 there— bagging our cake ? ' shouted Jack Bowser. 
 
 There was some answer, as of one bewildered, 
 and unintelligible, with a hand raised to the 
 turbaned head. 
 
 The lads, Edward Bryant and all, were in high 
 and thoughtless spirits, and when Bowser shouted 
 * Nigger ! nigger ! stealing cake, scaring our young 
 ladies,' all joined in the cry, half for the fun of it ; 
 whereupon the stranger made more gestures of 
 remonstrance and entreaty and turned to flee. 
 There was a redoubling of the shouting — ' Thief ! 
 
8o 
 
 MABEL'S NATIVE 
 
 thief! Nigger ! nigger ! ' One picked up a stone, 
 and was about to launch it. Suddenly, little Mabel, 
 in her white frock, her hat off, her hair flying, 
 started out to the front of them, ' You sha'n't ! 
 you sha'n't ; bad boys ! I tell you, he's one of 
 the dear heathen natives — I won't have him hurt/ 
 ^ Little puss, get away, you'll be hurt,' called 
 Edward, trying to snatch her back ; for the 
 Sparrows and Bowser were beginning a rush that 
 might have run over her. But she started away and 
 shook her frock at him, * No, no ; stop them — dear 
 heathen.' 
 
 Edward caught her up in his arms, though she 
 kicked violently ; but ' the poor native ' was out of 
 sight, and the keeper, in his formidable presence, 
 was advancing on them, with ^ How now, boys ! 
 what's all this ? you to be pelting my lady's Indian 
 page ! Be off with you, at once, I say.' 
 
 John Millar and Lucy Sparrow came forward 
 with : ' We didn't know. He frightened Miss 
 Black.' And as the keeper muttered ^More fool 
 she,' Lucy added : * They — we — thought it was a 
 tramp come to steal our tea.' 
 
 ' You did, did you ? Well, you'd better be off 
 with you before my lady hears of it. She doesn't 
 
MABEL'S NATIVE 
 
 8i 
 
 half like letting all the idle lot into her park, and 
 if she heard you'd been at Joe, or whatever she 
 calls him, no one would never be let in no more ; 
 so you had best pack up your things and be off/ 
 
 ' Must we go ? ' asked Frances. ' It was all 
 Miss Black's fright that set on the boys. Our 
 father is Dr. Millar at Langbridge. We — my little 
 sister there — did all she could to stop them.' 
 
 * No objection to you, miss,' said the keeper 
 (whose wife had been attended by Dr. Millar) ; ' but 
 that there big lad, ay, and the rest of the chaps, 
 they had best be off. They've been after no good 
 here before.' 
 
 ^ Oh, but please,' entreated Frances, and one or 
 two more of the girls, ^ let them stay for tea. We 
 can't well go without them to drive us. And I 
 am sure they will behave well.' 
 
 * Well — if you makes yourself responsible, and 
 I keeps an eye upon them,' consented the keeper, 
 * you may drink your tea if you likes, miss, and I'll 
 explain to my lady.' 
 
 On the whole, perhaps, Jack and George would 
 have preferred being turned out, and taking their 
 revenge in * larks,' to drinking tea so early, with 
 Frances Millar responsible for their behaviour and 
 
 F 
 
82 
 
 MABEL'S NATIVE 
 
 the keeper hovering so near that they could not even 
 have the diversion of keeping the young ladies on 
 tenter-hooks as to what they might be going to do. 
 Mabel wanted to give him a piece of cake, and 
 Aline hoped to make it acceptable by saying it 
 was for his little girl. She ventured, moreover, to 
 ask if the man was really a negro. 
 
 ' Certainly not — if only Africans were negroes 
 proper. My lord had been a Governor in India, 
 and there had been a great famine, and many 
 children left orphans. My lady had taken one of 
 them to bring up, and liked to keep him in his 
 Eastern dress, all white, with a red and gold sash. 
 Oh, yes ; he could speak English as well as any 
 of them, if they would have listened ; and he came 
 to church every Sunday.' 
 
 ' Then he is not a heathen ? ' 
 
 ' Heathen ? No, indeed ! My lady had him 
 baptized, you may be sure, and he goes to church 
 with the servants regular, every Sunday ; yes, and 
 minds his book there better than any of you lads, 
 I'll bet.' 
 
 *Well, I thought he did not look like a real 
 blackamoor nigger,' said Jim Sparrow, for even in 
 the glimpse that had been afforded of the youth 
 
MABEL'S NATIVE 
 
 83 
 
 he was seen to be of a much slenderer form, with a 
 browner skin, and none of the well-known negro 
 features. 
 
 'Niggers are all the same,' growled Jack 
 Bowser. 
 
 * And here's this little Mab awfully sold that 
 she hadn't got a real live heathen to preach to,' said 
 her brother John. 
 
 * Now, Johnnie,' remonstrated Aline, ' don't' 
 But John did not heed, and went on : * Just as she 
 
 does to her dolls in the garden.' 
 
 * Here, put her up on this heap of stones for a 
 pulpit, and let us hear what she was going to say 
 to him,' said Jack Bowser. ^ Speak up, little one. 
 Begin, " Dear native ! Am I not a man and a 
 brother?'" 
 
 Mabel hid her face in Aline's lap, and cried. 
 John and Jack came to lift her out by force, but 
 she kicked ; and Frances, with the other girls, de- 
 clared that she should not be teased. There were 
 loud voices and scuffling, and the keeper came 
 down on them, declaring that he would have 
 none of this, and they must all go off directly — he 
 should have thought they would have known 
 better than to act in that sort of way ; and he 
 
 F 2 
 
84 
 
 MABEL'S NATIVE 
 
 would not listen while Frances and Lucy tried to 
 explain that it was all that horrid boy, Jack 
 Bowser ; but quelled all dispute by pointing up 
 to a path where some of the gardening-men were 
 seen going home from work, so that it was plain 
 he would have support in expelling this riotous 
 set. 
 
 So, a good deal crest-fallen, and some of them 
 sulky, the young people were obliged to collect 
 and pack up their properties, the keeper insisting 
 that not a scrap of paper nor a gooseberry skin 
 should be left to make the place untidy, and off 
 he sent them all. 
 
 Edward Bryant had become rather ashamed of 
 himself for having been carried along by the rude 
 boyishness of the others, and he would not allow 
 the brave little Mabel to be further tormented, as 
 he could see some of them intended, so he invited 
 her to share his old ramshackle cart with Aline. 
 It was not at all popular, for it bore traces of 
 farm work, and the poor old pony was both slow 
 and sullen, and not to be trusted not to back into 
 a ditch ; while the Millars' horse was only to be dealt 
 with by John, and not absolutely safe even with 
 him. 
 
THE KEEPER SUDDENLY APPEARS. 
 
MABEL'S NATIVE 
 
 85 
 
 Mabel was very happy, sitting upon a basket 
 and chattering away, not about the heathen, but 
 on all sorts of childish fancies, not wanting much 
 answer, till, finally, just before they reached the 
 village of Langbridge, he was roused by her 
 exclaiming : ^ But you do mean to be a missionary, 
 don't you ? ' 
 
 ^ Oh, my dear, I have much more to think about 
 than that ! ' 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE BREAK-UP 
 
 Man's a king, his throne is duty, 
 Since his work on earth began. — J. Stirling. 
 
 HE break-up at Birkfarm came at last. 
 The old man grew more and more 
 feeble, and in the winter he had 
 another stroke from which he never 
 rallied. 
 
 Of course there ensued a time of confusion and 
 difficulty such as every one knew was inevitable, 
 and on which there is no need to dwell. A lawyer, 
 Mr. Twistleden, came to attend to matters. He had 
 been a friend of Edward's father, and had been 
 appointed trustee for the boy. It is enough to say 
 that there were claims which made it impossible to 
 retain the farm, even till Edward should be of age 
 to decide about it ; and, when everything was 
 
THE BREAK-UP 
 
 87 
 
 wound up, Mrs. Bryant only possessed the 50/. 
 per annum that had been settled upon her by her 
 uncle, and a few investments of her husband's, 
 which brought in about 30/. a year more, while 
 Edward, as heir-at-law, obtained, when the mort- 
 gages were settled, the stock sold, and the debts 
 paid, nearly 2,000/. 
 
 This would not be at his own disposal till he 
 was of age, and, in the meantime, the interest would 
 go to assist the little income that they would have 
 to depend upon. To Mrs. Bryant the change 
 would be a relief. She had not been brought up 
 to a farm or to country habits, and it would all 
 have been against the grain to her even under 
 happier circumstances ; and the grandfather had 
 not, even in his better days, made the home of her 
 widowhood cheerful or pleasant to her, or helped 
 her inexperience. She had been his housekeeper, 
 so to speak, by compulsion and necessity, and 
 knew that she had never been a good one, though 
 she had done her best, and he had never been 
 substantially unkind ; but her lot had not been a 
 happy one, and though she would be poor and 
 pinched she felt a sense of freedom, as if — she said 
 to her son — she was beginning life again. 
 
88 
 
 THE BREAK-UP 
 
 It was more sad to Edward. There certainly 
 had been a kind of relief in having the world open 
 to a sense of enterprise, and in not being bound 
 down to an unprosperous piece of land ; but then 
 he could not fail to be attached to it, or to dislike to 
 think of his favourite old haunts belonging to 
 strangers. Nor was he insensible to the honour 
 and glory of being the heir to a ^ landed property ' 
 come down to him from his forefathers. He had 
 enjoyed a certain respect in consequence, dilapi- 
 dated as his inheritance was, and after his out-of- 
 door life, with horses, such as they were, to drive ; 
 a fowling-piece, now his own, and rabbits to shoot, 
 it was distasteful to sink down into life in a town 
 upon a high stool, as his mother planned for him. 
 Nor could he see any better opening, and he had 
 promised to do his best for her, so he set his 
 determination manfully to work, and spared his 
 mother most of the objections and grumbles which 
 he poured out to poor Aline. The two Millar 
 girls were going to a boarding-school, so he would 
 lose his chief companions, even if he stayed at 
 home, and that was one consolation. 
 
 He was sixteen now, and failed to win the 
 scholarship. His fit of idleness had thrown him 
 
THE BREAK-UP 
 
 89 
 
 back, and the quantity of needful occupation that 
 had come upon him had prevented him from 
 working up. Perhaps his mother was only sorry 
 for his failure and disappointment — she did not like 
 her boy to be beaten ; but his success would have 
 meant privation and perplexity to her ; and if it 
 prevented him from becoming a clergyman and a 
 gentleman, it certainly disposed of all chance of 
 that horror of hers, his recurring to the missionary 
 scheme. 
 
 Her original home had been at Awmouth, 
 a small seaport, where her father had traded in 
 corn, and though her nearest relations had passed 
 away, there were still some connections with 
 whom there was an occasional exchange of 
 letters, whenever there was an event in either 
 family. 
 
 On her inquiry whether any employment could 
 be found for her son, she was answered that, if he 
 were a fair French scholar, there was a vacancy in 
 a merchant's office for which he might apply, with 
 a chance of success, and his mother's friend knew a 
 lady whose health obliged her to give up a small 
 boarding-house which she would transfer to Mrs. 
 Bryant, with the arrangement that a certain amount 
 
90 
 
 THE BREAK-UP 
 
 should be paid over to her regularly for the rent 
 and furniture. 
 
 Fortunately for Edward, there was a good 
 French master at Cokeham Grammar School, able 
 to hold his own with the boys, and thus Edward 
 was equal to writing a respectable French letter in 
 which to make his application. He had a turn for 
 anguages, and had even helped Aline by the 
 knowledge of Latin that had once given hopes of 
 the scholarship. At any rate, the letter gained 
 him the appointment, with the understanding that 
 he was to improve himself in French and German, 
 and, if he did so, and gave satisfaction, might look 
 forward to an advance. 
 
 It was not a very promising prospect at the 
 best ; but it was a great relief to Mrs. Bryant to 
 have something definite to look forward to, and 
 Edward was glad it was a sea-side place, for he 
 had listened to her stories of the sailing and 
 boating adventures of her brothers. She was chary 
 of them now, because, as she told Mrs. Millar, that 
 was what she dreaded in the matter, for her brothers 
 had all had a fit of wanting to be sailors. One of 
 them had been drowned, one of them was a 
 merchant captain in the American service, and 
 
THE BREAK-UP 
 
 91 
 
 one had settled in Canada, had made a visit home, 
 and had since died. 
 
 ' My Eddy is an adventurous spirit,' she said, 
 *and is sure to be after the same, now he has 
 dropped all that missionary talk/ 
 
 * Oh, never trouble yourself about that,' said 
 Mrs. Millar, * it is the way of all boys to talk and 
 plan ; but they settle down safe enough as they get 
 older and see more of life. He would be just the 
 same anywhere else ; and seeing the life close may 
 work it off' 
 
 ' My Eddy has a high spirit,' sighed Mrs. 
 Bryant ; but more as if she were proud than regret- 
 ful of it. 
 
 Whether it were his high spirit or not, 
 Edward made up his mind beforehand that the 
 boarders would be hateful, despicable people, 
 who would leave him no comfort at his meals 
 or in his evenings. One of them, Mr. Cobbold, 
 turned out to be the senior clerk in his own firm, 
 and the other, Miss Grant, who lived on the higher 
 floor, a daily governess, not very young nor 
 very pretty ; but, if Mrs. Bryant was satisfied with 
 both, her impertinent young son decided within 
 himself that they were an old fogey and an old 
 
92 
 
 THE BREAK-UP 
 
 frump ; though, happily, he had no one to whom 
 to say so. 
 
 The furniture — well, it was handsomer, in Mrs. 
 Bryant's view, than the old oak which had been 
 bought up at such good prices from Birkfarm ; but, 
 to Edward, it seemed half shabby, half grimy, and 
 he could not feel at home till he had hung up his 
 great-grandfather's gun over the kitchen fire, where 
 his mother did not like it at all, till Mr. Cobbold 
 declared it was a curiosity, and very valuable. 
 
 Mr. Cobbold was a formal man, whom Edward 
 viewed as nearly as old as his grandfather ; but 
 Mrs. Bryant said he was highly respectable, silent 
 and very critical at meals, and never speaking but 
 about food and the money market. Probably he 
 was as sorry that Mrs. Bryant should import a 
 young man, as the young man could be that his 
 mother should succeed to such a solemn old lodger, 
 and one in authority, too, in his firm ! But the 
 governess. Miss Grant, was a lively person, though 
 wizen and worn looking, and she had a great deal 
 to say. 
 
 Edward was at first inclined to be affronted 
 when he found that she had offered to help him 
 with his French and German in the evenings, and 
 
THE BREAK-UP 
 
 93 
 
 he gave a gruff kind of consent ; but after the first 
 when he had forgiven her endeavour to correct 
 his pronunciation, and she had recognised that 
 she must not tease him too much about sound, 
 but stick to sense, they got on pretty well, and 
 she found it refreshing to deal with an older mind, 
 able to learn, after the little ones to whom she 
 was used. 
 
 She had a great deal to say about the various 
 churches of the town, and, except for her help 
 with the French, Edward hardly knew which he 
 disliked most — Mr. Cobbold's silence, or her in- 
 cessant talk about the music and the chants and the 
 sermons, and the clergy and whom they were 
 supposed to be courting. 
 
 His mother had got quite out of the habit of 
 church-going ; but the good lady took her in the 
 evening, and Edward tried all round in the morn- 
 ings, and chiefly haunted St. Faith's, because he 
 liked the music and had heard a sermon there that 
 had touched him ; but he often bicycled to village 
 churches. 
 
 But his life, on the whole, depended mostly 
 upon the youths his contemporaries, and happily 
 they were not an undesirable set. They were not 
 
94 
 
 THE BREAK-UP 
 
 given to betting — in fact, their club had regulations 
 against it, even at the regatta ; and that first 
 summer, rowing, being perfectly new to Edward, 
 was a passion and a fever with him. His mother, 
 of course, was afraid he would be run down by a 
 steamer, or some other boat ; but Mr. Cobbold 
 actually growled out an assurance that the boys 
 were steady fellows — decent chaps enough, as lads 
 went — and if she hindered him, he might do 
 worse. So he soon qualified himself to be a 
 member of the ^ Triton Club,' and spent most of 
 his spare time and thoughts upon it in the summer, 
 forming, too, a warm friendship with a lad named 
 Andrews, who suited him better than any of his 
 Cokeham school-fellows, and, moreover, introduced 
 him to a Shakespeare Club in the autumn, which 
 became so delightful to him that he had little 
 reason to regret Birkfarm. 
 
 Indeed, as Mrs. Bryant had not had time or 
 opportunity to make friends there, she had no 
 correspondent, and Edward had not so cared for 
 any of his schoolmates that either side should 
 write to the other. Only, at Christmas, he chose 
 three cards for the Millar girls, and received some 
 in return the first year, but no more afterwards ; 
 
THE BREAK-UP 
 
 95 
 
 and everything at Langbridge seemed, as it were, 
 to have drifted out of his life. 
 
 Indeed, he only knew from chance mention in 
 a business letter that there had been a severe 
 epidemic at Langbridge, and that the two youngest 
 of the Millar children had died of it ; and, later, 
 there was a report that the doctor himself was 
 dead, but this was not at once confirmed ; and, after 
 sighing over it, and wondering what would become 
 of Mrs. Millar and the girls, it passed from both 
 Edward and his mother in the interests of the 
 present. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 OLD FRIENDS 
 
 We sat and talked until the night. 
 
 Discussion filled the little room ; 
 Our faces faded from the sight, 
 
 Our voices only broke the gloom. 
 We spoke of many a vanished scene : 
 
 Of what we once had thought and said ; 
 Of what had been and might have been, 
 And who was changed, and who was dead. 
 
 Longfellow. 
 
 ELL, to be sure ! ' It was on the 
 parade at Awmouth, and two young 
 men, in boating costumes, were 
 walking up from the pier with 
 ' Triton ' round their blue caps, and three girls in 
 mourning, one tall and dressed as a full-grown 
 young lady, one with shorter petticoats, and hair 
 still down her back, and the other quite a child 
 still, were meeting them. 
 
 ' Eddy ! Eddy ! ' began to exclaim the little one. 
 
OLD FRIENDS 
 
 97 
 
 * Don't, Mab, hush ; ' and the elder one seized 
 her arm, but not before one young man had started 
 forward with : 
 
 * It is you, Aline — Mabel — Frances — all of 
 you,' shaking hands vehemently. ^ My old friends, 
 the Miss Millars— Mr. Andrews.' 
 
 Mr. Andrews politely raised his cap and 
 turned away, while Edward eagerly asked, ^ And 
 your mother? and the doctor? — No' — (and the 
 black dresses now struck him) — ^ we have heard 
 nothing for three years.' 
 
 * Then,' said Frances, * you did not know that 
 poor papa was dreadfully hurt by a fall from the 
 dog-cart when a bicycle frightened old Turk ? 
 He lived only a week after.' 
 
 ' When was it ? ' asked Edward, in a choked 
 voice. 
 
 * Last September — it was the 24th that he 
 died,' said Frances. ' He had been able to talk it 
 over with old Dr. Richards, and — and — his son — 
 
 Lawrence — takes the house and the practice ' 
 
 She faltered and blushed a little, and Aline put in : 
 * Yes ; and he is coming for Frances as soon as we 
 are settled in here, and the year is over.' 
 
 * And are you come to live here ? ' asked 
 
 G 
 
98 
 
 OLD FRIENDS 
 
 Edward, who had put in exclamations which were 
 as good as answers to what he had been told ; and 
 indeed his whole demeanour showed how much 
 shocked he was to hear of the death of the kind 
 doctor, who had been his mother's best helper in 
 her troubles. He said something of her being very- 
 sorry, and asked whether the Millars were living in 
 the town or only on a visit. 
 
 ' Yes,' said Aline. ' Lawrence Richards's sister 
 was one of the teachers at the High School, and 
 she advised us to come here, for me to be prepared 
 for a governess, and Mabel to go to school — and 
 Bertie to the Modern School' 
 
 * And where are you living ? My mother will 
 be so delighted.' 
 
 'No. II, Undercliff Road,' was the direc- 
 tion given him by little Mabel, and they 
 walked on together till they were near the place 
 where the band played, and Frances rather 
 hurriedly said : ' Now we must wish you good-bye. 
 Come, Mab.' 
 
 For Mabel had hold of his hand, as in old 
 times ; but there was something in Frances's air 
 that made Edward recollect that they were not all 
 village playfellows now, and that High School 
 
OLD FRIENDS 
 
 99 
 
 acquaintances might not expect to see their young 
 ladies accompanied by a ^ Triton ' ; so he made a 
 rather stiff bow, and turned away, letting go the 
 clasp of Mabel's hand, and not looking round 
 though he heard her sisters calling after her. 
 
 He carried home his news to his mother, who, 
 on her side, was much shocked and grieved to 
 hear of good Dr. Millar's death, but a little doubtful 
 about going to call upon Mrs. Millar. ' You see, 
 my dear,' she said, ' what with our family property 
 that was, and all the rest of it, we were pretty well 
 on a level with the Union doctor ; but now, if 
 she gives herself airs as a physician's widow, I 
 can hardly tell how it may be ; and I would not 
 have you in the way of being trodden on, on no 
 account' 
 
 Edward had not much fear of being trodden 
 on, and he was very anxious to see more of his old 
 friends ; so he gave his mother no peace till she 
 had decided to call, but timing it so as not to be 
 taken for a regular visitor unless Mrs. Millar 
 seemed to wish it. That would have been pre- 
 suming. Nor would she go at an hour when her 
 son was free, nor indeed would she tell him when 
 she was going, so that it was quite a surprise to 
 
lOO 
 
 OLD FRIENDS 
 
 him when he came home to meet her coming in, 
 wearing her best bonnet with the roses in it. 
 
 At Birkfarm she had always worn only black, 
 but, of late, her flowers had been allowed green 
 leaves, and the roses had begun to blush into 
 colour. Indeed, so had her cheeks, for though she 
 had still much to do in the house, it was not nearly 
 such a hard life as she had lived under the great- 
 grandfather. 
 
 She was in excellent spirits now. Mrs. Millar 
 — poor dear — had been so pleased to see an old 
 friend's face, and had shed many tears over the 
 remembrance of the old times at Langbridge, 
 which had been to her the bright days of her life, 
 though to Mrs. Bryant the recollection was very 
 different. Her girls had told her of their meeting 
 with Eddy — Mr. Bryant she must call him now — 
 and she should have been quite hurt if Mrs. Bryant 
 had not called. She must stay to tea, and to see 
 the girls, and meantime there had been a long 
 confidential chat over the troubles, past, present, 
 and future. 
 
 All the sad history of the doctor's accident and 
 death was gone through, with tears on each side, 
 and then all the difficulties, which were mitigated by 
 
OLD FRIENDS 
 
 lOI 
 
 Lawrence Richards's proposal to Frances, and his 
 appointment as Union doctor. John Millar hated 
 the profession, and had insisted upon emigrating 
 to New Zealand with Jack Bowser ; and Alice 
 Richards had achieved the removal to Awmouth 
 for cheap education for the younger ones. But it 
 was quite evident that poor Mrs. Millar did not 
 find herself so well off as to hold herself above the 
 Bryants. She had only enough left to her to 
 make both ends meet till her children could main- 
 tain themselves, and she did not seem to have 
 many friends. Alice Richards had just obtained a 
 situation as a governess at a distance, and had only 
 been able to make her known to a few persons, 
 who did not seem disposed to cultivate her, though 
 her girls had made friends at the High School, and 
 she readily accepted Mrs. Bryant's invitation to 
 tea and supper one day in the next week. 
 
 ' Did you see the girls ? ' asked Edward. 
 
 ' Frances came in after the first half-hour, and 
 a fine-looking young woman she is grown. She 
 has done well for herself ; but she will wait to be 
 married till autumn, partly for the mourning, 
 and because there is work to be done at the house, 
 which, as her mother says, was good enough for 
 
I02 
 
 OLD FRIENDS 
 
 her. Well, Frances came in telling about a 
 working party that she has been asked to join at 
 the Vicarage for some missionary work in Lent. 
 Mrs. Millar thought they had quite enough to do 
 without ; but, by-and-by, in rushes Mabel, quite 
 mad upon it, and Aline after her nearly as bad. 
 One of their teachers at the High School had been 
 talking to them about it.' 
 
 ' Ah ! Mabel's little head used to run upon 
 missions,' said Edward, smiling, 'when she 
 preached to her dolls.' 
 
 'Well, their district — St. Faith's is it ? — seems to 
 be gone crazy about missions, by what Mrs. Millar 
 said.' 
 
 ' Yes,' said Edward, * I saw a notice about a 
 course of sermons on missions for Wednesday 
 evenings.' 
 
 He did not say more, for he knew of old that 
 it was a sore subject with his mother, and in these 
 two years in which he had been growing into man- 
 hood, he had ceased to discuss with her every- 
 thing that crossed his mind. She used to 
 have no confidential friend, but now he found 
 that a good deal was talked over with Miss 
 Grant, and that sometimes Mr. Cobbold had 
 
OLD FRIENDS 
 
 been asked to give him advice, in a way which 
 he resented. 
 
 If he wanted a consultation he had rather talk 
 to Jim Andrews, who saw the world from the same 
 level of youth as he did, than from the old gentle- 
 man who — as he told Andrews — thought every one 
 younger than himself must be fools. 
 
 He did wish his mother would not go on about 
 his affairs with that old fellow ; and what was the 
 use of having him and Miss Grant to spoil their 
 evening with the Millars } who, he was sure, had 
 much rather be without them. What? It was well 
 to show they had professional friends of their own. 
 Say she couldn't well help it ? Why, Miss Grant 
 would clack them all dead, and old Cobbold would 
 sit up, and say ' Grumph,' just like the statue of 
 Dr. Johnson in the Library. 
 
 ^ Don't be disrespectful, my dear,' said Mrs. 
 Bryant, turning aside ; and when she said * my 
 dear,' Edward always was alarmed, lest there was 
 something in the wind. Perhaps he would not 
 have remarked it of his own accord ; but, on the 
 evening of the entertainment, he saw that the eyes 
 of Aline and Frances were directed to her fragment 
 of a cap, a bit of lace that supported a cluster of 
 
I04 
 
 OLD FRIENDS 
 
 little feathery adornments with pink tips, contrast- 
 ing the same with Mrs. Millar's weeds. 
 
 Mrs. Bryant's tea did justice to her freer ex- 
 penditure and greater opportunities, and Mr. 
 Cobbold certainly resembled Dr. Johnson in the 
 number of cups of tea that he swallowed, while 
 Miss Grant kept up the conversation with an end- 
 less quantity of information about the inhabitants 
 of Awmouth, and the ins and outs of the popular 
 concerts, lectures, and the performers thereat. 
 
 The young people, being all young, and having 
 the grace of shyness (or modesty) about them, sat 
 nearly silent, except Frances, who, as an engaged 
 lady, took part in the conversation, and covered 
 the silence of her mother, who was too much de- 
 pressed, as well as too much of a stranger, to take 
 interest in the details. 
 
 But Miss Grant was a good-natured, helpful 
 soul, and when it was proposed that the elders 
 should sit down to a game of cards, she proposed 
 that Mr. Bryant should show the young ladies 
 the canary bird and the plants in her sitting-room 
 The fire would not be out, and they would be able 
 to be very cosy there. 
 
 It truly was doing as she would be done by ! 
 
OLD FRIENDS 
 
 105 
 
 The girls skipped up the stairs in great glee, 
 Edward steering them from below, and the little 
 room looked bright with firelight, and had the one 
 wicker easy-chair, and two or three others, and 
 foot-stools ranged comfortably in front. 
 
 ' Jolly old girV said Edward, stirring the fire 
 into a blaze ; * she must have meant it for us/ 
 
 'Jolly indeed— three cheers for her!' cried 
 Aline. ' And now, Ted, tell us all about yourself 
 What's your " Triton Club " ? ' 
 
 ' Ay, and what's Francie been about to go and 
 get herself engaged — engaged all seriously ? 
 Didn't she know she would break my heart } 
 There, you hear it go crack ! ' 
 
 The nonsense was varied by a struggle who 
 should not be installed in the wicker-chair. Aline 
 and Mabel would have perched on the two arms, but 
 Frances objected that they would certainly break 
 it down, and it ended in their sitting on the floor, 
 and peeping through the arms of the vacant throne, 
 while Edward's head made a pillow of it as he lay 
 at his length on the rug. 
 
 There was a great deal of talk — sometimes 
 serious, sometimes chattery — over the past and the 
 future. Were they going to this working party ? 
 
io6 
 
 OLD FRIENDS 
 
 ' Oh, yes/ said Mabel, * there's nothing I shall 
 like so much as making things for the dear 
 natives/ 
 
 * Natives of what ? ' asked Frances, laughing ; 
 * you had better know first. Yes, I suppose Aline 
 will go with you as you are so bent upon it ; but I 
 have far too much needlework in hand/ 
 
 * For the native of Langbridge ? ' said Edward, 
 making her blush, as of course it meant her 
 trousseau. ^ I suppose I am not required at the 
 working party. But do you go to these lectures, 
 Aline?' 
 
 * They say they are to be most interesting,' she 
 answered. 
 
 * I think I shall go,' said Edward. ' Do you 
 know, at the Free Library I found some of those 
 books that Mr. Goodrich was to have lent me 
 when my grandfather choked me off.' 
 
 ' The book with the story of the queen that 
 poked a stick into the volcano ? ' exclaimed Mabel. 
 ' Oh, I do want to read that again ! ' 
 
 ' Kapiolani,' said Edward, * in the Sandwich 
 Isles — oh, I will find the name of the book in the 
 catalogue for you. These things make one 
 think ! ' 
 
OLD FRIENDS 
 
 ' As you used to do long ago ? ' said Aline. 
 
 *Well — yes. There seems to be so much to be 
 done, and so few to do it ; and yet it is the work 
 most worth doing in all the world/ said Edward, 
 thinking aloud. 
 
 ' Tm sure I can't see that,' said Frances. ' I 
 should have thought that minding one's duty and 
 taking care of one's family was what we had to do, 
 instead of flying about to strange countries and 
 natives as Mab calls them. I hope you are not 
 going to take up that craze again, Eddy.' 
 
 Edward looked into the fire, and made no 
 particular answer. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 DEDICATION 
 
 Guard thou thy words, the thoughts control 
 
 That o'er thee swell and throng, 
 They will condense within thy soul 
 And turn to purpose strong. 
 
 HE lectures on foreign missions did 
 prove very interesting. They were on 
 a regular system, and began with a 
 sketch of how the duty of ' preaching 
 the Gospel to every creature ' was keenly felt in 
 the early days of the Church, and how, in the 
 slacker Middle Ages, it never was entirely extinct, 
 and, at last, after the discovery of America, and in 
 the general stir and quickening of religious life, it 
 revived again — but only in our own country with 
 anything like energy. He told how Captain Cook's 
 voyages began unintentionally the rousing work, by 
 showing a few choice spirits the great untrodden 
 
DEDICATION 
 
 109 
 
 fields — William Carey, about 1789, a poor and 
 struggling man, first stirred the waters. An elderly 
 minister who heard him speak declared his own 
 feeling to have been : * If the Lord would make 
 windows in Heaven, might this be ? ' 
 
 And when, somewhat later, the subject of 
 missionary societies was brought forward in 
 Scotland, an eminent lawyer declared that it was 
 to be apprehended that their funds might be used 
 against the British Constitution ; but how these 
 faint germs were watered by grace, and gradually 
 multiplied and increased, the first convert in India 
 being baptized in 1800! Great examples, such as 
 Henry Martyn, Schwartz, Judson, Marshman, 
 Williams, and Selwyn were touched on in this first 
 lecture, and the plan was explained ; dwelling in 
 some detail on the principal central missions in 
 turn, one in each lecture, so that the hearers 
 might have a better understanding of what had 
 been done, what was being done, and what re- 
 mained to be done. 
 
 The speaker had the gift of marshalling his 
 facts so that they had the charm of a romance, 
 and each meeting was better attended than the pre- 
 ceding, even by those who only cared to pass away 
 
no 
 
 DEDICATION 
 
 a Lenten evening in a not inappropriate manner ; 
 but, to Edward Bryant and the two younger 
 Millars, these lectures were the great event of the 
 week. The readings at the working party kept 
 up the interest with the girls, so that Mabel 
 thought of little else, and Edward's enthusiasm, 
 which had been dormant for a time, was 
 thoroughly awakened. For a time the sea had 
 drawn him, as it w^ere, and gratified his yearnings 
 for novelty and adventure ; but the ruder side of a 
 sailor's life, as he saw it, repelled him at his age, 
 and the more moderate boating society amuse- 
 ments of the ' Tritons ' failed to satisfy him after he 
 had acquired some dexterity. There was no great 
 probability of rise or promotion to occupy his 
 mind in the office, and all he read, in his favourite 
 literature, voyages and travels, tended, whether 
 such were the view of the writers or not, to im- 
 press on him the need of devotion to the cause, 
 and the longing to give himself to it as a true 
 servant and follower of his Master. 
 
 The duty to his mother, as her only son, at 
 first seemed to silence the conviction, though it 
 could not silence the longings, partly of enterprise 
 and weary impatience of his present life and out- 
 
DEDICATION 
 
 Til 
 
 look, partly of the higher spirit of devotion. And 
 indeed there began to be symptoms which made it 
 doubtful whether he were as necessary to his 
 mother as before, symptoms which an amused 
 look of Frances Millar made perceptible to him. 
 There were those roses in her bonnet, there was 
 the cocoa for breakfast because Mr. Cobbold liked 
 it, and, what was worse, she had objected to his 
 coming whistling into the house because it dis- 
 turbed Mr. Cobbold's evening nap ; and a latch-key 
 was refused him, no doubt, on Mr. Cobbold's insti- 
 gation, and she did not like him to bring Andrews 
 in with him even to smoke in the kitchen, because 
 Mr. Cobbold disapproved of a lot of rowdy young 
 men about the place. It hurt Edward, for 
 Andrews was very far from being a rowdy young 
 man, and Mrs. Bryant had seemed to like him. 
 When this was put forward, she answered : 
 
 ' Oh, I don't know any harm of Mr. Andrews ; 
 only I can't have a lot of young fellows always 
 straking in and out. It's not due to the boarders.' 
 
 * I don't see why the boarders should be 
 masters of the house,' said Edward. ' Mother, 
 you used to be nicer to me at home at Lang- 
 bridge.' 
 
112 
 
 DEDICATION 
 
 * Fm sure, Eddy ' She turned her face away 
 
 and began to cry. * Fm willing to do anything for 
 you with all my heart, and so is Mr. ' 
 
 Edward would not wait to hear Mr, who, but 
 tramped out of the house and lighted his pipe in 
 the street, while his mother murmured to herself : 
 * There, the boy is in one of his tantrums, when 
 he ought to give way to the boarders — and such a 
 boarder as Mr. Cobbold. Well, — if — if it is, Fm 
 sure it is all for his good. My only boy ! ' And 
 she cried again, while Edward wandered out 
 towards the sea, with his hands in his great-coat 
 pockets, and bethought himself, first, that home and 
 mother were changed to him ; and then, as the low 
 swish and murmur of the waves first soothed, then 
 seemed to call, him, that there were worlds beyond, 
 where he might be doing work that would satisfy 
 his conscience, and have a real home and blessing 
 on it, such as he could not see in adding up end- 
 less figures — unless he was doing so to support 
 his mother as his duty. And suppose his mother 
 did not need him ? ' Yes, oh Christ ! I will be 
 Thine, and do Thy work.' 
 
 Perhaps it was the sound of the little bell of 
 the mission chapel of the harbour that had made 
 
DEDICATION 
 
 113 
 
 him touch his hat in reverence to the muttered 
 prayer, ' Show me which is my duty : I will be Thy 
 servant and do Thy work ' ; and made him turn his 
 steps into the rough edifice, half school-room half 
 chapel, where a few ' longshore men,' several 
 women and many children were present for a few 
 short prayers, a little instruction, and an address. 
 It did not bear directly on the subjects of 
 Edward's confused and troubled mind, but it 
 sent him away with a certain soothed sense that a 
 way might be shown to him of devoting himself to 
 the service of God, if it were God's will to relax 
 the ties of earthly duty so as to free him for it. 
 
 Two days later the next lecture described the 
 solitary work of Dr. Judson, and his sufferings in 
 Burmah ; then Mr. Marx and his school of princes, 
 with their martyrdom under King Theebaw ; and 
 the later development among the Karens and the 
 intelligent Burmans. Also of Singapore, of Rajah 
 Brooke, and brave Bishop Macdougal and his 
 wife — the hopes, the disappointments, the testi- 
 mony, the success, the blessings, the needs. 
 
 * Oh, Eddy, is it not glorious t ' .said Aline, as 
 they moved out ; and * How beautiful upon the 
 mountains ' little Mabel was whispering. 
 
 H 
 
114 
 
 DEDICATION 
 
 ' It does not seem as if anything else was worth 
 living for/ said Aline. 
 
 * I mean to try/ said Edward, between his 
 teeth. 
 
 ^ Oh ! and can't women go too ? ' cried Mabel. 
 'There was Mrs. Macdougal, and all the Mrs. 
 Judsons ! Oh ! women can be missionaries.' 
 
 ' Her little soul has always been full of it/ said 
 Aline, ' and indeed ! ' 
 
 Aline broke off, shyly remembering the way 
 in which these great ladies had become mission- 
 aries ; but, like Mabel, Edward's soul was too full 
 of the thought for any less important, and as soon 
 as he had seen the tv/o girls to their door he hurried 
 off, while his impressions were at their strongest, 
 to see whether the lecturer had left the room, and 
 to ask him how it was possible to be prepared and 
 accepted for such mission work. 
 
 The lecturer, Canon Brodie, was taking down 
 and rolling up his maps and portraits, with two of 
 the clergy and a pupil-teacher helping him. 
 Edward felt the disadvantage of having had no 
 intercourse with any of the clergy of Awmouth. 
 He had gone to church, but had a great distaste 
 to walking with his mother. Miss Grant, and Mr. 
 
DEDICATION 
 
 115 
 
 Cobbold to the apportioned seats in the parish 
 church, and had preferred to try all the churches 
 round, and on fine Sundays to go out on his 
 bicycle to one of those in the country, or to be 
 attracted by the best music, or the more interest- 
 ing preachers. The vicar of the parish had called 
 on Mrs. Bryant, but though she was always civil, 
 she had not seen that it was needful to give him 
 much encouragement, and he had never even heard 
 of her son. 
 
 If it had not been for the freshness of his 
 resolution, Edward's first shyness would have 
 carried him off at once ; but he was there, and 
 had been seen, and one of the clergymen came 
 and asked if he had lost his hat or umbrella. 
 
 ' No, sir, thank you ; but I wished to speak to 
 Mr. Brodie.' So the die was cast ! 
 
 The curate steered him up to Canon Brodie, 
 who turned, expecting an inquiry after some 
 relation in Burmah or Singapore, for he did not 
 often hear what was now uttered, in a tone of 
 desperate resolution : 
 
 ' Sir, I should be much obliged if you would 
 tell me of any way in which I could be put in 
 training for mission work abroad.' 
 
 H 2 
 
ii6 
 
 DEDICA TION 
 
 All the eyes looked him over, and saw a 
 respectable-looking youth with a good open 
 face, highly coloured from the effort he had 
 made, and with steadfast mouth and grey 
 eyes, that had looked straight up for a 
 moment, and then were cast down. The Canon 
 glanced at the curates to see whether this 
 were an acquaintance, then said : ' I should 
 like to talk to you. Will you give me your 
 address ? ' 
 
 He gave his home and his business address, 
 from which it could be understood what was his 
 position as an office clerk. 
 
 ^ You live with your mother } I could call and 
 see her to-morrow morning. Is she aware of your 
 wish ? ' as Edward seemed to hesitate. 
 
 * She knows it has long been my wish ; but I 
 have not broached it to her yet' 
 
 * And may I ask whether you are of age ? ' 
 
 ^ I shall be twenty in July. There is a certain 
 sum of money to come to me when I am twenty- 
 one, perhaps I should mention, that is, if my 
 mother can get on without it.' 
 
 * No. 12, Freshet Road,' said one of the curates. 
 * That is St Mark's parish. Do you know the 
 
DEDICATION 
 
 117 
 
 rector ? Can you give a reference to him ? ' They 
 were now all walking away together. 
 
 ^ I have been about to different churches/ said 
 Edward, with some diffidence ; ' but my mother 
 knows him, and Miss Grant, who boards with us 
 And Mrs. Millar, of 11, Undercliff Road, knows all 
 about us,' he added. 
 
 ' Mrs. Millar,' said the curate. ' My sister 
 knows that family— nice girls. At the mission's 
 working party, eh ? ' 
 
 *Yes, sir. They come from our old home, 
 Langbridge.' 
 
 * Have you had this design long ? ' the Canon 
 asked, rather suddenly. 
 
 * Ever since I was a boy at the Grammar 
 School,' said Edward. * There was a magic lantern 
 that made me think, and Mr. Goodrich lent me 
 books.' 
 
 ^ Goodrich of Saskatchewan ? ' exclaimed the 
 Canon. 
 
 * Yes, sir,' cried Edward, lighting up. * Do you 
 know him } ' 
 
 ^ I saw him not six weeks ago. He has a tidy 
 little church and congregation, and is getting on 
 with the Indians.' 
 
ii8 
 
 DEDICATION 
 
 From that moment all was friendly and easy 
 on that side. There seemed to be no more doubt 
 about young Bryant's earnestness ; but as he 
 wished to prepare his mother, and perhaps the 
 Canon also wished to understand his position 
 better, it was determined that the visit to her, and 
 the consultation about ways and means and 
 localities, should be left till this had been done. 
 
UK 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE CHOICE 
 
 By other sounds the world is won 
 Than that which wails from Macedon ; 
 The roar of gain is round it roll'd 
 Or men unto themselves are sold, 
 And cannot list the alien cry, 
 * O hear and help us, lest we die ! ' 
 
 Hymns Ancient and Modern. 
 
 O prepare his mother ! Edward was 
 watching for a moment when boarders 
 and servant should both be out of the 
 way, when a surprise was sprung upon 
 him in his turn. 
 
 Mr. Cobbold was already in the sitting-room 
 when he came down to dinner, and received him 
 with : * So, young man, I have a good offer for you 
 — a bit of promotion. You have stuck pretty 
 steadily to work these three years, thanks to 
 having me and the lady there to look after you ; 
 
I20 
 
 THE CHOICE 
 
 and improved yourself in the foreign lingos, and 
 I have spoken in your favour to Mr. Dobson, so 
 that he proposes to you a berth in the office at 
 Singapore, to write to these German and Dutch 
 fellows, getting all expenses allowed and a clear 
 salary of lOO/. a year. Pretty offer for a lad of 
 your age, I should say, and it will be your own 
 fault, with your property, if you don't get into a 
 partnership by-and-by, when you are of age/ 
 
 ^ I am very much obliged ; thank you, sir,' said 
 Edward, but with a sound of hesitation that made 
 his mother begin hastily : 
 
 ^ I am sure it is most kind and generous of Mr. 
 Cobbold.' 
 
 Perhaps the oddness of calling that a generous 
 act, which cost Mr. Cobbold nothing, helped Edward 
 to speak up. * It is very kind in Mr. Cobbold ; 
 but I had thought of another arrangement' 
 
 ' Another ? ' exclaimed Mr. Cobbold. * You've 
 not been mean and ungrateful enough to take 
 proposals from Arkitt and Redding without a word 
 of notice ? ' 
 
 ' Certainly not, Mr. Cobbold,' said Edward ; * I 
 never heard nor dreamt of such a thing. I should 
 do nothing without notice to our firm ; but, as my 
 
THE CHOICE 
 
 121 
 
 mother knows, I have long thought of preparing 
 for foreign mission work, and I have spoken to 
 Canon Brodie. He is coming to talk to my 
 mother about it on Wednesday/ 
 
 * And if she takes my advice she will send him 
 about his business. IVe no patience with those 
 parsons, going about canting, and getting idle 
 young men to get into their own beggarly 
 business, making humbugs of the poor natives, 
 and then coming home and begging round the 
 country ! ' 
 
 Edward had heard something like this before ; 
 and his mother moaned out : * Tm sure you know 
 that your poor dear grandfather was always 
 against any such nonsense. And didn't you promise 
 that — that you would always take care of me, like 
 a good son ? ' 
 
 ' But, mother, if you want me to go to Singa- 
 pore you can't want me here ? ' 
 
 For Singapore had cut the ground from under 
 Mrs. Bryant's feet ; but she exclaimed : ' I only — it 
 was only for your own good.' 
 
 * And this is for my good — my real good,' 
 emphatically declared Edward. ' Mother ' (as Miss 
 Grant was heard coming downstairs), 'don't let us 
 
122 
 
 THE CHOICE 
 
 say any more about it now. Let us talk it all 
 over by-and-by/ 
 
 There was something about the young man 
 that did impose silence on the party till dinner 
 was over, though Miss Grant tried to keep up 
 some sort of conversation ; but the answers were so 
 short that her attempts fell, and Mrs. Bryant 
 scarcely ate anything, and was very near crying. 
 When it was over, and Mr. Cobbold was to be left to 
 smoke his pipe, he held out his hand as she passed 
 him, and said : ^ Don't let him make a fool of you.' 
 
 As Miss Grant ascended the stairs, having tact 
 enough to ask no questions, Mrs. Bryant subsided 
 into a chair and began to cry, while Edward stood 
 before her, embarrassed and distressed. ^ Well, 
 mamma,' at last he said, ^ what is it? You seemed 
 willing enough to part with me just now.' 
 
 ^ Ah, that was for your good. You would be 
 in the way of making your fortune.' 
 
 * Is there no good but making a fortune } ' 
 exclaimed Edward. 
 
 And not knowing exactly how to answer this, 
 she went on : * And that you should be so ungrateful, 
 and undutiful too.' But as she stopped for a sob, 
 Edward broke out : 
 
EDWARD BRYANT AND HIS MOTHER. p. 123. 
 
THE CHOICE 
 
 123 
 
 ^ I don't owe any duty to old Cobbold.' 
 
 ' Hush ! hush ! But don't you know. Oh ! I 
 meant to have told you. He is going to be — your 
 — your ' 
 
 ' I see/ said Edward ; ' but he is not yet, and, if 
 he were, I am not bound to obey him. Never mind, 
 mother, I shall be just as much out of his way and 
 yours as if I went to Singapore, or wherever it is.' 
 
 ' Oh, Eddy, Eddy, don't say such things. It is 
 not that I wish or I want — I can't bear the thought 
 of parting with you — my own boy — except for 
 your own advantage ; but, you see ' (now she was 
 rehearsing what she had been conning over for 
 several days, and never found courage to utter) : * I 
 have been a widow seventeen years, and no one 
 knows what I went through with your poor 
 grandfather, all for your sake.' 
 
 * Yes, yes ; indeed you have always been the 
 best of mothers to me — Yes, indeed,' he repeated, 
 in another interval caused by her weeping. 
 
 ' And now,' she resumed, * when there is a good 
 opening, and such a kind good gentleman, so 
 worthy, and willing to act so handsomely by you 
 and by me, you can't believe but that I would 
 consult your good, my boy, my only dear boy.' 
 
124 
 
 THE CHOICE 
 
 She held out her hands to him affectionately, 
 and he bent over her and kissed her, saying, in a 
 warm and kindly tone : * Yes, mother, I would not 
 stand in the way of your happiness.' Yet, even then, 
 the wonder occurred to him how could any one ex- 
 pect to be made happy by Mr. Cobbold ? But, then, 
 he had been a housemate for three years, and might 
 be known to have nothing objectionable about 
 him. 
 
 She had a little more to say about Mr. 
 Cobbold's being so much respected, and having a 
 share in the house of business, and a comfortable 
 income, and how they meant, when Miss Grant 
 went away, as she was likely soon to do, to take 
 no more boarders, but move into a smaller house 
 and live at ease. It was evident that the grown- 
 up son made no part in these schemes, though it 
 ended with : ' You know there will always be a bed 
 and welcome for you, my own dear boy. And, oh ! 
 your mother's heart will be so glad to see you.' 
 Then, as he returned warmly the caress that 
 followed, she went on, recollecting herself : ^ And 
 now, can't you just please me, and give up this 
 enthusiastic fad as you did before, and take this 
 post — ever so much to your advantage, you know } ' 
 
THE CHOICE 
 
 125 
 
 These words brought others to Edward — ^ What 
 shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and 
 lose his own soul ? ' 
 
 * I cannot give it up, mother/ he said, spoke 
 solemnly to God, and told Him I would/ 
 
 ^ Did any one hear you, my son ? ' she asked, as 
 if half frightened at the mention. 
 
 * Nobody. But that makes no difference ; it 
 is between God and my own soul. Mother, I do 
 believe that our Saviour began calling me long 
 ago, when I saw the magic lantern at Langbridge, 
 to do what I can to help His kingdom to spread 
 over the world ; and I mean to do it, God helping 
 me. Nothing held me back but my duty to you ; 
 and as it is plain that you require me no longer — it 
 is getting plain before me. Good-night ; I am going 
 to take a turn on the Parade.' 
 
 It was better to be away without last words ; 
 and he took a walk up and down the Parade in the 
 long spring twilight, trying to realise all that had 
 passed. His own venture was uttered, and, on the 
 other hand, the announcement that had been 
 looming in the distance had been made, and the 
 only parent he had known and whom he loved was 
 practically casting him off. But his way was 
 
126 
 
 THE CHOICE 
 
 opened, though at the cost of what sacrifice was yet 
 to be known. It was all in such doubt that he could 
 not think, and he felt the need of sympathy. 
 
 Andrews, to whom he could talk, but who had 
 to be argued over each time, was sure to be at the 
 Reading Room, and though it was not his custom, 
 Edward felt drawn irresistibly to ii, Undercliff 
 Road. He pocketed his pipe, strode on, and rang 
 at the door. After a little delay and bustle it was 
 Mabel who opened it. ' Oh, Eddy, Eddy, come in ! 
 What fun, mamma and Frances are drinking tea 
 at Mrs. Mailing's, and Susan is having her evening 
 out. Aline and I have it all to ourselves.' 
 
 She brought him in, to where the table was 
 covered with exercise books and dictionaries, and 
 Aline sprang up, evidently from elbows on the 
 table, hands in her hair, and general hard work. 
 
 ' Is anything the matter, Eddy ? ' she cried, for 
 there was something in his face that looked like a 
 crisis. 
 
 ^ No. But I've done it,' he said, passing his 
 hand over his face as he took off his hat. 
 
 * Done it ! spoken out t To the Canon ? Oh ! 
 you are a brick ! I am so glad.' And Mabel began 
 to dance round him. 
 
THE CHOICE 
 
 127 
 
 ' Don't, Mab,' said her sister, ' you are too big 
 to make such a row ; and, look at Edward ; you 
 see it is a very solemn thing/ 
 
 Mabel was quieted by the words, and stood 
 with clasped hands, looking at Edward's counte- 
 nance, as he said, * Yes, I have given myself, and 
 asked to be helped to see my way/ 
 
 * Then you will really, really be a missionary, 
 and teach the heathen, and spread the kingdom ? ^ 
 gasped Mabel. 
 
 * I hope so,' was Edward's reply, seeing full 
 agreement in Aline's eyes. ' But,' he went on, 
 * here is my mother going to give herself to old 
 Cobbold.' 
 
 * Mamma and Frances have been full of that 
 ever so long,' said Aline. ^ Have you only just 
 found it out ? ' 
 
 ' I have suspected it for a long time, but could 
 not speak of it till she told me,' said Edward. ' But 
 this evening she did. And they want to send me 
 out to Singapore on business affairs.' 
 
 ' Then there can't be any difficulty about her 
 parting with you ? ' said Aline. 
 
 * No ; but Cobbold is dead against it, just like 
 my poor old grandfather ; calls me all sorts of fools, 
 
128 
 
 THE CHOICE 
 
 and may hinder her from consenting. I don't feel 
 bound to obey him, but I could not bear not 
 to have her consent and blessing. Besides, he 
 might keep her from letting me have my own 
 money before I come of age in two years' time.' 
 
 * I think,' said Aline, ' it would not be a bad 
 plan for you to write to Mr. Fraser. He could 
 persuade her if any one can.' 
 
 ' Yes ; he is a friend of Mr. Goodrich. Oh ! 
 Aline, this Canon Brodie knows Mr. Goodrich, and 
 his church in Saskatchewan.' 
 
 ^ Oh, among the Red Indians,' exclaimed Aline, 
 * in all the snow. Shall you go out there, Eddy, 
 and wear snow-shoes, and christen the papooses ? ' 
 
 ' That is what I should like ; but I shall not 
 know till I have been at St. Augustine's.' 
 
 ' St. Augustine's — is it a place out there ? ' 
 
 * Out there 1 Mab thinks out there is some 
 place where any number of natives are to be 
 found.' 
 
 ' Now, Aline, you know I am not such a 
 goose.' 
 
 * But you do know about St. Augustine, Mab, 
 said Edward, ' in your history of England.' 
 
 ' The man that the good Pope Gregory sent to 
 
THE CHOICE 
 
 129 
 
 England when he saw the Angle boys looking like 
 angels.' 
 
 * The same. Well ' he began. 
 
 * In Kent. Yes, I know, and that is why we 
 have Archbishops of Canterbury.' 
 
 * Well, there began from his time a great 
 monastery at Canterbury which was called after 
 him.' 
 
 * Oh, yes,' said Aline. * Remember, Mabel, 
 they used to elect the Archbishops, and there were 
 rows with them.' 
 
 * I recollect ; I suppose history does help. 
 Well ' 
 
 ' It was broken up at the Reformation, sold, 
 and all ran to ruin. I believe there was a brewery 
 there till about fifty or sixty years ago. A good 
 rich man, Mr. Alexander Beresford Hope, bought 
 the remains for a college to prepare missionaries, 
 and it has gone on and flourished ever since. 
 Canon Brodie was telling me about it ; and if a 
 man wants to go out properly prepared, and taught, 
 not only divinity scholarship, but the sort of things 
 that a missionary ought to know, he will be sent 
 out in connection with the Society for the Propa- 
 gation of the Gospel.' 
 
 I 
 
I30 
 
 THE CHOICE 
 
 * And how long will it take ? ' asked Mabel. 
 
 ' About three years, I believe ; and though it has 
 been made as cheap as possible, still one must have 
 some means.' 
 
 ' Oh ! ' sighed Mabel. * I thought you would go 
 at once, like people in books ; only I suppose you 
 must be ordained first. Yes, I should like you in 
 Canada. Or I should best like you to go to China 
 to save the poor babies that they bury alive. Or 
 to the dear Coral Isles, where they make houses 
 up in trees. Or to Africa, where they are all 
 black, and have been slaves, with yokes like a Y 
 round their necks. Or ' 
 
 * Oh, Mabel, Mabel, there's a great deal to come 
 first, and no one knows what it will be at last' 
 
 * Only somehow it will be,' said x^line. * It will 
 be the old hymn, " Salvation, oh, salvation, the 
 joyful sound proclaim." ' 
 
 The three young voices joined in the hymn ; 
 and then, a clock striking warned Edward that if 
 he did not hurry home he might be late, and he 
 was in no frame for argument that night. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 CHURCH OR WORLD 
 
 To draw His soldiers backward from the^^Cross 
 Woe and eternal loss. — Lyra Innocentium. 
 
 ANON BRODIE kept his word, and 
 called on Mrs. Bryant ; but she was in 
 dread of what Mr. Cobbold might say 
 to her, and only went on in an uncertain 
 way about its being very hard, when she had done 
 everything for her son — her only son — that he 
 should want to go against all her wishes, on 
 schemes of his own, to which she would never give 
 her consent — taking away just the little income 
 she had to depend on. This was stretching a 
 point a good deal, for Mr. Cobbold's income much 
 exceeded that which was derived from Edward's 
 small inheritance, and this Edward well knew. 
 
132 CHURCH OR WORLD 
 
 And he felt the reproach unjust ; but he would have 
 perforce put off his scheme till he was of age, and 
 could get possession of his own property. 
 
 The Canon indeed told him that he might hope 
 to be adopted as the pupil whose expenses were 
 paid at St. Augustine's College by the diocese ; but 
 there was the feeling, right or wrong, of not being 
 treated as an object of charity ; and, besides, what 
 was more to the purpose, it was a disadvantage 
 that his churchmanship, though real, had been of 
 such a wandering sort that he had never come into 
 contact with any of the clergy ; and the utmost 
 any of them could say about him was that the 
 vicar of the parish believed that Mrs. Bryant, of 
 Freshet Road, had a son ; and at St. Faith's the 
 clergy supposed he was the young man who was 
 generally a monthly communicant. 
 
 Aline's suggestion, however, turned out to have 
 been very good. Edward wrote to Mr. Fraser at 
 Langbridge, and the next day the rector made 
 his appearance at Dobson's office, and asked for an 
 interview with the head of the firm. There he was 
 told, in answer to his inquiries, that there was no 
 fault to find with young Bryant ; he was a good, 
 steady, punctual clerk, who had improved himself 
 
CHURCH OR WORLD 
 
 133 
 
 a good deal, and there was an idea of promoting 
 him, and of sending him out to Singapore ; but of 
 late Cobbold, the head clerk, had feared that he 
 had some enthusiastic religious mania, and Cobbold 
 ought to know, for it was reported that he was 
 engaged to the young man's mother. 
 
 Then Mr. Fraser asked if Bryant could be 
 spared for an interview, and they were a joyful 
 sight to one another, for Edward had grown into 
 a fine young man, insensibly having lost much of 
 his loutish, boyish look, and his countenance had 
 refined with thought, his reading, English and 
 foreign, and his Shakespeare Club, while the 
 * Triton ' practice in sea boating had kept him 
 strong and healthy. 
 
 * So, Edward,' said Mr. Fraser, as they walked 
 towards the Parade together, ^ you have still kept 
 your old wish ? ' 
 
 * Yes, sir. I put it aside while I thought my 
 mother needed me, but I do not think she does at 
 present, and, in fact, in this new connection she had 
 rather have me out of the way.' 
 
 Edward spoke in the set way of one who had 
 thought a good deal over the matter. 
 
 ' And,' said Mr. Fraser, a good deal impressed. 
 
134 
 
 CHURCH OR WORLD 
 
 *this has been your consistent desire ever since 
 Archdeacon Smithson's sermon/ 
 
 ^ Not consistent, sir — off and on ; but Mr. 
 Goodrich lent me books, and it has grown more 
 upon me since I have been here.' 
 
 ^ Without external pressure } ' 
 
 * I think not, till just lately ; Canon Brodie's 
 lectures have shown me more of the system and 
 of the actual needs.' 
 
 ' I see ; I think it may be said to be really a 
 call. Have you any definite plan or wishes ? ' 
 
 * I should like, if possible, to be where Mr. 
 Goodrich is ; but otherwise I do not know. And I 
 suppose, by what Canon Brodie says, that some 
 training would be required ? ' 
 
 ' Certainly. You ought to have a course at St. 
 Augustine's at Canterbury. I should gather that 
 you have the means for this. Terms 45/. a year, 
 exclusive of other expenses.' 
 
 ^ Yes, sir ; if my mother will let me have the 
 amount. But, even after I am of age, it is partly 
 in her power, and I think in that of Mr. 
 Twistleden.' 
 
 'You will not be eligible for St. Augustine's till 
 you are twenty.' 
 
CHURCH OR WORLD 
 
 135 
 
 ^That I shall be in the summer — July 3. 
 And I should wish to begin at once, to lose no 
 
 time, and ' there he stopped, not expressing 
 
 that his position at home might not be comfortable. 
 
 * Twistleden ? — I think he came to Langbridge 
 at the time of your grandfather's funeral ? ' 
 
 ' Yes. He was my father's friend, a gentleman 
 in the law, and was made trustee with my mother. 
 I remember thinking him kind, and quite the 
 gentleman at the time ; and I had thought of 
 writing to him, but I did not like to, till I knew 
 what was to be done with my mother.' 
 
 * I recollect having the same impression ; and I 
 should think there would be no difficulty with him 
 personally, but one can never tell. The whole 
 mission cause has been so much neglected in Eng- 
 land, except by persons external to the Church, till 
 within comparatively late years, that there is a good 
 deal of prejudice in quarters one does not expect, 
 as in the case of your mother.' 
 
 * I do not think it is so much her own self,' said 
 Edward, ^ except the parting with me ; but what 
 Mr. Cobbold tells her.' 
 
 * Well, I will see what can be done with her, and 
 I must not keep you any longer. 
 
136 
 
 CHURCH OR WORLD 
 
 No warning of Mr. Fraser's coming had been 
 given to Mrs. Bryant, and when his card had been 
 sent up, and her best cap donned, she received him 
 with : * Well, Mr. Fraser, this is a pleasure, I did 
 not know you were in the place ; I hope I may hear 
 you preach, it would be so like the old days.' 
 
 Mr. Fraser was rather amused, for he did not 
 think the old days had been very happy ones to 
 her, or that she had very much experience of his 
 preaching, though hardly by her own fault ; so he 
 only complimented her, and very truly, on looking 
 very well, as indeed she had a plump and pros- 
 perous air, very different from her worn and down- 
 trodden appearance under old Bryant's tyranny ; 
 and * Might he congratulate her ? ' he said. 
 
 She smiled and coloured a little. ' Well, Mr. 
 Fraser, it is not a hasty measure. He has been an 
 inmate here going on for four years, and an ex- 
 cellent, superior gentleman, who has never given 
 any trouble ; and I was sure it was for my boy's 
 good, or nothing should have made me consent. 
 Shall you be here after five o'clock, Mr. Fraser } 
 I should like you to see my son, and to introduce 
 you to Mr. Cobbold.' 
 
 * Thank you ; I shall have to be going home.' 
 
CHURCH OR WORLD 
 
 137 
 
 ^ Ah ; I do wish you could see Edward. You 
 spoke to him strong about his duty before, sir, and 
 it would be well if you could persuade him it is his 
 duty to drop all these ideas of his — enthusiastic, 
 fanatical, as Mr. Cobbold says, about throwing 
 everything up and going out to heathen lands as a 
 missionary.' 
 
 ' But, Mrs. Bryant, I don't know that it is his 
 duty; 
 
 ^ Nay, now, sir, you backed me up that it was 
 his duty to give up the farm and provide for me ; 
 and now, why should he leave me, and go off from 
 all his best prospects just when he is old enough to 
 profit by them ? ' 
 
 * Perhaps, Mrs. Bryant, you and I do not mean 
 quite the same thing by profit' 
 
 * Well, sir, you are a clergyman ; and — and — — ' 
 (breaking off and beginning again), * I suppose you 
 would say it was right there should be mission- 
 aries to the heathen, though there are those that 
 think they would do as well, or better, if they 
 were let alone ; but, then, why must they take my 
 son, my only one, all I have got, for them ? ' 
 
 * I confess I thought your son's first duty was 
 to you, and did not encourage his aspirations ; but 
 
138 
 
 CHURCH OR WORLD 
 
 you cannot say that circumstances are the same 
 now, nor that you were intending to keep him 
 at home/ 
 
 She murmured again something about * For his 
 good/ 
 
 'For his earthly profit, you mean. You are 
 willing to let him run the risks of climate and 
 temptation, while you stand in the way and make 
 yourself an obstacle to what, to his mind and to 
 mine, is a call from God to work for his Heavenly 
 Master — ^for his own eternal welfare, and that of 
 others. I should feel it a frightful responsibility 
 to endeavour to obstruct such a call' 
 
 She began to cry, and to say something about 
 talking to Mr. Cobbold. 
 
 * It is not a matter in which Mr. Cobbold is 
 concerned. He has no claim upon the young man, 
 nor on what comes to him from his father/ 
 
 * Except that I am trustee with Mr. Twistleden, 
 and have to give consent if he wants it. I have 
 always received the interest till now, and his salary 
 has gone for his pocket-money and expenses.' 
 
 ' You were giving it up, anyway, now. All that 
 is asked of you is to relinquish this last two years' 
 income — you will have no choice when he comes 
 
CHURCH OR WORLD 
 
 139 
 
 Qf age — to enable him to prepare for the noble 
 course that is before him. And, Mrs. Bryant, I 
 think I may tell you, from my own experience, 
 that it is a very perilous thing to balk such 
 aspirations. I have known those who have re- 
 signed them never able to settle to anything again, 
 and with spoilt lives.' 
 
 Something struck Mrs. Bryant with the re- 
 membrance that she had never been uneasy about 
 Edward, except when he had been threat- 
 ened and disappointed out of his schemes as a 
 boy ; but she still had not given in, and moaned 
 something about being sure that he would always 
 be a good lad, if things were not put into his head, 
 people fancying he would be a gentleman, and so 
 forth. 
 
 * You know and I know that the impression, the 
 call, as I may say, came long ago, quite unconnected 
 with any such idea, from a sermon of Archdeacon 
 Smithson's. What I call on you to promise — as 
 one who has known you and your son for many 
 years — is, that you will not allow yourself to be 
 persuaded to withhold your consent, nor the 
 property to which he has a full right, from being 
 used in the work to which he feels himself called/ 
 
I40 
 
 CHURCH OR WORLD 
 
 * Well, Mr. Fraser, since you make such a 
 point of it ' 
 
 * I have your promise, then ? ' 
 
 * Yes, sir.' 
 
 He shook hands with her, and told her he was 
 going to call on his old friend, Mrs. Millar ; and he 
 did not choose to hear a murmur about the Millar 
 girls putting fancies in her son's head about being 
 a clergyman and a gentleman. She was sure that 
 Aline was at the bottom of it. So she was sighing 
 to herself, even when the door was shut on Mr. 
 Fraser ; but her thoughts were better than her 
 words. * If her Eddy really had a call, it was not 
 for her to hinder it' 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 THOSE AT HOME 
 
 Smooth thou his path ere it is trod, 
 
 Burnish the arms that he must wield, 
 And pray with all thy strength that God 
 May crown him victor in the field. 
 
 \F Mrs. Bryant had seen Aline and Mabel 
 after Mr. Eraser's visit to their mother, 
 she would have been confirmed in her 
 idea that her son had been inspired by 
 them ; and yet it was chiefly their sympathy which 
 had helped him to make his longing a resolution. 
 As soon as they had come in from the High School, 
 and heard what had been the purport of the call, 
 they went up into the little room that they shared, 
 and Mabel said : * Let us thank God for it ! ' 
 
 * But how ? ' said Aline. 
 
 * Can't we kneel down and say it in our hearts ? 
 Or the collect they read before a working party ? ' 
 
142 
 
 THOSE AT HOME 
 
 ' That's the Good Friday one.' 
 They found it, and went on to Easter Sun- 
 day. 
 
 ' It is only that college yet,' sighed Mabel ; ' I 
 wish it was to be directly. I wonder where he 
 will go ? I do want it to be China, to save the 
 dear babies.' 
 
 * He is a long way from that as yet,' said Aline ; 
 * but it is a happy thing to know that we can be 
 working in the same cause.' 
 
 ^ And when we say Thy kingdom come," ' 
 added Mabel. 
 
 Mrs. Millar was a person of a good deal of 
 weight, to whom Mrs. Bryant had always been 
 used to look up ; and her influence had a good 
 effect in producing a certain acquiescence in the 
 scheme. Mr. Cobbold was contemptuous ; but 
 when Mr. Twistleden, the guardian, came down 
 and showed himself ready to consent, Mr. Cobbold 
 found the world too much against him to continue 
 to offer much opposition to the plans of his future 
 stepson. Mr. Twistleden declared that it was a 
 better prospect for Edward to be educated and 
 take rank with the clergy than to continue to be 
 a corn merchant's clerk. It was a worldly view ; 
 
THOSE AT HOME 
 
 143 
 
 but it pacified the friends, even while Mr. Cobbold 
 sneered at ^ beggarly parsons/ 
 
 * But let me give you a piece of advice/ said 
 the lawyer. * Don't go to St. Augustine's en- 
 tangled in any engagement with any young 
 woman. I have been told it so often happens. 
 The young man gets trained and becomes 
 superior, while the girl stays at home, and has no 
 opportunities. They become unsuited ; but the 
 engagement is adhered to, and she becomes a 
 burthen, more especially if he is among colonists 
 of a higher class.' 
 
 * There is nothing,' said Edward, and he spoke 
 truly ; but, as if Mr. Twistleden had put it 
 into his mind, a strange sense came across him 
 that it was just possible that there might have 
 been something with Aline Millar, who, at any 
 rate, was not his inferior, nor was she failing 
 to improve herself And how pretty she had 
 grown, and how she went along with, or even be- 
 yond him, in feeling for the spread of the Gospel ! 
 
 However, he knew that all was too uncertain 
 as to his destination for him to attempt to draw 
 her into any attachment, and that they had better 
 both attend to their studies. Only he wished 
 
144 
 
 THOSE AT HOME 
 
 nothing had been said about it ; and he began to 
 suspect it was in Mrs. Millar's head, from the 
 pains she took that Frances or Mabel should 
 always be with Aline. Frances was like a sheet 
 of cold water towards any mission talk ; but as to 
 Mabel, it was all she cared for, the romance of her 
 girlhood, and she was so certain to have some 
 wonderful story of admirable negroes, of terrible 
 tortures, or dangerous adventures, out of an old col- 
 lection of missionary magazines, which she had 
 disinterred, that it was almost a joke with her 
 schoolfellows what would be her next history of 
 remarkable achievement. 
 
 Any excitement in Edward Bryant's presence 
 would soon be removed, for, as soon as sufficient 
 notice had been given to Dobson & Co., and his 
 successor had been found, Mr. Fraser had invited 
 him to spend the weeks that would inter- 
 vene, before his admission to St. Augustine's Col- 
 lege, at Langbridge Rectory, so as to be a little 
 prepared for the new atmosphere, which would 
 be unlike anything to which he had been accus- 
 tomed. 
 
 This was to take place as soon as Frances 
 Millar's wedding was over, at Whitsuntide. Mrs. 
 
THOSE AT HOME 
 
 145 
 
 Bryant and Edward were the oldest friends within 
 reach, but could not be spared. 
 
 After all, however, it was a very quiet wedding, 
 with only the two sisters as bridesmaids ; and it 
 would hardly have been evident to the neighbours at 
 large but for the white ribbon on the whip of the 
 driver of the fly in which the bride went to church, 
 and the pretty hats of Aline and Mabel. 
 
 Aline looked very well under the shade of hers, 
 and when the healths had been drunk, and the 
 cake cut, and the bride and bridegroom started off 
 to the station, she looked at Edward with tears 
 springing to her eyes, which actually fell when 
 Mabel burst out with : ' Oh, dear ! Oh, dear ! How 
 dull and lonely we shall be now ; everybody going 
 away, and you won't be here to have squabbles with 
 Francie.' 
 
 *For your amusement. Pussy,' said Edward, 
 trying to make light of the break-up, which he also 
 felt. 
 
 * No,' said Mabel ; ^ but when you have an 
 argument you do say such beautiful things some- 
 times, that it quite chokes Aline and me to think 
 what a splendid life it is, doesn't it, Allie ? ' 
 
 But Aline had run away, and Edward could 
 
 K 
 
146 
 
 THOSE AT HOME 
 
 say nothing but, * You ridiculous child.' He said 
 it, however, in a tone that did not silence Mabel, 
 who went on : * And, do you know, Eddy, we have 
 found out how we can go on helping in the cause. 
 Miss Elsworthy, who had the working party, is 
 always collecting for a sale of work to get money 
 for foreign missio|fc, and Allie and I are going to 
 take her all the fancy work and things we can make, 
 and it will be so nice to know we are working for 
 you ! ' 
 
 * For the cause, Mab,' corrected Aline. 
 
 Well, the cause and Edward are all the same.' 
 
 Thank you, Mab,' he said, touched, though 
 smiling, and feeling that a few pin-cushions would 
 hardly be a great assistance to ^ the cause.' 
 
 So he went to Langbridge, expecting to be 
 recalled by his mother's wedding ; but even before 
 Mr. and Mrs. Richards had settled into their new 
 house, the tidings came, in a very brief note, that 
 Mrs. Bryant had been married to Mr. Cobbold, very 
 quietly, only a week after the other marriage, and by 
 license. ^ We thought it best to be as private as 
 possible,' wrote the mother, ' and I knew it would 
 avoid pain to you ; but my dear son may be sure of 
 his mother's affection though he has chosen such a 
 
THOSE AT HOME 
 
 147 
 
 different line from what she would have wished, 
 and Mr. Cobbold desires me to say that he will 
 always be sure of a welcome.' 
 
 In spite of these words, Edward did not feel as 
 if he could bear to think of the sort of welcome he 
 should meet ; and he spent some hours in wandering 
 about in sight of the old farm, sitting on stiles, 
 and thinking over what he and his mother had 
 been to one another. All was very much altered. 
 The house had shot out two great bay windows, 
 which looked like prominent eyes in spectacles ; 
 some of the old thatch was gone, and slates, or 
 worse, corrugated iron, had been put up over the 
 outhouses ; and in the fields that had been sold as 
 a separate lot, a couple of very new red-brick villas 
 had lifted their pointed heads. But the ground 
 was the same, the field paths and hedges, the rooks 
 cawed in their old voices, and the labourers had 
 pleasant affectionate greetings for the young master 
 as they still called him. 
 
 Yes, if all this had still been his own, and, 
 above all, if his mother had still watched for him in 
 that porch, he would have found it a different 
 thing to go away ; and as higher thoughts began to 
 come to him, he could believe that perhaps it was 
 
 K 2 
 
148 
 
 THOSE AT HOME 
 
 well that the home tie should be broken, and that 
 he should be a stranger with no right anywhere. 
 
 Though in the same village, it was like being 
 in a different world, for Mr. and Mrs. Fraser 
 treated him in all ways as they would a gentleman 
 pupil, and though his habits and manners were 
 quite up to the mark, still there was a certain stiff 
 feeling of being ^ company ' in the earlier days, and 
 he felt freer when he was drinking tea with Frances 
 Richards, and being called on to admire all the 
 new furniture and little changes in the old house 
 to which she had returned. She was as hearty and 
 good-natured and glad to see him as possible ; but 
 he could not help noticing that, even in holiday 
 time, she did not ask her sisters to come and see 
 her. It would have been natural, and once or 
 twice when he heard her asked by visitors if they 
 were coming and she made an excuse, he could 
 not help fancying that he knew her reason. Was 
 it not silly of her? And yet Aline was Aline. 
 Could she have shown any wish ? 
 
 But he had quite enough to think of to keep 
 such matters out of his mind, for Mr. Fraser was 
 giving him much to read and think over in the 
 way of preparation, both in theological and secular 
 
THOSE AT HOME 
 
 149 
 
 subjects. He had to realise how ignorant he 
 was, and to feel daunted as having entertained 
 the idea of being capable of teaching others ; but 
 he was thankful for being encouraged and helped, 
 and he certainly grew and developed much in 
 every way before the term came when he was to 
 go to St. Augustine's. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THE ST. AUGUSTINE SCHOLAR 
 
 Seize the banner, spread its fold, 
 Seize it with no faltering hold ; 
 Spread its bearings high and fair, 
 Let all see the cross is there. — Keble. 
 
 E is coming.' 
 
 ' Who ? What, Edward Bryant ? ' 
 ' Of course. You have not seen 
 him for three whole years.' 
 * No ; I never was at home when he was, since 
 he went to St. Augustine's.' 
 
 Aline Millar was working in the kindergarten 
 division of a great high school in London, and 
 was now settling herself and unpacking her things 
 for the holidays in the room she shared with 
 Mabel, who had just completed the High School 
 course at Awmouth. As she could not be spared 
 by her mother, she had been glad of an engage- 
 
THE ST. AUGUSTINE SCHOLAR 151 
 
 ment to help in the education of an invalid girl 
 who could not attend the High School with her 
 sisters. They had both grown into very pleasant- 
 looking maidens, with sensible, intelligent faces ; 
 Aline the prettier, and with the London air of 
 figure and dress, though in a quiet, modest way. 
 Mabel had, however, something more thoughtful 
 and resolute about her brow and lip. 
 
 Aline went on asking : * Has he finished with 
 his college, and is anything settled about him ? ' 
 
 * He wanted to go to the Dominion, because of 
 Mr. Goodrich, who is an Archdeacon there now — 
 yes, and has been at home ill — and went to St. 
 Augustine's. Oh, Eddy was so glad, but his 
 health failed.' 
 
 * Don't ramble so, Mab ; which do you mean ? ' 
 
 * Both, in a way. For they say Mr. Goodrich 
 must give up that horrible cold place, and all those 
 nice fur-catching Indians, and live in a warmer 
 climate. And did you know that Eddy had a 
 bad fit of bronchitis last winter ? ' 
 
 * No, indeed ; you did not tell me.' 
 
 * I didn't know till mamma saw Mrs. Cobbold, 
 Well, the medical man asked all sorts of questions, 
 and when he found that Eddy's father, and a whole 
 
152 THE ST. AUGUSTINE SCHOLAR 
 
 lot of Bryants besides, had gone into declines, he 
 would not hear of his going to a cold climate, but 
 said he might be perfectly well and strong in a 
 warm one.' 
 
 ' And is he well now ? ' 
 
 ' Oh, yes, it was only bronchitis. I think it will 
 end in his going to China. The S.P.G. has a 
 mission there near Pekin, and you know that is 
 what we always cared about most of all.' 
 
 * Yes, when you cried about the poor babies.' 
 
 ^ I could cry now ! Do you know the Roman 
 Catholics try to save them, and the nuns buy 
 almost a cart load of these poor things, often dead 
 or dying ! And those horrid people fancy they 
 do it to make charms with their eyes, and really 
 have fallen on the nuns and murdered them.' 
 
 ' They have murdered our own mission people 
 too. I do not think China is a very safe mission.' 
 
 ' One does not go to be safe,' said Mabel, with 
 a light in her eyes. 
 
 ' No,' said Aline. ' If the call comes one has 
 to hate one's own life also, rather than not help to 
 widen the kingdom and brighten those dark 
 places. But what does Mrs. Cobbold say to this 
 notion ? ' 
 
THE ST, AUGUSTINE SCHOLAR 153 
 
 ^ Mrs. Cobbold fancies it is all Hong Kong, 
 where you can be as safe as here — with the China- 
 men in petticoats and long tails, such as sometimes 
 come in the corn ships, or, once, when some tea 
 came in/ 
 
 * And were you fired with a passion for " the 
 native " as at the ruins ? ' 
 
 ^ Not exactly ; though I did long to know 
 whether the poor fellows, with their sloping eyes, 
 had been taught any Christianity ; but Mr. 
 Andrews said he was afraid it was just the con- 
 trary/ 
 
 * He used to be Edward's friend/ 
 
 * Yes ; he gets letters from him, and comes and 
 tells us about them. Do you know, Allie, I have 
 been telling my pupil Linda Norwood all the 
 old missionary stories Edward used to tell us, and 
 getting her to do something for them, and it 
 has made such a difference to her. She never 
 seemed much to care for or be interested in any- 
 thing, but now she takes in her own Gospel 
 Messenger^ with her own money, and tries to 
 work for anything that is specially wanted or 
 to collect money for it. She is so eager to get 
 her Messenger, and to look out for anything 
 
154 THE ST. AUGUSTINE SCHOLAR 
 
 that is to be done. When the Zenana Mission 
 ladies asked for scrap-books or dolls, or 
 Christmas cards for the children, it was a perfect 
 delight/ 
 
 ' Indeed, it must have been a real blessing to 
 her, as truly, Mab, I think the dwelling on the idea 
 has been to both of us, making us feel how great 
 the Church is, and that the lengthening of her 
 cords and strengthening of her stakes depends 
 on the prayer and work of the small as well as the 
 great. I am sure it both opened our eyes and 
 helped to train our characters.' 
 
 * You have been in the way of many missionary 
 meetings.' 
 
 * I have gone to those at the Church House 
 when I could ; and I will tell you one thing that your 
 pupil reminded me of A lady at the Women's 
 Association said that, many years ago, a good, kind 
 mother told her laughingly of her children showing 
 her two silk-worms, and saying, This one is to 
 spin for home missions, and this one for foreign 
 missions." Of course the profits of the silk-worms 
 did not amount to anything ; but one of those 
 children died as one of the foremost and most 
 helpful in a mission in India, and his sister went 
 
THE ST. AUGUSTINE SCHOLAR 155 
 
 out to work in the same field. So the silk-worms 
 did their work.' 
 
 ' In the bent of the children's minds/ said 
 Mabel. 
 
 'That is the benefit of the trifles we might 
 despise — in the interest and bent they give.' 
 
 ' I wonder if it is training for anything, and 
 whether we shall ever go out and help ? ' said 
 Mabel. 
 
 * What we have to do now is to go down to 
 mamma/ returned Aline, smiling. ' She must be 
 waiting for us for her tea.' 
 
 With a little shame at having talked so long 
 and kept Aline from her, they went downstairs ; 
 but Mrs. Millar was a happy and unselfish woman, 
 and received them by saying that she knew that 
 they would have a great deal to say to each other, 
 and had therefore waited to order in the little hot 
 supper she had prepared for Aline with her tea. Still 
 they had much to talk over, about Frances and her 
 babies at Langbridge, and how her husband was 
 prospering and growing quite round-backed and 
 sunburnt with bicycling to his patients ; and then 
 the conversation drifted back to Edward Bryant, 
 and how, when he was staying with Mr. Fraser, he 
 
156 THE ST, AUGUSTINE SCHOLAR 
 
 was very friendly, but he looked so much the 
 gentleman that Frances and Lawrence Richards 
 thought it quite a pity that he should be wasted on 
 the strange people in the colonies and heathen 
 parts. 
 
 ' But that was the very thing he got his train- 
 ing for/ said Aline. ^ He could not go back now/ 
 
 ' So I told his mother/ said Mrs. Millar, ' when 
 she was sighing over his not being a clergyman 
 here in England.' 
 
 ' Ah, you have not told us of Mrs. Cobbold, 
 and how she gets on.' 
 
 * Very fairly, I should say,' replied the mother. 
 ^ She is grown quite stout, and is always hand- 
 somely dressed.' 
 
 'And talks in a voice just like old Mr. 
 Cobbold/ said Mabel, with a little sound of imita- 
 tion. 
 
 * Not always/ said the mother; 'only when 
 she is supporting his dignity and telling his 
 opinions.' 
 
 ' Poor thing ! Do you think she is happy ? ' 
 asked Aline. 
 
 ' On the whole. I am sure he is less hard to 
 please than the old gentleman at Langbridge ; but 
 
THE ST. AUGUSTINE SCHOLAR 157 
 
 when she sits with me and lets herself talk 
 with pride and delight of her son, I sometimes 
 doubt whether she would not have been happier 
 if she had continued to depend only on her 
 Eddy/ 
 
 * Oh ! but then he could not have left her to go 
 out/ cried Mabel. 
 
 * She might have been led to go with him, 
 said Aline, * like the wives, sisters—yes, and mothers 
 — I have been hearing of/ 
 
 'Yes,' said Mrs. Millar, 'and I confess I do 
 believe that though my old friend has, in one point 
 of view, done well for herself, I have sometimes 
 thought that she would have been happier if she 
 had let herself be lifted up to Edward's sphere of 
 thought and interests.' 
 
 ' Ah ! ' said Mabel, laughing, ' I hear her 
 pouring out to mother all her bothers about Mr. 
 Cobbold and servants and butchers, and how 
 upset he is, when he is anxious about his 
 securities. You really do dread a visit from her, 
 don't you, mamma ? ' 
 
 * Impertinent child ! Poor woman, she is of a 
 low-spirited nature, or else the old gentleman at 
 the farm broke her down, for she is always 
 
158 THE ST. AUGUSTINE SCHOLAR 
 
 nothing if not dejected/ said Mrs. Millar, who 
 was always kind-hearted. 
 
 ' But/ said Aline, ' you feel that to care about 
 mission work and to sympathize with Edward 
 would be more for her happiness than to fret over 
 Mr. Cobbold's tempers, his securities, and his 
 dinners.' 
 
 ' Well, my dear, whatever takes us out of our- 
 selves is good for us.' 
 
 The girls both felt that their mother was 
 unconsciously an instance in point. Her hands 
 were busy over a knitted vest to be sent out in a 
 box for one of the North Canadian Missions, and 
 Mabel had thoroughly infected her with zeal for 
 the spread of the Gospel, as indeed the bundles of 
 magazines on the side table might testify. 
 
 She did not look well, and Aline began to be 
 anxious about some indications that Mabel had 
 been too young to notice ; but at the same time 
 she looked happier and brighter than she had been 
 since the loss of her little boys and her husband. 
 She seemed to feel a consolation in her devotional 
 books, and in the early Celebrations at the neigh- 
 bouring church, which she certainly had not done 
 before though she had always been a good, con- 
 
THE ST. AUGUSTINE SCHOLAR 159 
 
 scientious woman, taking religion as part of her 
 duty, but not as her consolation. Now, however, 
 the interest in the Faith, awakened by sympathy 
 with her little daughter, seemed to be spreading 
 into all her life and soul. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 THE LAND OF SINIM 
 
 Let not my parting tears 
 Grieve you too much, for every drop I shed 
 Is only filmed with grief, whilst all beside 
 Comes from the fount of joy. — Jackson. 
 
 T was at an early Celebration that the 
 Millar party first met Edward Bryant, 
 who came out of church behind them, 
 and spoke — his voice first recalling to 
 Aline that it was indeed himself, his air was so 
 much altered by a certain refinement of counte- 
 nance and appearance, though there was nothing 
 clerical about his dress. Mrs. Millar and Mabel, 
 who had seen him at intervals more lately, were 
 not struck, as the alteration had been gradual and 
 insensible ; but it was a most hearty and affectionate 
 greeting, and he was delighted to find that Aline 
 was at home. 
 
EDWARD BRYANT CAME OUT OF CHURCH BEHIND 
 
 THEM. p. i6o. 
 
THE LAND OF SINIM 
 
 i6i 
 
 ^ Will you come to tea, and bring your mother, 
 and tell us about what you are doing ? ' said Mrs. 
 Millar. ' Then Mabel will be at home.' 
 
 ^ At five ? ' he asked. 
 
 ' Oh, yes ; we have adopted town habits,' said 
 Mrs. Millar, for the old hours at Langbridge had 
 been of the farmer kind. * We shall all like to 
 have a coze over your plans. Tell your mother 
 we shall be glad to see her.' 
 
 Edward, however, appeared without his mother. 
 * Mr. Cobbold has sent home some fish, and if she 
 goes out, he will be sure to think it neglected,' he 
 said, with a smile, as he shook hands with Mrs. 
 Millar. ^ She said you would be sure to understand.' 
 
 Nobody was able to be very sorry. They all 
 knew that they should talk much more freely 
 without Mrs. Cobbold, who would be sure to 
 reduce them to discussing the failures of her last 
 ^ girls,' and the extortion of the butcher, and Mr. 
 Cobbold's indignation at the treatment of an old 
 customer. 
 
 * So you have seen Archdeacon Goodrich ? ' 
 
 * Yes ; he stayed three nights at St. Augustine's, 
 and preached and talked to us. It was a joy to 
 us all.' 
 
 L 
 
THE LAND OF SINIM 
 
 ' Did he know you again ? ' 
 
 ^ No ; I was only thirteen years old when 
 he left the old Grammar School. But I think 
 Mr. .Fraser had mentioned me, for he asked for 
 me, and spoke very kindly to me. He said 
 he was rejoiced to find that the books he had 
 lent me had borne fruit, and he hoped to see 
 more of me. I don't think I should have known 
 him ; he went away quite a young man, and 
 now ' 
 
 * Nearly ten years ago,' said Aline. 
 
 * He has a long beard, and is quite grizzled, 
 and his complexion has a hard weather- 
 stained look ; but still, his head is grand, all 
 the more because his temples are bald, but his 
 eyes are — I can't describe the nobleness of his 
 expression.' 
 
 Mabel clasped her hands, while her mother 
 said : 
 
 ' Has he not been ill ? ' 
 
 ^ Yes ; and the doctors tell him that it would be 
 absolute suicide to expose himself to another 
 northern winter. He has been at death's door 
 with pneumonia, and is still lame from rheumatism. 
 It is plain that he has suffered terribly.' 
 
THE LAND OF SINIM 
 
 ' Ah, there is a real cost ! ' said Mabel. 
 
 * It was worth the cost,' said Edward. ' It 
 made our hearts burn within us when he told us 
 of the Red Indian chief coming and laying his rifle 
 and war insignia down before his baptism, and 
 declaring that he renounced feuds and enmity 
 together, and gave himself and his people to Christ 
 his Lord and Master. Ah ! and when we heard 
 of the thankfulness of the poor English mother, in 
 the heart of the Hudson's Bay country, who had not 
 seen an English clergyman for twelve years, when 
 he drew up his sleigh at her little fort — he half- 
 frozen himself — and how she rubbed him and 
 restored him, and could hardly speak for tears 
 of welcome and thankfulness. She had taught her 
 children so well, too, and prepared them for baptism. 
 They all knew their Bible, and all that the un- 
 baptized could repeat of their Catechism. 
 
 ' What was the father ? ' 
 
 *A big rough man who had had hardly any 
 schooling, but believed implicitly in his good little 
 wife, and had let her teach him. They had a quiet 
 Eucharist together and now they will never be left 
 so long. Archdeacon Goodrich arranged for their 
 being visited every few weeks, and the man was 
 
 L 2 
 
164 
 
 THE LAND OF SINIM 
 
 putting up a log hut as the beginning of what will 
 some day be a church.' 
 
 * And that is the work the great Shepherd is 
 doing/ said Mabel. ' Fetching His sheep and 
 lambs in from every mountain where they have 
 wandered.* 
 
 ^ But is not the Archdeacon very sorry not to 
 go back ? ' asked Aline. 
 
 ^ Pie said he could break his heart over it, but 
 for knowing that it must be ordained by a Higher 
 Will than his, and being thankful not to be abso- 
 lutely set aside from work. He is told that there 
 is no reason he should not be effective in a warm 
 or even a temperate climate, if he will take reason- 
 able care of himself So his mind is turning to 
 North China.' 
 
 ' I thought that Chinese missions had been 
 chiefly carried out by the Church Missionary 
 Society ? ' said Aline. 
 
 ^ In the South and about Hong Kong, yes. 
 There has been a great work carried on there by 
 the Bishops of Victoria, who had Hong Kong to 
 work from. The S.P.G. was not able to begin 
 seriously till 1878, but a famine relief fund, and the 
 opening of the ports, has been much in our favour, 
 
THE LAND OF SINIM 
 
 165 
 
 though we are still called " foreign devils " ; but 
 we have made some way/ 
 
 ' There is a Bishop of North China, I see/ said 
 Mabel, ' and it includes Pekin/ 
 
 ' You always were up in Chinese matters,' said 
 her sister, ^ I believe it is your favourite mission/ 
 
 ^ The first I began to care about,' said Mabel ; 
 ^and there are most interesting books about it. 
 There were those glorious girls, the martyrs of 
 Kucheng/ 
 
 * Yes, their history always struck me very 
 much,' said Aline, * they were so perfectly bright 
 and happy, full of merriment and yet devoted, and 
 ready and willing in a moment to die.' 
 
 * " Girls, girls, we are going together ! " as one 
 of the party called out,' said Mabel. 
 
 * And now their mother has offered her work 
 in the same track,' said Aline. * It has been a 
 noble family ! ' 
 
 * What success has there been ? ' asked Mrs. 
 Millar. 
 
 ' In Pekin I believe the clergy have had to 
 attend chiefly to the English families settled 
 there,' said Edward ; ' but the country districts 
 have several stations which are centres for native 
 
THE LAND OF SINIM 
 
 converts. But the bitter enmity of the Empress — 
 a thorough old conservative as to religion and 
 customs — retards matters a good deal, and men 
 are very much wanted. Archdeacon Goodrich 
 has been in correspondence with the Bishop, and 
 I think he would like me to go with him.* 
 
 * You are not fit for a cold climate,' said Mrs. 
 Millar. 
 
 ^ So the doctor said ; though I am very strong. 
 But ft will be better that I should be there to look 
 after the Archdeacon ; and it is your favourite 
 mission, Mabel.' 
 
 ' Yes ; I am very glad you are going.' 
 
 ^ Mabel would like to bespeak a little Chinese 
 baby girl, if you dig her up alive,' said Aline, 
 laughing. 
 
 With which Mabel, responding merrily, went 
 off to see that the muffins were being toasted 
 and buttered. It was a very pleasant afternoon, 
 all the party were in such full sympathy with one 
 another ; and it was with a sigh that Edward rose 
 to return in time for Mr. Cobbold's late dinner. 
 
 On the whole Mr. Cobbold was very civil to 
 him, always in public, where he seemed to like to 
 show him as a very creditable connection, though 
 
THE LAND OF SINIM 
 
 167 
 
 without entirely giving up sneers at home upon 
 the poverty of a clergyman in comparison with a 
 rising merchant. The clergy of the town noticed 
 the St. Augustine's student, and asked him to 
 spend evenings with them, and once, when an 
 intended lecturer failed, he was asked to expound 
 a missionary magic lantern to a school. The sub- 
 ject happened to be North America, a part of 
 the world of which he had heard a good deal. Aline 
 and Mabel helped him to arrange the slides before- 
 hand, and, though he felt very shy, they had a 
 good deal of merriment over the feathered Indians, 
 the great snow-shoes, the fur-clad squaws, and the 
 chrysalis-papooses, also the teams of dogs with 
 curling tails, and the flying sleighs. 
 
 Bishop Whipple's reminiscences were a fund 
 of anecdotes, not S.P.G. indeed, but most in- 
 teresting ; and the three admired the nobleness 
 and laughed over the quaint adventures as they 
 had in old times laughed over Mabel and her 
 * natives.' 
 
 * Ah, if all the audience were like you ! ' sighed 
 Edward. ^ But think of the ages of them, and the 
 sleepy faces, or the tittering if I hesitate or make 
 a slip. Then I shall get worse and break down.' 
 
i68 
 
 THE LAND OF SINIM 
 
 ' No such thing/ said Aline ; ^ it will just give 
 you confidence/ 
 
 * I wish it was you who had to do it/ he 
 finished, with a gesture of hiding his face. 
 
 But the lecture proved a great success. There 
 was no lack of fluency, nor of good sense and 
 depth, and, what was perhaps equally needful, of 
 humour, and the applause was great. Edward 
 said that he had been speaking to the eyes of 
 Aline and Mabel all the time, though they knew 
 most of it before ; but the expression on those 
 appreciative faces was, as he said, everything to 
 him, and gave him power to go on. So he told 
 Aline as he was walking home with her the next 
 day, while Mabel was gone to her pupil, and Aline 
 answered, as she had often done before, with : 
 * Nonsense ! how can you be so silly ? ^ 
 
 * As if you did not know what you have always 
 been to me.' 
 
 ' Come, Edward, this is of no use. It would 
 only hinder you from better things.' 
 
 *You know how it helps to lift me to the 
 better things.' 
 
 * Don't ! The only good thing for you, pledged 
 as you are, is to put me out of your head entirely.' 
 
THE LAND OF SINIM 
 
 ^ Could I ? Or, if I could, would it not be a 
 miserable isolation, cutting me off from all the 
 home feeling and sympathy that I need to 
 strengthen and help me ? ' 
 
 ' There is mother,' faltered Aline. 
 
 * Yes, through you, and carried along with you, 
 Aline. I do not ask you for more now, I could 
 not' 
 
 ' No. I know that you were warned that this 
 was the worst thing one of you students could 
 do/ 
 
 * To get engaged to some inferior person who 
 would drag him down ? Yes, I know ; but you 
 can't call yourself an inferior person. You always 
 were above me, and you have been educated, and 
 are going on — you know it, and can't deny it — in 
 the way to lift me up.' 
 
 Aline had tried, on the back of a sob, to inter- 
 pose at the * above me ' and the * educated ' ; and at 
 the ^ lift me up ' she murmured : ' Oh, no — not 
 worthy — dragging down ' ; but it was incoherent. 
 And Edward went on, ^ I am not daring to ask for 
 an engagement. Everything is undecided. I may 
 be an utter failure ; I may be led away by the 
 temptations they say there are sure to be ; but all 
 
17 o 
 
 THE LAND OF SINIM 
 
 I do long for is that you will let me look to you as 
 my home guiding-star, with the light of sympathy, 
 yes, more, the light caught from Heaven. And 
 then, some day, perhaps, when my work is fixed, 
 and all grown possible, that you might come and 
 share it, and forward it as noble women have 
 done/ 
 
 Aline's eyes were full of tears, and she did not 
 utter her answer. Indeed, they were on the door- 
 step of her own house, and they went in together, 
 and could not help going straight to Mrs. Millar 
 and confessing, in broken words, half asking 
 her pardon and consent for what they had done. 
 She had seen what was inevitable, and had made 
 up her mind to it, though she said she could not 
 consent to their calling it a regular engagement. 
 Neither of them must be bound. Either might 
 see reason to break it off, without feeling it 
 treacherous to do so ; but * You will let us hear of 
 you constantly, Edward,' she said, and she did not 
 specify to whom the letters were to be written, nor 
 contradict him when he turned to Aline and 
 entreated her to give him full tidings from home, 
 letting him know all she was doing, and keeping 
 his heart up, as he said. 
 
THE LAND OF SINIM 
 
 171 
 
 The young and happy, yes, and those who have 
 made such a beginning themselves, can well under- 
 stand all that the two said to one another. There 
 are sisters, too, who may know the exceeding joy 
 of Mabel when she was allowed to understand, she 
 who had been too innocent to put any con- 
 struction on Edward's attentions to the family, nay, 
 who had resented any possibility of earthly love, 
 as spoiling the exalted character of a missionary. 
 
 If it had been for anybody but Aline she should 
 have thought so, she declared ; but, for Aline to 
 have the chance of the honour of the work, oh ! it 
 was too much joy. 
 
 Assuredly that joyfulness was shown in all her 
 doings. She was the sunshine of her mother's 
 house, as well as of her invalid pupil's room, and 
 kept the girl interested and occupied by every- 
 thing around, instead of listlessly pining for variety 
 and ranging from novel to novel. Mabel had 
 managed to infuse a soul into everything she did, 
 whether for home or abroad, her own improvement 
 or amusement. All was for something or some- 
 body, and that was the charm. So, too, it was with 
 the Sunday-school class. There was no teacher 
 that they loved like Miss Mab. It was joy to be 
 
172 
 
 THE LAND OF SINIM 
 
 promoted to her class, and the children waited at 
 the end of her street to escort her to school and 
 hold her hand. Their missionary boxes would all 
 have gone for the North China Mission if she would 
 have taken the whole. And when, once, Edward 
 contrived to send home a box of Chinese trifles to 
 be divided between her pupils and Aline's, how 
 great was the ecstasy over the queer boxes, baskets, 
 toys and dolls ! 
 
 Aline was not quite so merry ; but always 
 cheerful, and, happily patient, endeavouring in all 
 ways to prepare herself — soul, mind, and body — for 
 the great duties to which she had thus been called. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 TO THE FLOWERY LAND 
 Sing hey, sing ho, for the Land of Flowers. — La Motte Fouqu^. 
 
 HE parting was over. Edward Bryant 
 was suddenly summoned at last to 
 meet Archdeacon Goodrich in London, 
 make the final preparations there, and 
 start with him and two other clergy for the Chinese 
 mission. There was too much hurry at the last for 
 a quarter of the things that each had to say. His 
 mother cried bitterly, and said she should never see 
 him again, and that he would be murdered by the 
 Chinese for a * foreign devil ' ; and when he said 
 such attacks were over, but that if such a thing did 
 happen, it would be martyrdom, she cried the more- 
 Mr. Cobbold tried to console her by saying the 
 ' young chap ' was much more likely to make his 
 fortune out of John Chinaman, ^ if he were not a 
 fool/ Many of your missionaries did, and took 
 
174 
 
 TO THE ' FLO WER Y LAND 
 
 care ' to live on the fat of the land ' ; and perhaps the 
 boy would be wiser when he got out there. And he 
 was to take care to tell in his letters the prices of 
 tea of different kinds on the spot, to be compared 
 with those in England. 
 
 Mabel was full of transport at the realisation of 
 all her dreams. Edward really going out, and 
 Aline likely to follow — it was too delightful. She 
 ad possessed herself of a Chinese Bible, and had 
 tried to identify and illuminate some texts ; but 
 only one was ready, which Edward promised to 
 keep carefully and preciously, though he abstained 
 from promising to put it up till he should ascertain 
 from some competent Chinese scholar whether it 
 were really correct and suitable. 
 
 Edward's old friend Andrews was thriving in 
 his own department, and doing his duty there. 
 He was quite willing to respect and admire his 
 friend's devotion and enterprise, though he did not 
 feel called on to join in it personally ; but he gave a 
 subscription, large for his means, to the branch of 
 the mission, and desired to know if there were any 
 way in which he could help, or, perhaps, any comforts 
 he could procure and send out. He even promised, 
 on the receipt of a telegram, to come to Southampton 
 and see Bryant off. 
 
TO THE FLOWERY LAND 
 
 175 
 
 Mrs. Millar gave a precious little book of MS. 
 prayers and hymns, her own favourites. She also 
 gave a mother's kiss and blessing ; but she said the 
 less as AHne's holidays had just ended, and she would 
 go up to London at the same time with Edward. 
 
 Yet this privilege did not amount to much, 
 for the carriage was full, and they could only 
 sit next to each other and feel each other's 
 presence ; and they arrived in a scramble, where 
 Miss Millar was instantly claimed by some of the 
 other teachers at her school, and swept off by them 
 with scarcely a word ; while Archdeacon Goodrich, 
 disembarking also, and seeing Edward, pounced on 
 him to introduce him to another of the party. 
 
 But, after all, what could conscious last words 
 be, when much had already passed without extra 
 emotion ? Each turned away from the other into 
 the whirl of practical life, but with resolute hearts, 
 fixed upon present duty and trusting to be made 
 patient and strong to wait either in the field or 
 beside the tent. 
 
 And strong resolute attention kept Aline to the 
 little lessons and training sports of the children ; 
 through the days when she knew that Edward was 
 joining in a parting service at Canterbury, and 
 when he was embarking at Southampton. Mr. 
 
176 TO THE FLOWERY LAND 
 
 Andrews came to tell her how he had seen the party 
 off, and she was very thankful for his account. He 
 ended it with : * It almost made me wish I was going 
 too/ 
 
 * Doing one's duty at home is an acceptable 
 thing/ said Aline, making an effort not to utter 
 comparisons. 
 
 It was a time of waiting, indeed, though 
 cheered from the first by the letters that in these 
 days make separation so much less complete and 
 painful than formerly. Mrs. Millar and her 
 daughters knew when Edward passed Gibraltar, 
 and how he had borne the voyage and liked his 
 companions, feeling one with them ; and, by-and- 
 by, when he arrived at Hong Kong, and the beings 
 w^ith pig-tails, long petticoats, and narrow eyes 
 began to come upon him as realities, while be- 
 wildering pigeon-English sounded in his ears. He 
 was a good letter writer, and his descriptions were 
 a delight, more especially when, after landing at 
 Shanghai and being introduced to the mission 
 staff, the party arrived at Pekin, with the 
 wonderful walls, forty feet wide at the top, and 
 apparently bristling with cannon, all of which 
 turned out to be merely painted likenesses. 
 
TO THE FLOWERY LAND 
 
 177 
 
 It was all a bewilderment (he wrote), the central 
 street so wide and roomy, but crowded with carts, 
 camels, donkeys, and passengers, who looked, to 
 unaccustomed eyes, like a peep show, with a cause- 
 way in the middle, and mudholes on either side 
 causing horrible smells, while the borders were 
 brilliant shops and stalls, their fronts most elabo- 
 rately carved, and kept by owners in rich brocaded 
 silks, looking plump and contented, and bargaining 
 in a leisurely, though intensely shrewd, manner. 
 
 Horrors there were in the background, acres of 
 hovels utterly wretched and miserable, yet crowded 
 to the last degree, and filthy, as indeed dirt and 
 foulness spread everywhere, even to the more 
 ornamental parts of the city ; and walking, to 
 a European, was a difficult matter where every 
 dry place was thronged with the interminable 
 swarms of people. Carts went round in the 
 morning, not of scavengers, but to collect the 
 bodies of infants too young for honourable 
 sepulture. 
 
 The ancient hatred and distrust of foreigners 
 had, however, been at that time much mitigated in 
 Pekin, and there was little or no fear of violence to 
 strangers, as there was familiarity from the presence 
 
 M 
 
178 
 
 TO THE FLOWERY LAND 
 
 of the British Legation, and considerable profit to 
 be reaped from travellers. 
 
 Moreover, there were not only English services 
 at the Legation, but a settlement of clergy, with 
 schools for the boys and girls, who were more easily 
 won among the poor than among the wealthy. 
 There was a hospital too, under the care of a lady, 
 and an orphanage ; a really impressed Chinese 
 congregation, and a staff of clergy and nurses, 
 very insufficient, but still making a resting place. 
 
 Tientsin, near a harbour, was, however, the 
 chief nucleus of the mission, and here Edward 
 Bryant was to be placed to assist in the schools as 
 far as he could, while getting conversant with the 
 language of the Northern Province. He had 
 already learned a good deal of the written language, 
 which is fortunately the same all over the Celestial 
 Empire ; but every province differs widely from the 
 next in speech, so that the spoken tongue has to 
 be separately acquired. Aline and Mabel actually 
 discovered the meaning of some of Edward's 
 widely marked hieroglyphics before they looked at 
 the key sent with them ; but he added that he 
 was told that to speak them as he had been taught in 
 Hong Kong would be incomprehensible at Tientsin. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 SADNESS AND JOY 
 The prettiest pebble will not buy a pearl. — J. E. Jackson. 
 
 >ORE than three years had passed, and 
 Aline and Mabel continued to feel 
 their life chiefly centred in those letters 
 from the Flowery Land which came 
 regularly, and after being passed from Aline to her 
 mother and Mabel, were read to Mrs. Cobbold, who 
 listened with increasing eagerness, and was de- 
 lighted to know that her son had been ordained a 
 deacon, and was conducting service in Chinese at 
 various mountain villages in turn. 
 
 Anxiety was, however, pressing upon Mabel, 
 as the house-daughter. She could not but per- 
 ceive that her mother was slowly but surely 
 declining in health, and less and less capable of 
 
 M 2 
 
i8o 
 
 SADNESS AND JOY 
 
 exertion. She vainly endeavoured to persuade her 
 to see a doctor, and at last thought it well to write 
 such a full account to her sister Frances as brought 
 her and her husband Lawrence Richards on the plea 
 of a visit. 
 
 Lawrence only stayed for a day, but that was 
 enough to show him the truth, and to cause him to 
 prepare his wife and her sister for the knowledge 
 that their mother was suffering from a fatal disease, 
 and had not many months at the utmost to live. 
 
 She had suspected this herself already, and 
 was relieved not to have to give the first warning 
 of the truth to her devoted Mabel, who heard 
 more peacefully than had been expected, having 
 been prepared by intuition. Indeed, the mother 
 and daughter had come to understand each other 
 so well, and to have such inner sympathy, that the 
 shock was not so great to her as it was to Frances, 
 though it involved to her the entire overthrow of 
 home and of life. 
 
 They both wrote to Aline, whose summer 
 vacation was not far distant, and who undertook 
 to arrange for giving up her post at the same time. 
 There was indeed a farther reason for resigning 
 her appointment. It had come to light that a 
 
SADNESS AND JOY 
 
 i8i 
 
 small investment made by Edward Bryant's father, 
 which had hitherto been a dead loss, and one of 
 the stones which had weighted the family down, 
 had become profitable ; and though there were not 
 many shares, there were enough to secure a certain 
 income. Mr. Cobbold strongly advised him to 
 come home, and put matters in order, while he 
 not only felt it right to attend to his mother's 
 entreaties, but believed that he would now be 
 justified in marrying, since a maintenance for a 
 wife would be secure ; and, besides, there was an 
 opening for Aline to be useful in the little town in 
 China where his lot had been cast. His Bishop 
 and Archdeacon gave him leave of absence, and 
 after waiting for his ordination as a priest, he 
 would be at home in about six months' time. 
 
 ^ Thank God,' said Mrs. Millar. * Whether I 
 live to see him or not, I shall know that all is well 
 for my Aline's future.' 
 
 ^ So,' said the other mother, * my son could 
 have done much better for himself ; but that Miss 
 Aline was always after him.' 
 
 This came to Frances' ears, and was repeated 
 with great indignation. Indeed she thought it was 
 a poor look-out for Aline to go abroad as a poor 
 
l82 
 
 SADNESS AND JOY 
 
 missionar3^'s wife, be expected to teach those stupid 
 Chinese women, and be looked down upon by the 
 fine ladies at the Legation, and the smart merchants' 
 wives. And what was to become of Mabel ? 
 
 * I have no fears for Mabel,' said the mother. 
 
 ' Well, to be sure, Mabel may be always sure 
 of a home with us, when she wants a rest. She 
 can easily get employment as a governess, unless 
 that young Andrews means to make up to her, as 
 I sometimes think he does, they are so thick over 
 Bryant's letters. And, by what I hear, he has a 
 good salary, besides what is to come to him from 
 his father.' 
 
 So far Mrs. Richards' suspicions were right 
 though James Andrews, being a modest and 
 diffident man, had not thought it well to disturb 
 Mabel's mind with the great question during this 
 time of watching over her mother's decline, though 
 once, when he found Mrs. Millar alone, he could 
 not help telling her of his wishes. 
 
 ' My dear boy,' she said, * I could not wish my 
 Mab to be in better, more God-fearing hands. If 
 you can win her, be certain that you have my 
 blessing.' 
 
 * And do you think I may hope } ' 
 
SADNESS AND JOY 
 
 183 
 
 ' 1 cannot tell/ was the answer, after a little 
 pause. ' You must try for yourself.' 
 
 She said no more, for Aline returned, as the 
 daughters never left their mother alone for more 
 than a few minutes at a time. 
 
 Tenderly they watched, those two, for Frances 
 had perforce to go home to her husband and 
 children. At length, after days going by so 
 quietly that they often forgot what was hanging 
 over them, the end came suddenly. Mabel 
 awoke to miss the breathing near her, and found 
 that it had ceased, and the gentle, motherly soul 
 was gone. 
 
 Then came the inevitable confusion and bustle, 
 telegraphing to Langbridge, finding Mrs. Cobbold 
 with them at once, and her tender pitifulness 
 being such that they were always forgetting and 
 calling her by her old familiar name, and when 
 they begged her pardon, she did not seem to have 
 been hurt. 
 
 The clergyman had been to see them, and as 
 Aline was coming downstairs, she saw a parley of 
 the maid with a young clerical figure, and at first 
 was surprised that a curate should have been sent, 
 and was shrinking back, when a voice struck her, 
 
SADNESS AND JOY 
 
 a pair of eyes met her own, and, in another 
 moment, she was in Edward's arms. He had 
 heard that his mother was with the daughters and 
 had followed her ; and after a few seconds of 
 broken words — Aline felt forced to relieve him and 
 lead the way to the darkened room where, in the 
 midst of a scatter of black materials, his mother, 
 Frances, and Mabel sat contriving in the sad way 
 of a house of mourning. 
 
 The three sisters felt it due to the mother and 
 son to leave them alone together, and as they 
 stood on the stairs Aline said : ' Oh, Mabel, 
 I feel as if it was horrid of me that my heart 
 should give such a bound. I must go and tell 
 mother.' 
 
 When, in their turn, Edward and Mrs. Cobbold 
 felt that the girls should be left no longer to them- 
 selves, Aline was still kneeling by the bed where 
 that silent figure lay, spent and still after the storm 
 of tears that had come to relieve her. 
 
 All arrangements were in the hands of Dr. 
 Richards, and Frances attended to most household 
 matters ; but the constant visits of Edward were an 
 infinite comfort and support to Aline and Mabel 
 during those few sad days, and he went with them 
 
SADNESS AND JOY 
 
 185 
 
 when they laid their mother to rest in Langbridge 
 Churchyard. 
 
 The night was spent at Langbridge, Mr. 
 Fraser gladly taking in the young clergyman. And 
 there was time the next day for a walk with Aline 
 to review the thoughts and aspirations connected 
 with the scenes of their childhood, Mabel mean- 
 while letting herself be the victim and plaything of 
 the small nephew and niece who considered 
 Auntie Mab as their property. 
 
 * It was just here,' s^d Aline, * at the church- 
 yard gate that you stood singing " Salvation, oh 
 salvation," and said you would be a missionary, 
 and Frances laughed at you, and asked if you 
 meant that, or a photographer ! ' 
 
 ^ I might have made a better photographer.' 
 
 * But you were in earnest ? ' 
 
 ' Ye-es, then I was ; but I wavered a good deal. 
 There, under that hedge, when dear little Mab sat 
 preaching to a congregation of dolls, how vexed I 
 was with her for bringing lost purposes back to 
 me.' 
 
 * Mab has never swerved,' said Aline. * She 
 has worked and saved always, from pure love of 
 the Gospel and the Master, and pity for the 
 
SADNESS AND JOY 
 
 heathen. I am sure that, if it can be managed, she 
 will go out with us/ 
 
 'She would be a most valuable helper,' said 
 
 Edward. * It shall be managed, if . But did I 
 
 not hear something about Andrews ? There could 
 not be a better fellow.' 
 
 * Oh, yes, I know ; I believe he spoke to my 
 mother, and Frances will be sure to put a great 
 influence on Mab in his favour ; but I do not think 
 she will give in.' 
 
 * No one knows what^love will do in the way of 
 changing intentions.' 
 
 Aline smiled and shook her head, though she 
 allowed that Mr. Andrews was a very nice youth, 
 very steady and well principled, and that Mabel 
 always liked to talk over Edward's letters with 
 him, and to exchange missionary magazines with 
 him ; but, as she said, he took them because he 
 cared for Mabel and for Edward ; she, because she 
 cared for the work. 
 
 There was a good deal to be settled at Lang- 
 bridge ; and the house at Undercliff Road was not 
 to be given up for six weeks, so the two sisters 
 would return thither to overlook their things, 
 choosing out what could be taken with Aline to 
 
SADNESS AND JOY 
 
 1S7 
 
 China, what would remain under Mrs. Cobbold's 
 keeping, and what would be sold. Edward mean- 
 time would visit Mr. Eraser, the college at St. 
 Augustine's, and the Committee of the Society for 
 the Propagation of the Gospel, when he might, 
 perhaps, be asked to act as a deputation for a time, 
 to stir up interest in the mission work. And, at 
 any rate, he would be occupied for the chief part 
 of his furlough, and until the marriage, which 
 must of course be in a rather short time. The 
 Millar family would each possess a small income 
 out of their inheritance from their parents, their 
 mother's portion, and their father's savings ; but a 
 fourth part would go to the brother who was 
 settled in New Zealand, and who had written to 
 offer a home to ' little Mab,' whom he seemed still 
 to suppose a mere child. 
 
 But Mabel's mind was made up ; and before 
 Edward took leave for his various journeys in 
 England she had gravely and seriously laid before 
 him and Aline her request to accompany them, 
 and to assist in the mission work. 
 
 * You are sure that it is your real purpose ? ' said 
 Edward. 
 
 * It has been my most earnest wish ever since 
 
i88 
 
 SADNESS AND JOY 
 
 I was old enough to know about anything/ she 
 answered. ^ You remember that sermon, Edward ? ' 
 
 * Do I not ? ' was his answer. 
 
 ' And all the stories you used to tell me, about 
 the sacred monkeys, and the car of Juggernauth, 
 and the widows.' 
 
 * Indeed, I do, and how crude and monstrous 
 some of them must have been ! ' 
 
 * How little we understood that it was just the 
 seed growing up,' said Aline. 
 
 ^ WelV continued Mabel, ' I always wished it 
 and made schemes for it, and as I grew older, 
 every geography lesson and book of travels seemed 
 to strengthen the thoughts, though they were only 
 air castles at first, but then came texts in the Bible, 
 " How beautiful upon the mountains," and " How 
 shall they speak, except they be sent ? " and all 
 the rest, more than I can go over ; but you know 
 them, Edward, and I have wished and wished, and 
 read and read, and wondered if God would take 
 me if I dedicated myself, and whether I ought. I 
 tried to put it away while dear mother lived, but I 
 think she knew and guessed, Edward. I do believe 
 it would have been the same with me even if you 
 had stayed at home, but now — now the whole way 
 
SADNESS AND JOY 
 
 does seem opened/ She had spoken eagerly ; but 
 her voice here seemed choked, and the tears 
 ghstened in her eyes — as, indeed, they did in 
 Edward's. 
 
 * Dear child — dear Mabel, I am thankful that 
 there should have been such a blessing on our 
 childish dreams and purposes. But I think you 
 ought to remember what I have told Aline, and 
 she is willing to consider, as my wife, that this 
 Chinese mission is one of more danger than most, 
 or indeed any, not from climate or disease, but 
 from the fanatic risings of the populace, which the 
 mandarins seem less and less able or willing to 
 prevent and punish, but which are specially 
 dangerous to women.' 
 
 ' I know, I have read. They have horrid 
 fancies about the poor rescued babies. But, 
 Edward, you would not hinder any one from our 
 Master's work for fear of the martyr's crown ' 
 
 ' No, indeed, Mabel ; it is only that it is right 
 you should know the risk — the earthly risk, I 
 mean — " Whosoever will save his life shall lose 
 it." ' 
 
 ' Yes, you run the risk daily yourself, and are 
 willing for Aline. You will take me, Edward ? ' 
 
IQO 
 
 SADNESS AND JOY 
 
 ' Let us ofifer our prayers for acceptance — that 
 the desire may be brought to effect, as Mr. Good- 
 rich taught me to pray thirteen years ago/ 
 
 They all knelt and prayed, uplifted, as it were, 
 above common life ; but the prose of the under- 
 taking had yet to come. Edward had to go to 
 London for himself, and there would announce 
 his intended marriage, and propose Mabel Millar 
 as an accredited teacher to the Society for the 
 Propagation of the Gospel and the Women's 
 Mission Association ; and she would have to 
 present herself at the office in London to be 
 approved and accepted. She said she did not 
 need a salary, but he said it was necessary that 
 she should be authorised and recognised as one 
 sent forth by the Church of England ; and, besides 
 that, supplies of books and other requisites might 
 be obtained in case of need. 
 
 Before this, however, Mabel had to undergo 
 what she had been led to expect, but which was 
 more trying than she had anticipated — the offer 
 from James Andrews. 
 
 She had not realised how much he loved her, 
 nor, indeed, how sweet his devotion was to her. 
 She did like him very much, and if her mind had 
 
SADNESS AND JOY 
 
 191 
 
 not been otherwise engrossed, conscious love would 
 have sprung up in response long ago, and when 
 she perceived the pain she gave him by her refusal, 
 and his grief and horror of the Chinese cruelties, 
 of which he, too, had read with dismay, she could 
 hardly endure to inflict so much pain. Besides, 
 as he said, ^ Mabel, think of the blessing you would 
 be to me and my home. Hoping for you, and 
 looking for you, has lighted me up all these 
 years. Your dear mother liked me and trusted 
 me ; and you would be free to do all the good 
 you wished, here and elsewhere, if only you 
 would let me make you happy, and be the joy of 
 my life.' 
 
 ^ Oh, do not — do not make it hard for me. I 
 have put my hand to the plough, I cannot look 
 back.' 
 
 * It is hard, then ? You are not pledged ? Only, 
 if you had not spoken — would you — will you — not 
 think if you do not love me after all ? ' 
 
 * No, no, no ! This is what my whole life has 
 been meant for. I am sorry . to pain you, very 
 sorry ; but it cannot be.' 
 
 ^ And you can prefer those dull, brutal Chinese 
 to ' 
 
192 
 
 SADNESS AND JOY 
 
 ' No/ she broke in. ' It is my Master's work 
 and call ! ' 
 
 And it was easier not to be shaken by Frances' 
 remonstrances — half affectionate, half worldly ; but 
 at last all this was over, and the mission party had 
 set forth on a journey, which may be passed over, 
 being all by steamer and railway till they arrived 
 at Tientsin, a city looking out on the beautiful 
 land-locked harbour of Chefoo, and with a con- 
 tinually increasing settlement of Europeans. 
 Their place of residence, the name of which meant 
 the ^ Bower of Bliss,' was about twenty miles off 
 on the hills, and thither they were conveyed, the 
 ladies in closed sedan chairs, Edward on a 
 jinriksha. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 WELCOME 
 
 Welcome to danger's hour, 
 Short greeting serves the time of strife. 
 
 T was a pretty village, lying on the 
 side of a steep hill covered with 
 bamboos and flowering trees. There 
 was a narrow lane, with a brick wall on 
 either side, and a door opened into a court- 
 yard, with a fish-pond and artificial rockery, ap- 
 proached by a frail bridge with a zigzag railing, 
 with gay flowers planted all round ; roonns with cane- 
 latticed windows, and ribbed roofs with fantastic 
 tiles, eaves and ridges bordered it. And when the 
 three travellers had been carried up in open chairs 
 by large-hatted, long-robed Chinamen, they were 
 received at the door by their old friend Archdeacon 
 Goodrich (in a long cassock, looking very English) ; 
 
 N 
 
194 
 
 WELCOME 
 
 by an English lady (in a somewhat loose wrapping 
 dress), and by two unmistakable Chinese, man and 
 woman. 
 
 The lady. Miss Waring, held out her arms and 
 embraced the two weary arrivals with the most 
 eager joy. She had been spared from the dis- 
 pensary and school in Tientsin to make ready 
 the house w^th the help of the two Christian 
 Chinese, whom Edward was greeting as old friends, 
 almost as warmly as the Archdeacon. 
 
 ' I do not know whether we have met before,' 
 he said, as the bride was presented to him, and he 
 warmly pressed her hand ; ' but here we all meet as 
 old friends, especially when you come from Lang- 
 bridge. And, truly, I am glad to welcome you,' he 
 added, next shaking hands with Mabel, ' you will 
 be a great reinforcement.' 
 
 ^ It has been the longing of my life,' she 
 answered, blushing. 
 
 ^ We shall find plenty for you to do,' said Miss 
 Waring. ' Here you see is Loo, as we call her — a part 
 of her Christian Chinese name — who will be glad 
 to help you.' 
 
 * My Christian sister,' said Aline, holding out 
 her hand, while Mabel ventured on the word or two 
 
WELCOME 
 
 195 
 
 of Chinese greeting that Edward had taught her, 
 and which evidently gave great pleasure. 
 
 These two were to wait on them, as, in fact, 
 they had been Edward^s servants previously ; and 
 the house had been given to the mission by a 
 Chinese Christian. There was a good deal more 
 of court and garden behind, laid out in the same 
 taste, so that, as Mabel said, it was like living in a 
 magnified tea-cup ; but at present they were taken 
 into the rooms with bamboo supports, and low 
 table and cane chairs, to wash off their dust, and 
 enjoy their tea, in tiny cups brought by Loo. She 
 was a Tartar, and had never had pinched feet, but 
 moved about in thick soles ; and both she and her 
 husband understood a little English, enough to 
 comprehend and to reply in that strange dialect 
 known as pigeon-English. 
 
 The rooms had been attended to by the friends 
 at the mission, and had an amount of home com- 
 fort that Aline and Mabel declared made them quite 
 ashamed ; but the permanent fixtures had a good 
 deal of the elaborate beauty and taste of the 
 Chinese, and the view from the curiously latticed 
 window and the garden was exquisite. Blossom- 
 ing trees were near at hand, but a vista was 
 
 N 2 
 
196 
 
 WELCOME 
 
 opened in them, showing the blue water of the 
 land-locked harbour of Tientsin, the frill, or 
 fan-like, sails here and there of junks cruising 
 in it, and the smoky feather of an entering 
 steamer. 
 
 * Much too like home ! ' said Aline. 
 
 * Ah,' said Miss Waring, * before long you will 
 love it as your communication and protector/ 
 
 That evening was spent in hearing the latest 
 news of the place. The Chinese monosyllabic 
 name meant the ' Bower of Bliss,' and had been 
 adopted from an inn round which the village had 
 grown up, and which numbered about five hundred 
 inhabitants, of whom at least a hundred were bap- 
 tized Christians, more Tartar than genuine Chinese. 
 Many more were willing to listen, as Edward had 
 already found ; but they, for the most part, only did 
 so intellectually, and were satisfied to say : ^You 
 have your sublime religion, I have my sublime 
 religion.' No fresh converts had begged for 
 baptism in his locality during Edward's absence, 
 and when he inquired after one of his own, a young 
 man of much promise, he was answered, half sadly, 
 half triumphantly, that James Chang had sealed 
 his faith. 
 
WELCOME 
 
 197 
 
 ' How ? They did not dare ? ' asked 
 
 Edward, not ending his sentence. 
 
 ' Not avowedly for his faith/ said the Arch- 
 deacon ; * but, poor lad, he refused to help his father 
 in that nefarious wayside gambling with dice that 
 goes on at their inn in the town, and stood out 
 against all commands or inducements with : " How 
 should I do this great wickedness and sin against 
 God ? " till he was actually beaten to death— calling 
 upon his Master to forgive his father, even like St. 
 Stephen/ 
 
 Edward hid his face in his hands, between 
 thankfulness and sorrow, as Mabel gasped : ' Even 
 as a martyr ' ; and Aline asked whether such things 
 were permitted. 
 
 * Alas ! yes,' said the Archdeacon. * I applied 
 to the mandarin, and heard that the father has 
 power of life and death over a disobedient 
 son.' 
 
 ' Then none of our people will be safe,' said 
 Aline. 
 
 ^ You are come to a cruel country, Mrs. 
 Bryant,' was the grave reply. ' But,' he added, 
 seeing that the elder sister looked a little pale, * the 
 neighbourhood of the Legations and the shipping 
 
198 
 
 WELCOME 
 
 in the port gives us English much more security 
 and protection to our people ! You see this was a 
 legalised murder. If it were not for the old 
 Empress we should prosper, but she is a regular 
 intriguante^ 
 
 ^ She cannot stop the railway ? ' said Aline. 
 
 * No, and that will give us an additional 
 hold/ 
 
 He went on to explain that there would be a 
 small number of Europeans connected with the 
 railway in course of formation who would be grate- 
 ful for Mr. Bryant's attention, and there was, as 
 said before, a congregation of actual Christians, 
 and there were women in various stages of hearing, 
 civilisation, and conversion, to whom the two ladies 
 would be invaluable ; and likewise at the school, 
 which was at present taught only by a Christian 
 man, with occasional visits from one of the staff of 
 clergy at Tientsin. 
 
 To Aline and Mabel all sounded delightful — ^the 
 fulfilling of all Mabel's dearest hopes ; and they 
 were most eager to be at work. 
 
 In the morning, however, they were still at 
 breakfast, when there was a tremendous noise, partly 
 from instruments of all kinds, and apparently 
 
WELCOME 
 
 199 
 
 playing all tunes in rivalry, accompanied with 
 shouts, and up the lane came a troop of Chinese, 
 their parasols waving above their broad hats. ' A 
 deputation to welcome home Edward Bryant,' 
 explained the Archdeacon ; and Edward, going out 
 in front in the courtyard, was received with a 
 speech from the foremost, and three scrolls were 
 hung up on the walls, each covered with Chinese 
 characters and containing the address. 
 
 After this, all the Christians proceeded to the 
 church — which was really one of the halls of the 
 house, opening into a court, with a fountain in the 
 midst with delicate lilies, red, blue and white, 
 adorning it — an ideal spot for baptisms. The 
 sides were pillared and cloistered, and elaborately 
 carved, and, within, the end most nearly eastward 
 had been fitted up for an altar. Here a 
 service of thanksgiving for the safe arrival of 
 the party was held, in Chinese, which Aline and 
 Mabel, after their studies on the voyage, were 
 able to follow with their understanding as well 
 as in spirit. 
 
 Afterwards Miss Waring presented them to 
 one or two of the women, but she advised them not 
 to go about among the houses or to the school 
 
200 
 
 WELCOME 
 
 till they were equipped in the loose, shapeless 
 skirts, and broad-sleeved upper garment of the 
 Chinese women, who consider it as improper 
 to wear clothes adapted to the figure, and would 
 be prejudiced against the * foreign devils.' She 
 undertook to have the needful dresses sent up 
 from Tientsin. Aline wondered to see no cramped 
 feet ; but she was told these were poor women, 
 chiefly, too, of Tartar birth, and that it was only 
 the aristocratic ladies whose infants were put to 
 such torture. She only knew a few in the city 
 who had grown up with feet compressed to half 
 their proper size, and, in the case of a Christian 
 lady, the wife of a considerable shop-keeper, it had 
 been a bitter struggle to give up the practice, and 
 let her poor baby daughter spread her pink toes 
 and enjoy life. 
 
 ^ It could not have been worse to ask a coun- 
 tess to let her child go barefoot,' said Miss 
 Waring. 
 
 ' But she did ? ' 
 
 ^ Oh, yes, in the end. Her husband, who has, of 
 course, had his mind enlarged, and is, besides, a 
 real Christian, insisted on it, and she obeyed as a 
 duty. He is a good man.' 
 
WELCOME 
 
 20I 
 
 ^ Yes/ said the Archdeacon, 'John Chinaman 
 IS hard to be brought beyond the merely convinced 
 stage to the converted point ; but, when there, he 
 has a substance in him that makes him of especial 
 worth/ 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 THE BOWER OF BLISS 
 A blessed family is this, 
 
 Assembled in the bower of bliss. — Southey. 
 
 HE Bower of Bliss was well named. 
 It was a very happy time that had 
 thus begun in the lives of Aline and 
 Mabel. The Gospels and Prayer- 
 books were printed in Roman letters, though in 
 Chinese words, and this saved them the difficulty 
 of struggling with the strange Chinese hiero- 
 glyphics. A Chinese teacher was found for them, 
 and they did not find it difficult to be understood. 
 They went into the school with Edward, and 
 found rows upon rows of little bald-headed boys 
 with long queues, seated on the ground round the 
 old Sing-Sang, or teacher, and looking just fit to 
 
THE BOWER OF BLISS 
 
 203 
 
 be packed up in a box, and sent off as curiosities 
 to England. 
 
 Girls were not there, not being supposed 
 worth education ; and till the ladies came it 
 was not possible to do much for them. Even 
 the Christian mothers, whom the Kuniongs, as 
 the ladies were called, visited, did not seem to 
 think it possible to bring or send their baptized 
 little girls to the hall in the house which had been 
 set apart for a girls' school. The women, whether 
 Christians or not, were all very civil, well mannered, 
 and neat in their persons ; but it was difficult 
 to stir them out of any custom, and unless their 
 husbands accepted the Faith, nothing could be 
 done with them, and indeed, the Archdeacon, as 
 well as Mr. Bryant, recommended that they 
 should be left alone except in the way of kindness, 
 such as offering medicine and treatment when they 
 were too poor for the native doctors to attend 
 them. They were modest, docile, down-trodden 
 creatures, and could make and put on their own 
 clothes as well as or better than the English ladies, 
 so that there was not much to allure them with 
 in the way of the arts of life. The head-dresses of 
 those a little above want were elaborate studies. 
 
204 
 
 THE BOWER OF BLISS 
 
 The Christian women were, however, delightful 
 to teach and hold intercourse with. To them all 
 was now new life and joy, in the opening of hope 
 for another life and release from dreary servitude 
 in the present. They were in general far from 
 unintelligent, and listened eagerly when the new- 
 comers were able to teach them, and their behaviour 
 in church was always most devout, and there was 
 reason to think that, with most, it went beneath 
 the docile and mechanical surface. 
 
 Of the men there was less to say, so far as the 
 sisters were concerned. Edward spent much of 
 his time in discussions in public and in private 
 with the disciples of Confucius or of Gautama, who 
 held the theory of morality, but lacked the motive 
 power to apply it to their lives ; and in most cases 
 had an undercurrent of national conceit which 
 despised the foreigner, and even if the loathing of 
 him, and all belonging to him, was overcome, they 
 could go no further than believing that his religion 
 might be good for him, even raise him to heights 
 above themselves, but that theirs was the one for 
 their own nation, to be held as good and faith- 
 ful Chinese. The obloquy of a change to the 
 hated and despised foreign Faith no doubt went 
 
THE BOWER OF BLISS 
 
 205 
 
 for a great deal with them, and also the absolute 
 danger from their countrymen, of which they 
 knew more than did the mission. Still, there 
 were converts, and these dared enough to prove 
 their sincerity and sterling worth ; and happy and 
 blessed was the day when there was an adult 
 baptism. 
 
 Boys of the heathen families resorted to the 
 school of the Sing-Sang, or teacher, an old man, 
 more than half-convinced at heart, and not un- 
 willing to let the foreigner come in, take a class, 
 and open their minds to something new. Even 
 the Kuniongs were not unwelcome when they 
 came in with the missionary, and showed pictures, 
 even though the boys made no difficulty in 
 telling them how much better were their 
 own pictures of warriors, giants, and dragons, 
 which certainly had the advantage in brilliant 
 colouring. 
 
 But the little girls were Mabel's especial sphere 
 and joy, from babyhood upwards. When once a 
 Christian mother had been coaxed to trust a child in 
 the power of Ma-Bee Kuniong, as the women learnt 
 to call her, and it had been made extraordinarily 
 happy with kindergarten sports, pictures, songs. 
 
2o6 
 
 THE BOWER OF BLISS 
 
 flowers, and verses, more little ones began to flock in 
 — Christian and Buddhist — boys and girls alike, till 
 they were about seven years old, when the boys of 
 the unconverted were carried off* to the hovel of old 
 Sing-Sang, or, rather, held it beneath their dignity 
 to listen to a Kuniong. All of them loved any 
 amount of kindergarten ' gifts,' and exercise in the 
 drill, the songs and other sports, and likewise in 
 the Scripture stories that Edward freely allowed 
 her to teach to all. A short prayer to the 
 God of all nations began and ended the whole ; but 
 the little Christians had some amount of separate 
 instruction in the Faith, and learnt about their 
 salvation and the benefits and obligations of their 
 baptism. 
 
 All seemed to Mabel extraordinarily alike, both 
 in face and character : she could hardly tell one 
 from another at first, except by their size and the 
 colours of their dresses ; and they were so quiet, so 
 free from quarrels or tempers, that she longed to 
 hold them up as examples to Sunday-school 
 classes at home. She actually did write letters to 
 her friends at Langbridge full of descriptions of their 
 passive charms, and, by-and-by, of their wonder- 
 ful progress. Was there ever an eager teacher 
 
THE BOWER OF BLISS 
 
 207 
 
 who was not delighted with the children's pro- 
 ficiency ? 
 
 Little ones were, of course, less easily dealt with, 
 and yelled if touched by any one save their parents ; 
 and in some streets of Pekin, and in many of the 
 more distant villages, there were shouts against the 
 * foreign devils.' 
 
 The chief industry of the place was the rearing 
 of silk-worms, and on this the women were em- 
 ployed. The eggs were laid out on frames made of 
 bamboo and the worms fed with shredded mulberry 
 leaves, and during their growth the English were not 
 allowed, even by the Christians, to come near them, 
 since the sound of the foreign voice was supposed 
 to agitate them so as to be fatal to their spinning, 
 nor could they endure any close or noxious smell. 
 There was a wild caterpillar besides, which was 
 caught on trees, and produced a darker cocoon, 
 whence a coarse kind of silk, called ' Ponga,' was 
 made, and women and children turned out in 
 search of these. Hawkers or middlemen came 
 round after the cocoons had been spun, and 
 purchased them, to be disposed of afterwards at 
 Shanghai. 
 
 Most of the men were small farmers growing 
 
2o8 
 
 THE BOWER OF BLISS 
 
 wheat and millet, or, in the valley, rice, also tobacco 
 At the various harvests, at which men, women, 
 and children all turned out to gather in the crop, 
 the fields were a gay sight, while the classes were 
 deserted. 
 

 
 
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 CHAPTER XX 
 
 MABEL'S VIEWS REALISED 
 
 The little babe up in his armes he bent, 
 Who with sweet pleasance and bold blandishment 
 Gan smyle on them that rather ought to weep. — Spenser. 
 
 XCURSIONS were not encouraged by 
 Edward, who had a strong sense of 
 responsibihty as to Mabel ; though, as 
 she said merrily, there really was no 
 one in England to care greatly about her putting 
 herself into danger. 
 
 One expedition they did, however, make. A 
 pair of English travellers, who had brought a letter 
 to Edward from a friend of Mr. Eraser, and stayed 
 at the ' Bower of Bliss ' for some little time, per- 
 suaded Edward and his party to go with them, and 
 a merchant and his wife, to the Great Wall, a jour- 
 ney which from thence could be accomplished in 
 
 O 
 
2IO MABEL'S VIEWS REALISED 
 
 a week, since English curiosity had led to the pro- 
 vision of conveniences for travellers, tolerable roads, 
 and inns, with flowery names, where bearers of 
 chairs could be hired. It was beautiful mountainous 
 country, rocky hills festooned with lovely creeping 
 plants, and overhanging precipices ; but the wall 
 itself was a great disappointment, being only a 
 huge stone fence, zig-zagging over hill and through 
 dale, and of its interminable length there was no 
 means of judging. 
 
 On the journey, however, Mabel's vision was 
 accomplished. Just outside a little town, very 
 squalid, very poor and dirty, whence there were 
 shouts and a volley of stones at the gentlemen who 
 rode, and could be seen to be foreigners, the ladies, 
 who, in closed chairs, had not been visible, and 
 whose Chinese dress was in some measure a 
 protection, had begun to recover from their 
 fright, when a man was overtaken with two baskets 
 hung by cords from a yoke over his shoulders. 
 
 Thinking they might contain oranges, the 
 merchant, Mr. Bright, hailed him. He did not 
 seem disposed to attend, but sulkily went on his 
 way, and suddenly a cry proceeded from one of 
 the baskets. * Kittens to be drowned,' said the 
 
MABEL'S VIEWS REALISED 
 
 211 
 
 merchant to his wife, evidently wishing to believe 
 so ; but, ^ No, no, it is a baby, a poor baby,' 
 exclaimed Aline. ' Stop him, Edward, stop him.' 
 
 * You had much better remain ignorant, Mrs. 
 Bryant,' objected Mr. Bright, riding up to her. 
 ^ Interfering is a fatal thing.' 
 
 * No, no ! ' was Mabel's cry ; ' save it ! save it ! ' 
 Edward was meantime parleying in Chinese 
 
 with the bearer, who, as usual, was perfectly civil 
 and impassive, and no doubt seeing the way to 
 profit, made known that he was employed to carry 
 four little girl infants to be disposed of in the 
 streams that watered the paddy-field in the valley. 
 The stranger Sing-Sang might have them if he 
 liked, for a certain sum. 
 
 The baskets were opened in spite of the pro- 
 testations of Mr. Bright, and two of the poor little 
 white things proved to be quite dead. Another 
 was feebly moving, evidently at the last gasp ; but 
 the one whose cries had been heard looked stronger, 
 and as if her life might be saved. Each little 
 creature might be had for the price of five pence ! 
 
 This Edward paid, while his two friends 
 wondered at his thinking it worth while to purchase 
 the dying child ; but he kept it in his own arms, with 
 
 O 2 
 
212 MABEL'S VIEWS REALISED 
 
 his handkerchief over it, and gave the other to 
 Mabel, who, happily, had a gourd of milk procured 
 at the inn, and could soak her handkerchief and 
 get a drop or two by that means into the mouth, 
 which seemed to be sustaining to the tiny creature, 
 who, however, appeared as yet to be so young as 
 to need warmth more than food, sleeping when 
 pressed up in MabeFs arms, while Mabel looked 
 every few minutes to make sure that she was alive. 
 
 They were not far from a mountain stream, 
 which descended into the rice-field below, and 
 there spread out into a marsh. Here Edward 
 called a halt, and taking off his hat, knelt and 
 baptized the infant he had carried by the name of 
 Mary. There was just enough quivering motion 
 about her to show that she was still alive at the 
 moment, and then he turned to Mabel : ^ It will 
 be safer thus,' he said. ' What will you have her 
 called ? ' 
 
 ^Bertha,' was her answer at once, for it was 
 the name she had given to the mythical babe of 
 her old castles in the air, in honour of the early 
 Queen of Kent, and thus her brother-in-law called 
 the little one. 
 
 ' That was worth the price,' he said to his com- 
 
MABEL'S VIEWS REALISED 213 
 
 panions, as he mounted again, having laid the 
 newly baptized Mary, now evidently dead, in his 
 wife's lap. The answer was a grunt ; and, pre- 
 sently, after a few words with his wife, Mr. Bright 
 declared that to carry the remains of the dead 
 child was useless and objectionable, insisting that 
 it should not be done. There was a small 
 Christian station at the next halt for the night, 
 and the Bryants wished to have buried the ^ child 
 of God ' there ; but it was thought better not to 
 withstand the general voice and incur suspicion 
 on a change of bearers ; so, not without tears from 
 Aline, a tiny grave was hollowed out beneath a 
 wide spreading tree, and there the innocent one 
 was left, while her sister in desertion and adoption 
 rested all unconscious on Mabel's bosom. 
 
 It was a great delight to Mabel, the realisation 
 of her childish visions. The opportunity had been 
 wanting before, for the foreign influence and 
 Christian leaven of Tientsin and the neighbour- 
 hood had so discouraged female infanticide, that, 
 if carried on at all, it was in secret, so that in this 
 first year it had not come before her. That 
 Edward Bryant was equally glad might be 
 doubted. He would have done the same in any 
 
214 MABEL'S VIEWS REALISED 
 
 case, and he was thankful for the opportunity of 
 rescuing and baptizing the children ; but Mr. 
 Bright did not fail to impress on him that it had 
 been a dangerous action, and he himself had seen 
 Chinese papers representing ladies as taking out 
 the eyes of infants to use them as magic or poison- 
 ous ingredients, and this horrible imputation was 
 the cause of the specially rabid fury directed 
 against the Roman Catholic sisterhoods ; but 
 Tientsin and the neighbouring districts were so 
 far civilised and Christianised that there was every 
 reason to believe that the fanaticism of the secret 
 societies would not affect them ; and he saw no 
 reason for disturbing his wife and her sister in 
 their joy at their achievement. 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 
 MARTYRDOM 
 
 Stand up ! — stand up for Jesus ! 
 
 The strife will not be long ; 
 This day the noise of battle, 
 The next the victor's song. 
 To him that overcometh, ^ 
 
 A crown of life shall be ; 
 He with the King of Glory 
 Shall reign eternally. 
 
 ITTLE Bertha lived and throve, to 
 Mabel's pride and satisfaction ; and, 
 fortunately, she inherited the serene 
 impassivity of the Chinese babes, and 
 would lie quiet while Mabel was teaching, or busy 
 in any way over the small and large children who 
 thronged round the Kuniong Ma-Bee, as they 
 called her, and imbibed her lessons with the 
 docility of their race, and, having nothing to un- 
 learn, readily accepted her teaching, learnt to say 
 
2l6 
 
 MARTYRDOM 
 
 prayers, and to respond and sing at church with 
 more reality, she declared, than their contemporaries 
 at Awmouth. Probably it was so from the freshness 
 of the occupation, and, likewise, from all not com.ing 
 as a matter of course imposed on them, but as an 
 exceptional privilege possibly involving persecution. 
 
 Secret societies were reported to exist, and to 
 have a mortal abhorrence of foreigners, and dark 
 deeds had been done further south ; but since the 
 occupation of the ports by Europeans, and the 
 commencement of the railway from Tientsin to 
 Pekin, there was not thought to be any chance of 
 the mischief spreading nearer ; and Christian 
 villages were multiplying in the hills around, and 
 more and more missions were undertaken by 
 French, Belgians, and Germans. 
 
 Early in the second winter, a son was born to 
 Edward and Aline, a powerful rival, they told 
 Mabel, to Bertha, who was already beginning to 
 toddle, and to talk in monosyllabic English. 
 
 They named the boy after his father, not for- 
 getting that he was one of the many generations of 
 Edwards, though probably he would never behold 
 Birkfarm, except in the photograph, which 
 Edward fondly cherished. 
 
MARTYRDOM 
 
 217 
 
 It was a hard winter : ice was visible in 
 Chefoo Bay, beggars were found dead round the 
 gates of Pekin and Tientsin, frozen to death ; and 
 MabeFs scholars came in shivering and almost 
 frost-bitten. Houses were built with no appliances 
 for warmth except pans of charcoal, and though 
 the Bryants did the best they could with imported 
 stoves and paraffin, they were very glad of the 
 advance of spring with all its brilliancy of flowers. 
 
 Therewith, however, came reports that the 
 more dangerous society known as Boxers, or Big 
 Swords, were afoot, not fanatics, like the Vege- 
 tarians, who had made the sudden raid and slain 
 Mr. and Mrs. Stewart and the ladies of Kucheng, 
 but more political enemies, actuated by hatred of 
 all foreigners. However, it seemed like other 
 whispered distant reports that had been heard, 
 and was not much regarded. 
 
 Baby Edward was already teething, too early, 
 as Aline thought, and she wanted to show him to 
 Miss Waring, or to the matron at the Tientsin 
 hospital, who had experience in infant ailments, 
 and would tell her how to manage him. Her hus- 
 band, too, had some business with the clergy there, 
 and had to give in his report ; so, just after Easter, 
 
2l8 
 
 MARTYRDOM 
 
 they resolved to go together and take a holiday for 
 two nights. Would Mabel go with them, leaving 
 Bertha safely with the good-natured Loo ? 
 
 No ; Mabel was much too busy. Not only 
 could she not leave Bertha, but Chang and Ting 
 too, and ever so many more, wanted to be made 
 perfect in the Catechism and text they were to say 
 when Bry Sing-Sang and Ma Kuniong brought 
 the European prizes from Tientsin that the 
 Awmouth children were sending to them. 
 
 She came out to the door laughing as she 
 watched Aline and baby packed into a sedan- 
 chair, and Edward mount his jinriksha to join the 
 railway. The last sight they had of her was 
 smiling and holding up little Bertha to wave 
 her hand as Edward answered to her from his 
 moving throne. 
 
 The last sight ! Little they dreamt that it 
 was the last sight. It was the next day, and Aline, 
 having taken some pleasant counsel over her baby, 
 had just left him to sleep under Miss Waring's 
 care, and was going out with Edward to call on 
 Mrs. Bright, when they were aware of a dusty, 
 disordered figure, which they knew to be that of 
 one of the Christian peasants whose land lay on the 
 
MARTYRDOM 
 
 219 
 
 hills above their village. Holding out his hands 
 as one in despair, he sobbed out the words in 
 Chinese : * Big Sword men ! Burst the village — slain 
 all there.' 
 
 Catching up, but scarce crediting, the dreadful 
 tidings, ^ My sister ? ' were the first words. 
 
 'Slain ! slain without doubt. Church burnt' 
 It appeared that Lois (the wife's Christian name) 
 had gone out to feed her silk-worms at twilight, 
 and as she stood high on the hill she could see the 
 tumultuous rush into the village below, and heard 
 the report of fire-arms (a weapon new in the 
 Chinese popular insurrections). She called up her 
 husband, but it was impossible to do anything 
 except to hide in the rocks above, hoping that their 
 house, which was a good deal shaded by trees, 
 would not in the darkness attract the attention of 
 the Boxers. And so it proved. It was a raid ; and 
 after the village had been plundered and set on fire, 
 the marauders departed over the hills towards 
 Pekin. After much terror and trembling. Mat 
 resolved on going down to see what had chanced, 
 since the fire had so died down that it could not 
 disclose him to any lurking enemy ; but he durst 
 not enter the village, though he met a boy of one 
 
220 
 
 MARTYRDOM 
 
 of the heathen families, who told him, with tears, 
 that the Kuniong was dead, shot down dead at the 
 entrance of the church. 
 
 So far, at least, was a consolation that Mabel 
 had not been made captive, to be in danger of the 
 cruel tortures of savage Chinese. Aline, who had 
 stood pale as death, let her lips move in a 
 moment's thanksgiving as she heard it ; but no 
 sound passed them. Edward, whose friends, 
 infinitely shocked, had begun to gather round 
 him, said : ^ I must go at once and see how much of 
 this is true, and ' 
 
 Voices arose that he could not be allowed to 
 go alone, and two or three Englishmen and some 
 sailors and others quickly fetched revolvers, and 
 resolved on going with him. Archdeacon Good- 
 rich, the friend of his boyhood, arrived in time to 
 be of the party, who went as far as they could by 
 train and then walked up the remainder of the hill. 
 It was one of the first attacks made by the Secret 
 Society on Christian settlements, and did not then 
 seem to be more extensive than the Vegetarian 
 raid on Kucheng, where there was no popular 
 rising. 
 
 The result of their journey may best be told in 
 
MARTYRDOM 
 
 221 
 
 the words of Edward to Aline, when, by-and-by, he 
 returned — white, worn, exhausted and battered. 
 After the first facts had been confirmed, and he 
 had been refreshed enough to tell more, he sat by 
 her and spoke. ^Yes, we found the dear one. 
 We may be thankful over her, my Aline, not only 
 for her Crown of Martyrdom, but that it was won 
 without those horrors we dreaded for her. She 
 was shot down at the entrance of the church. 
 There was no mark of injury, except where the 
 bullet had pierced the forehead. By God's mercy 
 to her, those fiends now use fire-arms. Yes, we can 
 be sure. The compound has been burnt and de- 
 stroyed ; but a beam had fallen over the doorway, 
 and under it she lay untouched, only her dress a 
 little singed, and her sweet face as calm and noble 
 as ever.' 
 
 ' But the child. Bertha ? You said ' 
 
 ' She is with good old Loo. It was thus : there 
 was smoke still rising from the houses, and cries, 
 but of lamentation not hostility, and we went on — 
 coming to the ruins, with our own people lamenting 
 and proceeding to find their dead. I must tell you 
 who are taken another time. Oh, why did we yield 
 to Mabel and leave her ? ' 
 
222 
 
 MARTYRDOM 
 
 ^ No, no ; don't reproach yourself. We could not 
 guesSc' 
 
 ' The village is, as you know, so scattered that 
 many escaped ' ; and he mentioned a few names 
 dear to them both. ' Thus it seems to have been, 
 as far as we can collect. The alarm was given only 
 just before the Boxers arrived, about thirty of them, 
 with swords and fire-locks, yelling : " Death to the 
 foreign devils." They came straight on our com- 
 pound, slaughtering by the way those who could not 
 escape. The children were in school with Mabel. She 
 took them through the church, putting Bertha into 
 Loo's arms, and bidding her send them off to the 
 hills, as safer than their houses ; and she began 
 putting them out at the farther door, so that they 
 might run through the fountain court into the 
 garden, and so escape, telling them to be good and 
 run away, and God would take care of them. 
 They crowded one upon the other, and were not 
 half gone, alas ! when the rush of Boxers came on, 
 yelling at her, and waving their weapons. She 
 stood in the doorway, with faithful Joe behind her. 
 " Let no man take thy crown," she said ; and, to the 
 men : Let the poor children go safe — I am the 
 stranger." And at that moment the shot was fired, 
 
MARTYRDOM 
 
 223 
 
 and she fell over the chair, so that she was not 
 trampled on. Indeed, I think Joe managed to draw 
 her aside, even as he was cut down, for he lay, barely 
 living, a terrible spectacle, in front of her, and ten 
 of the poor children — innocents — had been killed, 
 there and in the court/ 
 
 ' She was guarding them. Oh, my Mab, it was 
 glorious ; I wish I could get to feel it ! It was always 
 what she held up as best of all. My Mab, my 
 Mab, my dear one ! And good Joe : he told you ? ' 
 
 * Or, rather, he told Loo : he was too far gone 
 to speak when we came ; but Loo, with the child, 
 had gone no further than the reeds round the foun- 
 tain which, happily, we had not had cut, and they were 
 long enough to hide her till the slaughter was over, 
 and the burning. As the murderers passed on and 
 the flames diminished, she ventured out and found 
 her husband and our dear one as I told you. We laid 
 them and the children out on the stones, near 
 where the altar was. The enemy have done less 
 mischief there than could have been expected ; they 
 did not understand enough, and the fire did not 
 take hold. It is our own rooms where the havoc 
 is. We laid them there, and the Archdeacon, with 
 some of the faithful ones, have stayed to watch and 
 pray ; but they made me go home to you. But, to- 
 
224 
 
 MARTYRDOM 
 
 morrow, early, I shall go up again, and we will lay 
 her for her last rest ! ' 
 
 ^ All she would have chosen. It was her own 
 day dream,' said the sister, with sobbing breath. 
 * What I do believe her childish hopes always 
 centred in — to give her life, her dear life, to her 
 Master for His little ones was always what she 
 thought most beautiful and precious ! Now she 
 has done it, my sweet sister, and I ought to be 
 glad; 
 
 ' We shall be able, in time, to think of her in 
 the noble army of Martyrs,' said Edward : ^ we who 
 laughed at her childish enthusiasms ; and, as the 
 Archdeacon said, as we saw the stains on the altar 
 steps, depend upon it, this is the seed of the 
 Church; 
 
 What m.ore shall we tell ? The end is not yet. 
 Mabel and her children, and the other martyrs of 
 the ' Bower of Bliss,' had the blessing of suffering 
 for their Faith, and her sister and brother-in-law 
 are waiting, still at Tientsin, to resume the work 
 that she has made dearer than ever. 
 
NEW STORY BOOKS 
 
 FOR THE YOUNG 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE 
 
 NATIONAL SOCIETY 
 
NEW STORY BOOKS FOR THE YOUNG 
 
 BY CHARLOTTE M. YONGE 
 
 THE MAKING OF A MISSIONARY 
 
 By Charlotte M. Yonge, Author of ^'The Heir of Red- 
 ely ffe," &c. With Five Full-page Illustrations by W. 
 S. Stagey. Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, price 3^*. bd. 
 Miss Yonge, in her new story for the young, describes the longings of 
 some young people to devote their lives to the work of the Mission Field, 
 and how their earnest day-dreams " were realized when Edward Bryant 
 and his young wife Aline, with her sister Mabel, join Archdeacon 
 Goodrich and his band of helpers who are working under the direction 
 of the Bishop of North China. 
 
 BY MARY H. DEBENHAM 
 
 KEEPERS OF ENGLAND 
 
 By Mary H. Debenham, Author of " One Red Rose," &c. 
 
 With Five Full-page Illustrations by Gertrude D. 
 
 Hammond. Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, price 3^. bd. 
 Miss Debenham's new story is both historical and timely, dealing with 
 life in Anglo-Saxon England at the time when King Alfred the Great was 
 arduously engaged in his almost continuous struggles with the harrying 
 Norsemen from Scandinavia and Denmark. Edburga, the wife of the 
 Thegn of Woodbourne, is one of those specimens of sweet womanhood 
 which Miss Debenham draws with much tenderness and delicacy. 
 
 BY ANNETTE LYSTER 
 
 THE FORTUNES OF PEGGY TREHERNE 
 
 By Annette Lyster, Author of "The White Gypsy," &c. 
 With Three Full-page Illustrations by W. S. Stagey. 
 Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, price 2s. 6d. 
 The *' Fortunes" of Peggy are a series of very varied vicissitudes, in- 
 cluding a childhood in the workhouse, a girlhood in domestic service, and 
 a young womanhood in which a rich uncle from foreign parts appears, and 
 acts to a considerable extent the part played by the good fairy in the old- 
 fashioned tales of forty or fifty years ago. 
 
 BY KATHERINE E. VERNHAM 
 
 BAB'S BABY, AND OTHER STORIES 
 
 By Katherine E. Vernham, Author of " Such a Tomboy," 
 &c. With Two Full-page Illustrations by Gertrude D. 
 Hammond. Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, price 2s. 
 A series of short stories turning mainly upon the lives of the poor in 
 
 our great cities, and pointing out the many valuable lessons to be learnt 
 
 from them. 
 
 national society's depository, sanctuary, WESTMINSTER. 
 
NATIONAL society's NEW STORY BOOKS FOR THE YOUNG 3 
 
 BY H. ELRINGTON 
 
 A STORY OF ANCIENT WALES 
 
 By H. Elrington. With Two Full-page Illustrations by 
 W. S. Stagey. Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, price 2s. 
 
 A story of the times of Caractacus and the Ancient Britons, dealing 
 chiefly with adventures in the lives of a slave named David, and Caradoc, 
 the son of a Roman Chief. 
 
 BY A. V. DUTTON 
 
 JONATHAN TOMS 
 
 By A. V. Button, Author of "Wisdom's Folly," &c. With 
 Two Full-page Illustrations by C. J. Staniland. Cloth 
 boards, gilt, price i^. 6d. 
 
 An amusing tale of a holiday spent abroad, where Jonathan Toms 
 meets with Maisie Palliser, who is on a travelling tour with her parents. 
 The story proceeds to show how the friendship grew, and how it ulti- 
 mately ended. 
 
 In addition to the preceding, the following Prize 
 Books are also published by the Society:— 
 
 BY CHARLOTTE M. YONGE 
 
 Author of ** The Heir of Redclyffe," Cameos from English History," &c. 
 
 THE HERD BOY AND HIS HERMIT 
 
 With Five Full-page Illustrations by W. S. Stagey. Bevelled 
 boards, cloth gilt, price 6d. 
 
 A story based upon that of the Lord Clifford, who was given by his 
 mother into the keeping of a Cumberland shepherd during the troublous 
 times of the Wars of the Roses. 
 
 " It is a thoroughly good book, and will sustain its author's high reputation." 
 
 School Board Chronicle. 
 
 THE PATRIOTS OF PALESTINE 
 
 With Five Full-page Illustrations by W. S. Stagey. Bevelled 
 boards, cloth gilt, price ^s. 6d. 
 
 This is a story descriptive of the rising of the Maccabees, showing the 
 difficulties with which they had to contend in order to remain true alike 
 to their Faith and to their country. 
 
 " The characters are picturesquely drawn, and the story altogether is a pleasant 
 example of Miss Yonge's work."— Manchester Guardian. 
 
 national society's depository, sanctuary, WESTMINSTER. 
 
 A 2 
 
4 NATIONAL society's NEW STORY BOOKS FOR THE YOUNG 
 
 BY CHARLOTTE M. YONGE—conHnued 
 
 FOUNDED ON PAPER 
 
 With Five Full-page Illustrations by W. S. Stagey. Bevelled 
 boards, cloth gilt, price 35. 6d. 
 
 This story — a sequel to "The Carbonels," although, for readers, quite 
 independent of that narrative — gives a varied and lifelike picture of village 
 life in the famous Jubilee year of 1887. 
 
 "This book will well sustain Miss Yonge's credit as a clever writer of Christmas 
 stories." — The Guardian. 
 
 THE WARDSHIP OF STEEPCOOMBE 
 
 With Five Full-page Illustrations by W. S. Stagey. Bevelled 
 boards, cloth gilt, price 6d. 
 
 A story of the troublous times of the youth of King Richard II., 
 concluding with a graphic and spirited description of Wat Tyler's 
 rebellion. 
 
 THE CARBONELS 
 
 With Five Full-page Illustrations by W. S. Stagey. Bevelled 
 boards, cloth gilt, price 3^. 6d. 
 
 **The Carbonels" deals with the various sides of life in the little 
 village of Uphill Priors in the years immediately following 1822. 
 
 "This is altogether a well-written, thoroughly interesting story." 
 
 Saturday Review. 
 
 THE COOK AND THE CAPTIVE 
 
 With Five Full-page Illustrations by W. S. Stagey. Bevelled 
 boards, cloth gilt, price 35. 6d, 
 
 This story is descriptive of life in Gaul in the times of Franks and 
 Burgundians, telling how young Attalus is given as a hostage to a 
 barbarian chief, of the good he is able to effect among his heathen 
 surroundings, and of his rescue and his final escape to his own home. 
 
 "A historical romance suited to youthful readers. . . . Told with all the art in 
 narration that Miss Yonge has long been noted for."— Record. 
 
 THE TREASURES IN THE MARSHES 
 
 With Three Full-page Illustrations by W. S. Stagey. Bevelled 
 boards, cloth gilt, price 2s, 6d. 
 
 This tale is concerned with the finding of Anglo-Saxon treasures in 
 marshy land by members of two neighbouring families, and describes the 
 different ways in which the treasures were dealt with and the ultimate 
 consequences. 
 
 NATIONAL society's DEPOSITORY, SANCTUARY, WESTMINSTER. 
 
NATIONAL society's NEW STORY BOOKS FOR THE YOUNG 5 
 
 BY CHARLOTTE M. continued 
 
 THE CROSS ROADS 
 
 With Five Full-page Illustrations by J. F. Weedon. Bevelled 
 boards, cloth gilt, price 3^. 6d. 
 
 A story of life in domestic service at Langhope Mead, with some 
 amusing sketches of character both in the servants' hall and in the 
 neighbouring village. 
 
 '* The story is vigorously written throughout, and abounds in amusing incidents and 
 exciting episodes."— Educational Times. 
 
 THE CONSTABLE'S TOWER 
 
 Or, The Times of Magna Charta. With Four Full-page Illus- 
 trations by C. O. Murray. Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, 
 price 35. 
 
 A tale of the days of Magna Charta, showing the nobility of the charac- 
 ter of Hubert de Burgh, and concluding with a spirited description of 
 the sea-fight off Dover, 
 
 THE SLAVES OF SABINUS 
 
 With Five Full-page Illustrations by C. J. Staniland. 
 Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, price 3^. 6d, 
 
 A powerful story of the Christian Church in the days when Vespasian 
 was the Roman Emperor, and his more genial son Titus was newly 
 returned from his conquest of the Jews. 
 
 THE CUNNING WOMAN'S GRANDSON 
 
 A Story of Cheddar a Hundred Years Ago. With Five Full 
 page Illustrations by W. S. Stagey. Bevelled boards, 
 cloth gilt, price 3^. 6d, 
 
 An attractive story of the social and religious improvements that were 
 made in the Cheddar district through the philanthropic zeal of Miss 
 Hannah More and her sisters. 
 
 UNDER THE STORM 
 
 Or, Steadfast's Charge. With Six Full-page Illustrations. 
 Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, price 3^. 6d. 
 
 In Under the Storm" the author of The Heir of Redclyfi'e '* 
 depicts the troublous experiences of the family of a small yeoman farmer 
 during the great Civil War. 
 
 '•'Under the Storm 'is in all respects worthy of the reputation of the author of 
 'The Heir of Redclyflfe.'"— Spectator. 
 
 NATIONAL society's DEPOSITORY, SANCTUARY, WESTMINSTER. 
 
6 NATIONAL society's NEW STORY BOOKS FOR THE YOUNG 
 
 BY CHARLOTTE |M. YOt^GE— continued 
 
 OUR NEW MISTRESS 
 
 Or, Changes at Brookfield Earl. With Four Full-page Illus- 
 trations by C. J. Staniland. Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, 
 price 3J. 
 
 *'Our New Mistress" depicts with much truth to life the difficulties 
 met with by a young trained schoolmistress in taking charge of a village 
 school where innovations are not welcomed. 
 
 BY FRANCES MARY PEARD 
 
 Author of «* The Rose Garden," "The Country Cousin," Paul's Sister, "&c. 
 
 THE ABBOT'S BRIDGE 
 
 3/6 V^ith Five Full-page Illustrations by W. S. Stagey. Bevelled 
 boards, cloth gilt, price 3^. 6d. 
 
 A story of life on the road in the time of Edward the Third, and of 
 the great rising of the townspeople of Bury St. Edmunds against the 
 authorities at the Abbey. 
 
 " Miss Peard should find her popularity increased by 'The Abbot's Bridge.' It 
 is a capital story, vigorously told. "—Manchester Guardian. 
 
 THE LOCKED DESK 
 
 3/6 With Five Full-page Illustrations by W. S. Stagey. Bevelled 
 boards, cloth gilt, price 3^. 6d. 
 
 In this book Miss Peard has left the historical field in which most of 
 her previous tales for young people have lain, giving us instead a story of 
 the present day, in which certain documents in Mrs. Barton's locked desk 
 play an important part. 
 
 THE BLUE DRAGON 
 
 3/6 ^^^^ ^^^^ Full-page Illustrations by C. J. Staniland. 
 Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, price 35. 6d. 
 
 '* The Blue Dragon " is the sign of an inn at Chester, in which city the 
 scene of the story is laid, in the discontented, turbulent times that followed 
 immediately upon the battle of Bosworth Field. 
 
 SCAPEGRACE DICK 
 
 3/6 ^ith Four Full-page Illustrations. Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, 
 price 3^. 6d. 
 
 A spirited story of adventure in England and the Low Countries in the 
 days of the Commonwealth. 
 
 '* A book for boys, which will be read with equal pleasure by their sisters." 
 
 Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 NATIONAL society's DEPOSITORY, SANCTUARY, V^ESTMINSTERc 
 
NATIONAL society's NEW STORY BOOKS FOR THE YOUNG ^ 
 
 BY FRANCES MARY PEARD—conHnued 
 
 PRENTICE HUGH 
 
 With Six Full-page Illustrations. Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, 
 price 3^. 6d, 
 
 ** Prentice Hugh " gives a graphic account of life during the reign of 
 Edward the First, mainly in the cathedral city of Exeter. 
 
 TO HORSE AND AWAY 
 
 With Five Full-page Illustrations by C. J. Staniland. 
 Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, price 3^. 6d, 
 
 The fortunes of a Royalist family in the times of the Great Civil War 
 form the leading theme of Miss Peard's story, which, together with many 
 adventures, gives a few graphic scents from the life of Charles II. in his 
 flight from Worcester Field, 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR OF "MADEMOISELLE MORI" &c. 
 
 STEPHANIE'S CHILDREN 
 
 With Five Full-page Illustrations by C. J. Staniland. 
 Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, price y. 6d. 
 
 The story of the escape of Stephanie, a young widow of high family, 
 and her two step-children, from France during the Great Revolution. 
 Descriptive also of the life led among the colony of Emigres in London. 
 
 " Another proof of the versatility and charm of writing that is already well known 
 in the author of the 'Atelier du Lys,' and will prove a delightful addition to a girl's 
 library."— Saturday Review. 
 
 NOT ONE OF US 
 
 With Five Full-page Illustrations by J. F. Weedon. Bevelled 
 boards, cloth gilt, price 3^. 6d. 
 
 Descriptive of the career of a young schoolmistress in Northern Italy, 
 and of the manners and customs of the folk dwelling in the valley of 
 Fiorasca. 
 
 KINSFOLK AND OTHERS 
 
 With Five Full-page Illustrations by C. O. Murray. Bevelled 
 boards, cloth gilt, price 35. 6d, 
 
 A study in the conflicting duties that claim the obedience of Olive 
 Garth, who has been brought up from her earliest days by her grand- 
 mother, and whose mother returns from Australia after an absence of 
 seventeen years. 
 
 NATIONAL society's DEPOSITORY, SANCTUARY, WESTMINSTER. 
 
8 NATIONAL society's NEW STORY BOOKS FOR THE YOUNG 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR OF "MADEMOISELLE MORI," kc— continued 
 
 BANNING AND BLESSING 
 
 With Five Full-page Illustrations by C. J. Staniland. 
 Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, price 35. 6d, 
 Descriptive of country life on the confines of wild Dartmoor, at the 
 beginning of the present century. The banning of Lois Smerdon, the 
 black witch, at length comes to an end, and so plentiful are the blessings 
 which follow that all ends happily and full of promise for the future, 
 
 A LITTLE STEP-DAUGHTER 
 
 With Six Full-page Illustrations. Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, 
 price 3J. 6^, 
 
 ** A Little Step-daughter " is descriptive of life in the South of France 
 in the early part of the eighteenth century. 
 
 "The anonymous authoress of 'Mademoiselle Mori* is one of the most delightful 
 of writers for girls. Her books are characterised by a delicacy of touch rarely met with." 
 
 Standard. 
 
 BY M. & 0. LEE 
 
 Authors of "The Oak Staircase," "Joachim's Spectacles," &c. 
 
 MISS COVENTRY'S MAID 
 
 With Three Full-page Illustrations by Gertrude D. Hammond. 
 Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, price 2s, 6d, 
 The identity of Miss Coventry's maid is a mystery to all but her young 
 mistress, and the mystery remains until after the performance of She Stoops 
 to Conquer at a certain country house where Miss Coventry had been 
 invited to stay. 
 
 ST. DUNSTAN^S FAIR 
 
 With Three Full-page Illustrations by W. S. Stagey. Bevelled 
 boards, cloth gilt, price 2s, 6d. 
 
 St. Dunstan's Fair" tells of the folks living in a small country 
 village in Kent, in the year of Waterloo, of v/hat happened at the Fair 
 itself, and of the consequences to Nancy Springett and poor George 
 Colgate. 
 
 A very pretty story with some pathetic scenes in it."~SATURDAY Review. 
 
 THE FAMILY COACH 
 
 With Four Full-page Illustrations by J. F. Weedon. Bevelled 
 boards, cloth gilt, price 35. 
 
 A story of a family of children, their schemes and plans, and the 
 misfortunes that consequently ensue, in the course of a journey from 
 London to Mentone, where they are to meet their parents, who have just 
 returned from India. 
 
 " ' The Family Coach ' is as attractive within as without. "—Times. 
 
 NATIONAL society's DEPOSITORY, SANCTUARY, WESTMINSTER. 
 
NATIONAL society's NEW STORY BOOKS FOR THE YOUNG 9 
 
 BY M. 8c C. LEE— continued 
 
 GOLDHANGER WOODS 
 
 A Child's Romance. With Two Full-page Illustrations. 
 Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, price 2s. 
 " Goldhanger Woods " is the story of the romantic adventure of a 
 young girl a hundred years ago among a band of desperate smugglers. 
 " This ' child's romance ' is ingeniously planned and well executed." — Spectator. 
 
 MRS. DIMSDALE'S GRANDCHILDREN 
 
 With Four Full-page Illustrations by C. J. Staniland. 
 Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, price 3^. 
 A large number of Mrs. Dimsdale's grandchildren are gathered 
 together one Christmas at the Downs House in Sussex. Milly, in emula- 
 tion of Aunt Hetty, writes a play. Difficulties intervene, but everything 
 comes right in the end, and the story concludes with an account of the 
 acting. 
 
 BY M. BRAMSTON 
 
 Author of ** A Woman of Business," ''Rosamond Ferrars," &c. 
 
 BUGLE MINOR 
 
 With Two Full-page Illustrations by C. J. Staniland. Bevelled 
 boards, cloth gilt, price 2s. 
 
 A story telling the adventures of a lad who joins the Royal Marines as 
 bugle boy, and goes out on active service to the African Coast, where he 
 is captured and carried inland, thore to meet with many adventures, and to 
 encounter many perils. 
 
 " The story will be read with interest by boys."— Leeds Mercury. 
 
 TOLD BY TWO 
 
 With Three Full-page Illustrations by C. J. Staniland. 
 Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, price 2s. 6d. 
 The " two " are Hester Hazel, the old nurse, and her former charge, 
 Julian Chalfont, and the story turns upon the loss of some valuable 
 family jewels, and their ultimate recovery and the consequent clearing of 
 Hester's character. 
 
 "A story of engrossing interest, particularly to girls."— Record. 
 
 THE STORY OF A CAT AND A CAKE 
 
 With Three Full-page Illustrations by W. S. Stagey. Bevelled 
 boards, cloth gilt, price 2s. 6d. 
 
 A story of Nuremberg in the time of the Thirty Years' War, containing 
 adventures and perils in plenty and giving some effective pictures of 
 city and country life in Germany a couple of centuries ago. 
 
 "This is a story of the siege of Nuremberg, told with the skill which Miss Bramston 
 always shows in her presentations of life whether past or present." — Spectator. 
 
 national society's depository, SANCTUARY, WESTMINSTER. 
 
 A 3 
 
10 NATIONAL SOCIETY'S NEW STORY BOOKS FOR THE YOUNG 
 
 BY M. BRAMSTOt^-contmued 
 
 THEIR FATHER'S WRONG 
 
 With Three Full-page Illustrations by C. J. Staniland. 
 Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, price 2s. 6d, 
 
 The story of the children of a man who had been gradually entangled 
 in a dynamite conspiracy, and of their successful endeavour to repair, as 
 far as possible, the wrong and suffering which their father's action had 
 brought upon innocent people. 
 
 WINNING HIS FREEDOM 
 
 With Three Full-page Illustrations by W. S. Stacey. Bevelled 
 boards, cloth gilt, price 2S. 6d. 
 
 The lesson taught by Miss Bramston's story is that of honesty and 
 truth at all costs, as shown in the way in which young Piers Aylward freed 
 himself, after much pain and trouble, from the slavery imposed upon him 
 by his cowardly cousin Henderson. 
 
 " ' Winning his Freedom ' is an admirable book for schoolboys."— Record. 
 
 LOTTIE LEVISON 
 
 With Two Full-page Illustrations by W. S. Stagey. Bevelled 
 boards, cloth gilt, price 2S. 
 
 A South London story for young women and elder girls, describing 
 how Lottie Levison was filled with a longing to teach others the means of 
 getting the happiness which she had gained for herself. 
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF DENIS 
 
 With Three Full-page Illustrations by J. F. Weedon. Bevelled 
 boards, cloth gilt, price 2s, 6d, 
 
 The adventures in question are closely connected with the rising of 1745 
 and the retreat of Prince Charles Edward from Derby to the north again. 
 
 ' The Adventures of Denis ' is a charming tale of 1745, which would delight any one 
 to reaa."— Saturday Review. 
 
 ABBY'S DISCOVERIES 
 
 With Three Full-page Illustrations by W. S. Stagey. Bevelled 
 boards, cloth gilt, price 2s, 6d» 
 
 The story of the successive discoveries, in very ordinary matters, that 
 little Abigail made in her earliest years, and the meaning and lessons 
 which they have for all those concerned in bringing up the young. 
 
 "We have not seen a better book about the feelings and experiences of childhood 
 than this since we read the * My Childhood' of Madame Michelet." — Spectator. 
 
 national society's depository, sanctuary, WESTMINSTER. 
 
NATIONAL society's NEW STORY BOOKS FOR THE YOUNG 1 1 
 
 BY M. BRAMSTOti—conimued 
 
 A VILLAGE GENIUS 
 
 A True Story of Oberammergau. With Two Full-page Illus- 
 trations by J. F. Weedon. Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, 
 price 2S, 
 
 A tale of Oberammergau and of the life of Rochus Dedler, the com- 
 poser of the music that is still used at the Passion Play there. 
 
 DANGEROUS JEWELS 
 
 With Four Full-page Illustrations by J. F. Weedon. Bevelled 
 boards, cloth gilt, price 3^. 
 The opening scenes of this story are laid in Brittany at the time of the 
 great French Revolution, but the scene changes, and the later chapters 
 give some vivid descriptions of rough life in a lonely hut on the moorlands 
 of Devonshire. 
 
 A PAIR OF COUSINS 
 
 With Three Full-page Illustrations by C. J. Staniland. 
 Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, price 2s, 6d, 
 The pair of cousins are Flower Callaway, who has a weakness for 
 appearing interesting and attractive in the eyes of others, and Avis 
 Goldenlea, a healthy-minded girl of real sterling worth. 
 
 THE HEROINE OF A BASKET VAN 
 
 With Three Full-page Illustrations. Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, 
 price 2S, 6d, 
 
 The heroine is little Phenie, whom her father, Jonathan Redmoor, 
 takes with him to travel about the country in his basket van. 
 
 "There are plenty of incidents in the tale to interest the reader, and, as such a story 
 should end, Phenie finds her right place after all." — Schoolmaster. 
 
 UNCLE IVAN 
 
 With Three Full-page Illustrations. Bevelled boards, cloth 
 gilt, price 2s, 6d, 
 
 Uncle Ivan gives a striking and eventful picture of life in England 
 and Russia about forty years ago ; together with some insight into the 
 methods of the Russian Government for dealing with political crime. 
 
 SILVER STAR VALLEY 
 
 With Four Full-page Illustrations by C. J. Staniland. 
 Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, price 3^. 
 
 In this story Miss Bramston gives a striking and vivid picture of life 
 among a mining community in the Rocky Mountains. 
 
 NATIONAL society's DEPOSITORY, SANCTUARY, WESTMINSTER. 
 
12 NATIONAL SOCIETY'S NEW STORY BOOKS FOR THE YOUNG 
 
 BY C. R. COLERIDGE 
 
 Author of " An English Squire," The Girls of Flaxley," &c. 
 
 A BAG OF FARTHINGS 
 
 With Two Full-page Illustrations by W. S. Stagey. Bevelled 
 boards, cloth gilt, price 2S. 
 
 The **bag of farthings " contains the prizes for which certain boys and 
 girls run races, and some of the coins become mingled and interchanged 
 with three gold napoleons that are lost. The story tells how Bertie Brown 
 is wrongfully suspected of theft, and how at length he discovers the real 
 culprit and clears his own character. 
 
 "The delicate touch with which these pictures are handled is worthy of all praise." 
 
 Spectator. 
 
 MAX, FRITZ, AND HOB 
 
 With Four Full-page Illustrations by W. S. Stagey. Bevelled 
 boards, cloth gilt, price 3^. 
 
 A tale of adventure four hundred years ago, the scene of which is laid 
 principally at the Castle of Lindenberg, in the Bavarian highlands. 
 
 FIFTY POUNDS 
 
 A Sequel to "The Green Girls of Greythorpe." With Four 
 Full-page Illustrations by W. S. Stagey. Bevelled 
 boards, cloth gilt, price 35. 
 
 A sequel to '*The Green Girls of Greythorpe," showing what became 
 of the principal characters in that story after they had grown into young 
 men and young women. The interest of the present story, however, to 
 the reader is in no sense dependent on its predecessor. 
 
 THE GREEN GIRLS OF GREYTHORPE 
 
 With Four Full-page Illustrations by C. J. Staniland. 
 Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, price 3^. 
 
 A story of an old endowed institution that has come under the notice 
 of the Charity Commissioners, who decide that a reorganisation and 
 extension of the school is necessary, and that the education it affords must 
 be brought into harmony with modern requirements. 
 
 "The story is very prettily told, and, although quiet in tone, contains a full share 
 of incident and interest." — Standard. 
 
 MAUD FLORENCE NELLIE 
 
 Or, Don't Care. With Four Full-page Illustrations by C. J. 
 Staniland. Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, price 35. 
 
 A story, showing how a veritable scapegrace of a boy, Harry Whittaker, 
 and his careless sister, Florrie, are gradually brought to see the costs 
 that may be entailed by the spirit which says ** Don't care" to every 
 gentle correction of a fault. 
 
 national society's depository, sanctuary, WESTMINSTER. 
 
NATIONAL society's NEW STORY BOOKS FOR THE YOUNG 1 3 
 
 BY C. R. COLERIDGE— continued 
 
 REUBEN EVERETT 
 
 With Four Full-page Illustrations by C. J. Staniland. 
 Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, price 2s. 6d. 
 
 Miss Coleridge's ** Reuben Everett" is the story of a truant bird, that 
 thought his home a cage," and describes the early days of training colleges 
 and railways in England. 
 
 BY MARY H. DEBENHAM 
 
 Author of "The Princesses of Penruth," &c. 
 
 SOWING AND HARVESTING 
 
 With Five Full-page Illustrations by Gertrude D. Hammond. 
 Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, price 3^. 6d. 
 
 A tale of the days of the great French Revolution, describing the trials 
 of an Englishman living in France at that time, and showing with much 
 force the value of this country as a place of shelter for the refugees. 
 
 " A book with a thoroughly good influence, and one that will be prized for its real 
 worth."— The Practical Teacher. 
 
 MY LADY'S SLIPPERS 
 
 With Four Full-page Illustrations by Gertrude D. Hammond. 
 Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, price 35-. 
 
 The story of a boy brought up under the care of an old servant of his 
 parents, and how he came into possession of his father's property through 
 the discovery of the lost family diamonds secreted in the heels of a pair of 
 his mother's slippers, which by an odd chance he had kept. 
 
 " Is an excellent story and is sure to be popular." — Journal of Education. 
 
 ONE RED ROSE 
 
 With Five Full-page Illustrations by Gertrude D. Hammond. 
 Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, price 35-. 6d, 
 
 Miss Debenham here gives us one of her tender character sketches in 
 the description of the bringing up of a genuine Irish girl, Rosaleen, at 
 Wold Lodge, under her Aunt Alicia, who holds her house and grounds 
 under the tenure of one red rose," paid yearly to the lord of the manor. 
 " A fascinating character -sketch of a genuinely erratic Irish girl." 
 
 St. James's Gazette. 
 
 THE LAIRD'S LEGACY 
 
 With Three Full-page Illustrations by Gertrude D. 
 Hammond. Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, price 2s. 6d 
 
 Miss Debenham's new story follows the fortunes of an exiled Scottish 
 laird, Sir Patrick Maxwell, in the early years of the eighteenth century, 
 and gives some account of the campaigning in the Low Countries. 
 
 NATIONAL society's DEPOSITORY, SANCTUARY, WESTMINSTER. 
 
14 NATIONAL society's NEW STORY BOOKS FOR THE YOUNG 
 
 BY MARY H. DEBENH AM-continued 
 
 TWO MAIDEN AUNTS 
 
 With Two Full-page Illustrations by Gertrude D. Hammond. 
 Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, price 2s, 
 The ** Maiden Aunts" are two girls, Angelica and Betty Wyndham, 
 upon whom (owing to a series of misfortunes) devolves the bringing up of 
 little Godfrey, the only child of their brother. 
 
 " A charming story. . . . All the characters in the book are well delineated. . . . 
 Miss Debenham may well be congratulated." — St. James's Gazette. 
 
 THE MAVIS AND THE MERLIN 
 
 With Two Full-page Illustrations by W. S. Stagey. Bevelled 
 boards, cloth gilt, price 2^. 
 In **The Mavis and the Merlin'* Miss Debenham gives some graphic 
 pictures of the storm that raged in the Low Countries during the latter 
 half of the sixteenth century, when William the Silent was making his 
 resolute attempt to found the Dutch Republic. 
 
 MY GOD-DAUGHTER 
 
 With Two Full-page Illustrations by W. S. Stagey. Bevelled 
 boards, cloth gilt, price 2^. 
 ** My God-daughter'' is little Theodosia (the motherless child of some 
 strolling players) named after the god-mother, Miss Theodosia Cartaret. 
 The story relates how the players' children were lost and found again, in 
 London, at the time when the Gordon Riots were at their height. 
 
 MOOR AND MOSS 
 
 With Three Full-page Illustrations by W. Stagey. Bevelled 
 boards, cloth gilt, price 2S, 6d, 
 A story of the Border in the first half of the sixteenth century, of the 
 struggles that were for ever taking place there and the raids that were 
 being made. 
 
 " A story of high courage and reckless daring. . . . For its historical interest and 
 literary charm, a book to be heartily commended. ' — Western Antiquary. 
 
 FOR KING AND HOME 
 
 With Three Full-page Illustrations by J. F. Weedon. 
 Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, price is, 6d, 
 Of the rising in La Vendee during the great French Revolution, and of 
 the adventures that subsequently befell a well-to-do family there, together 
 with an English cousin Dorothy, who was staying at the chateau at the 
 time. 
 
 NATIONAL society's DEPOSITORY, SANCTUARY, WESTMINSTER. 
 
NATIONAL society's NEW STORY BOOKS FOR THE YOUNG 1 5 
 
 BY MARY H. DEBENHAM-^^«^^««^^ 
 
 MISTRESS PHIL 
 
 With Two Full-page Illustrations by C. O. Murray. Bevelled 
 boards, cloth gilt, price 2S. 
 " Mistress Phil " is Phillis Juliana Cheviot, and the story describes 
 her stay at Waltham Cross in the year 1 760, and the results that followed 
 from it, giving also some lively pictures of mail-coaches and highwaymen. 
 "A book good enough for anybody to read, of whatever age." 
 
 School Board Chronicle. 
 
 FAIRMEADOWS FARM 
 
 With Two Full-page Illustrations by W. S. Stacey. Bevelled 
 boards, cloth gilt, price 2S, 
 
 The scene is laid in Hampshire about the time of Monmouth's rebellion. 
 The story gives some vivid pictures of the opening at Winchester of Judge 
 Jeffreys' harsh campaign against the rebels, and of the clouds that hung 
 over the neighbourhood for a time in consequence. 
 
 "A simple yet capitally related story, and the pathetic features are very effectively 
 realised."— Li VBRPOOL Courier. 
 
 A LITTLE CANDLE 
 
 With Five Full-page Illustrations by W. S. Stacey. Bevelled 
 boards, cloth gilt, price 35. 6d. 
 Miss Debenham's story is concerned with Scotland in the stormy 
 days of Claverhouse. The ** Little Candle "is Bride Galbraith, who, 
 by her tenderness and grace, softens the time of trial and affliction. 
 
 ST. HELEN'S WELL 
 
 With Two Full-page Illustrations by C. J. Staniland. 
 Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, price 2s. 
 **St. Helen's Well" is a story of events that followed the rising in 
 1745 in favour of the Young Pretender. 
 
 BY FREDERICK C. BADRICK 
 
 Author of* Starwood Hall," The Spanish Galleon," &c. 
 
 THE STONE DOOR 
 
 With Three Full-page Illustrations by C. J. Staniland. 
 Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, price 2s. 6d. 
 
 The narrative of certain strange things that befell the brig Talyfan on 
 her voyage from Rotterdam to Liverpool about a hundred years ago, and 
 of the way in which Justice worked out to its end. 
 
 "A story full of stirring incident such as boys love to read."— Record. 
 
 NATIONAL society's DEPOSITORY, SANCTUARY, WESTMINSTER. 
 
l6 NATIONAL society's NEW STORY BOOKS FOR THE YOUNG 
 
 BY FREDERICK C. 3ADR\CK-contmued 
 
 THE PUFF OF WIND 
 
 With Two Full-page Illustrations by C. J. Staniland. 
 Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, price is. 6d. 
 
 A tale of harbour and heath in the west country a hundred years ago, 
 telling of the evil treatment of Oliver Mackworth and of the strange 
 happening by means of vi^hich justice was meted out to the guilty. 
 
 "The writing shows a strong sense of 'style' and a quaintness which touches 
 originality." — Saturday Review. 
 
 THE GOLDEN BUCKLE 
 
 With Five Full-page Illustrations by W. S. Stacey. Bevelled 
 boards, cloth gilt, price 3^. 6d. 
 
 A story of London in the year of the Great Plague, showing how one 
 John Garside, a hosier in Holborn, and his family took refuge on board 
 Tke Golden Buckle^ then lying in the river. 
 
 KING'S FERRY 
 
 In the Days of the Press-gang. With Three Full-page Illus- 
 trations by W. S. Stagey. Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, 
 price 25. 6^. 
 
 Concerning a certain ship's doctor who came to Weymouth in press- 
 gang days, and, staying at King's Ferry, tempted Simon Lydgate, the 
 ferryman, to do wrong ; of the punishment that fell on Lydgate, and of the 
 joy and peace that followed the home-coming of his boy, Wat. 
 
 JOAN'S VICTORY 
 
 With Two Full-page Illustrations by J. F. Weedon. Bevelled 
 boards, cloth gilt, price ix. 6^. 
 Descriptive of a young woman of quick, passionate temper and stub- 
 born purpose, and of the means by which a young child unconsciously 
 brought her back to her better self and helped to soften her heart. 
 "Admirably detailed. Joan is really a very powerful psychological study." 
 
 Spectator. 
 
 PECKOVER'S MILL 
 
 A Story of the Great Frost of 1739. With Five Full-page 
 Illustrations by W. S. Stagey. Bevelled boards, cloth 
 gilt, price 35. 6^f. 
 A story of a Jacobite conspiracy that was on foot in the time of the 
 great frost of 1739, showing how Silas Peckover came home from abroad 
 and took possession of the home of his forefathers, and how the sweet 
 womanliness and honesty of Mistress Ruth influenced him for good. 
 ** Silas Peckover is a character quite worthy of Ainsworth."— Academy. 
 
 national society's depository, sanctuary, WESTMINSTER. 
 
NATIONAL society's NEW STORY BOOKS FOR THE YOUNG 1 7 
 
 BY FREDERICK C. B/\DR\CK-conttnued 
 
 CHRIS DERRICK 
 
 A Stormy Passage in a Boy's Life. With Two Full-page 
 Illustrations by W. S. Stagey. Bevelled boards, cloth 
 gilt, price 2S. 
 
 This story supplies some lively sketches of what a mutiny often led to at 
 the beginning of the present century, and of the narrow shifts that smugglers 
 ran in escaping from the revenue officers. 
 
 STARWOOD HALL 
 
 A Boy's Adventure. With Two Full-page Illustrations by C. 
 J. Staniland. Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, price 2S. 
 
 A stirring story of how an honest boy fell into the clutches of a band of 
 highwaymen, or ** gentlemen of fortune," in the middle of the last century. 
 " The pictures of rural manners . . . strike us as being extremely life-like." — Times. 
 
 BY ESME STUART 
 
 Author of *'The Little Brown Girl," **The Belfry of St. Jude's," &c. 
 
 THE KNIGHTS OF ROSEMULLION 
 
 With Three Full-page Illustrations by W. S. Stagey. Bevelled 
 boards, cloth gilt, price 2s, 6d. 
 
 A romantic picture of some chivalrous children in the present day, 
 showing how the mottoes and watchwords of King Arthur's Knights may 
 still be adopted to good and earnest purpose. 
 
 "Will become popular with both boys and girls, and teach them the principles of 
 chivalry, and how they may be found in unexpected places, and applied in unexpected 
 ways."— Church Times. 
 
 A SMALL LEGACY 
 
 With Two Full-page Illustrations by J. F. Weedon. Bevelled 
 boards, cloth gilt, price 2s, 
 
 A story for children, describing the life led by the coastguardsmen 
 and their families at St. Alban's Head, and showing how it is possible for 
 boys and girls to be brave and honourable in all their actions. 
 
 "The picture of the quaint little American is most skilfully drawn, and his quaint 
 sayings are throughout very amusing." — Educational Times. 
 
 A NEST OF ROYALISTS 
 
 With Two Full-page Illustrations by J. F. Weedon. Cloth 
 boards, gilt, price is. 6d, 
 
 A story of Blois in the year 1832, of an English family— the Merediths 
 —who went to live there, and of the circumstances under which they 
 became connected with a Royalist plot against the rule of Louis Philippe. 
 
 NATIONAL society's DEPOSITORY, SANCTUARY, WESTMINSTER. 
 
1 8 NATIONAL society's NEW STORY BOOKS FOR THE YOUNG 
 
 BY ESME STUART— conHnued 
 
 THE SILVER MINE 
 
 An Underground Story. With Four Full-page Illustrations by 
 W. S. Stagey. Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, price 35. 
 
 An account of life on the rocky Devonshire coast, an unsuccessful 
 attempt to reopen a disused silver mine, and a long-standing family feud 
 between the Redwoods and the Pennants, with the incidents that served 
 to bring it to an end. 
 
 "A very bright, attractive story. The children are natural, and the style is fresh 
 and spirited."— Journal of Education. 
 
 THE VICAR'S TRIO 
 
 With Five Full-page Illustrations by C. J. Staniland. 
 Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, price 35. 6d. 
 
 The story of how young Lord Faulconbridge, a peevish and irritable 
 boy, is brought to see that the rank and wealth with which he has been 
 endowed bring with them equally great responsibilities. 
 
 CAST ASHORE 
 
 With Four Full-page Illustrations by C. J. Staniland. 
 Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, price 35. 
 It was little Mona who was cast ashore on the North Lancashire 
 coast, after the total wreck of the ship in which she was travelling under 
 the care of her father's servant, Hanson. How Jephtha Toppin afterwards 
 lures her away, with a view to earning a reward, and how ^ she is 
 eventually rescued — both are told with considerable power and vividness. 
 
 FOR HALF-A-CROWN 
 
 With Four Full-page Illustrations. Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, 
 price 3^. 
 
 Half-a-crown is the price that Mrs. Chemmo, a retired housekeeper 
 living in the cathedral city of Hedderstone on an annuity from her former 
 mistress, pays for a little waif, Natalia, to an Italian colony in a squalid 
 Portsmouth alley. 
 
 CARRIED OFF 
 
 A Story of Pirate Times. With Four Full-page Illustrations 
 by J. F. Weedon. Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, price 35. 
 
 It is fearless Harry Fenn, the son of an Essex yeoman farmer, who 
 is ** carried off" by Captain Henry Morgan, the famous buccaneer, and 
 his men, to the West Indies, where the Spanish settlements are attacked, 
 and adventures in plenty follow. 
 
 " Miss Stuart has gone with the times, and has given us a vigorous and well-told 
 story of the days of the buccaneers." — Standard. 
 
 NATIONAL society's DEPOSITORY, SANCTUARY, WESTMINSTER. 
 
NATIONAL society's NEW STORY BOOKS FOR THE YOUNG 1 9 
 
 BY M. E. PALGRAVE 
 
 Author of 
 
 •* Under the Blue Flag," Miles Lambert's Three Chances," &c. 
 
 IN CHARGE 
 
 A Story of Rough Times. With Five Full-page Illustrations 
 by W. S. Stagey. Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, price 3^. 
 A stirring story of the days when smugglers were in plenty and free- 
 trading (as it was called) was in full swing. 
 
 *' Full of incident and interest, very pleasantly told, and breathes an excellent spirit 
 throughout."— Western Morning News. 
 
 A PROMISE KEPT 
 
 With Four Full- page Illustrations. Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, 
 price 2S, 6d. 
 
 A story with a lofty purpose, showing the amount of self-denial that 
 is necessary in those who leave their home and kindred to engage in 
 missionary work in far-off lands. 
 
 BY PENELOPE LESLIE 
 
 Author of "Marjory's White Rat," &c. 
 
 GUY'S DUTY 
 
 With Frontispiece by Gertrude D. Hammond. Cloth boards, 
 gilt, price is. 
 
 The life of two young English children during six weeks spent in 
 Bombay, the story telling how Guy by carelessness led his little sister into 
 mischief, but finally learnt the lesson that in so doing he had been 
 altogether negligent of the duty that had been entrusted to him. 
 
 " Is a pretty little story The moral is the duty of obedience and faithfulness 
 
 to a trust." — The Record. 
 
 GWEN 
 
 With Frontispiece by C. J. Staniland. Cloth boards, gilt, 
 price IS. 
 
 We have here a story of two high-spirited children who delight in doing 
 things which have been forbidden, and who are ultimately brought to a 
 sense of their wrong by the kindly advice of their grandmother. 
 
 "It is just the book for children, and points an excellent moral."— Spectator. 
 
 MISS BARTON'S BICYCLE 
 
 With Frontispiece by Gertrude D. Hammond. Cloth 
 boards, gilt, price is. 
 Timothy and Minna are keenly anxious to ride bicycles, and in a weak 
 moment borrow Miss Barton's bicycle without having first obtained the 
 owner's consent. Unfortunate results ensue, but a lesson is thereby learnt, 
 which is both wholesome and productive of good. 
 
 *' Child life is portrayed with much force in this charming little book. Timothy and 
 Minna are delightful characters, who are much like brothers and sisters of to-dav." 
 
 Teachers Aid. 
 
 national society's depository, sanctuary, WESTMINSTER. 
 
20 NATIONAL SOCIETY'S NEW STORY BOOKS FOR THE YOUNG 
 
 BY PENELOPE LESUE-cantmued. 
 
 DOROTHY^ S STEPMOTHER 
 
 With Frontispiece by C. J, Staniland. Cloth boards, gilt, 
 price i^. 
 
 Motherless little Dorothy went into the wood to look for fairies, and 
 found instead a very amiable young lady who eventually filled up the 
 vacant place in the home and brought sunshine into Dorothy's life again. 
 
 " This is a simple and pleasant little story of how a little girl cherishes great hopes, 
 and finds them fulfilled in a quite unexpected way." — Spectator. 
 
 TROUBLESOME COUSINS 
 
 With Frontispiece by W. S. Stagey. Cloth boards, gilt, price is. 
 
 "Troublesome Cousins" is a story specially suited for very young 
 children, and describes some of the scrapes in which Stella Weston and 
 her cousin Guy found themselves, partly through their restlessness and 
 partly through their desire to be independent. 
 
 BY AUDREY CURTIS 
 
 Author of Little Miss Curlylocks," &c. 
 
 PLAIN JEREMIAH 
 
 With Two Full-page Illustrations by Gertrude D. Hammond. 
 Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, price 2s. 
 Jeremiah is only a lout of a boy in a south country village, but he has 
 sterling stuff in him, which is brought out both by his intimacy with the 
 old shepherd on the downs and by his acquaintance with the " Awkward 
 Squad," who are no other than the four young children of a retired 
 army officer. 
 
 "A most interesting story . . . merits special praise, and will become a prime 
 favourite with the youngsters when known." — Teachers' Aid 
 
 THE ARTIST OF CROOKED ALLEY 
 
 With Two Full-page Illustrations by Gertrude D. Hammond. 
 Cloth boards, gilt, price is. 6d. 
 
 The artist was only nine years old and lived in Crooked Alley ; his 
 canvas was the pavement of a London street, his colours no more than a 
 motley collection of odds and ends of coloured chalks. 
 
 "A story of exceptional interest; one that attracts and retains the reader from 
 beginning to end." — Teachers' Aid. 
 
 LITTLE MISS CURLYLOCKS 
 
 With Two Full-page Illustrations by Gertrude D. Hammond. 
 Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, price 2S, 
 This story relates how Little Miss Curlylocks," living with her 
 high-born grandparents at Montmorency Manor, becomes acquainted with 
 Alice Fogerty, her brother Tim, a^id the Fat Baby, and what happens in 
 consequence. 
 
 NATIONAL society's DEPOSITORY, SANCTUARY, WESTMINSTER. 
 
NATIONAL society's NEW STORY BOOKS FOR THE YOUNG 21 
 
 BY KATHERINE E. VERNHAM 
 SUCH A TOMBOY, AND OTHER STORIES 
 
 With Two Full-page Illustrations by Gertrude D. Hammond. 
 Cloth boards, gilt, price i^. 6^. 
 A collection of eight short stories, chiefly concerned with the lives ot 
 the very poor, and the pathos and wide charity with which they are often 
 filled. 
 
 " This attractive little volume contains eight short stories. All are good and pleasant 
 reading."— Girls' and Infants' Mistress. 
 
 JO: A STUPID BOY, AND OTHER STORIES 
 
 With Two Full-page Illustrations by Gertrude D. Hammond. 
 Cloth boards, gilt, price i^-. 6^. 
 A collection of short stories, chiefly of life among the poor in great cities, 
 ''May be recommended with confidence as likely to amuse young boys and to 
 suggest wholesome thoughts." — Guardian. 
 
 THE TUCKERS* TURKEY 
 
 And other Stories. With Two Full-page Illustrations by 
 C. J. Staniland. Cloth boards, gilt, price is, 6d, 
 
 This is another volume of short stories, evidently drawn from actual 
 observation of some of the finer phases of character to be found among the 
 more indigent classes and even among the waifs and strays of London 
 and other cities and large towns. 
 
 '* These stories are skilfully told . . . some are highly dramatic, and all are more or 
 less pathetic."— Teachers' Aid. 
 
 A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS 
 
 And other Stories. With Two Full-page Illustrations by C. J. 
 Staniland. Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, price 2S. 
 A collection of a dozen short stories, dealing for the most part with 
 the waifs and strays to be found in our great cities, and with some of the 
 more admirable points so often to be observed in their characters. 
 
 BY A. E. DEANE 
 A SUNDAY IN SUMMER 
 
 With Frontispiece by W. S. Stagey, Cloth boards, gilt, price is. 
 The story of a crippled lad who was always wishing he could be useful, 
 
 and how at last he was rewarded by being able to save a train from being 
 
 wrecked by signalling to the driver. 
 
 " Is well written and shows grasp."— The Record. 
 
 A GUILTY SILENCE 
 
 With Two Full-page Illustrations by Gertrude D. Hammond. 
 Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, price 2S. 
 
 An interesting story showing that ill-gotten gains do nobody any good, 
 and that honesty is the best policy. 
 
 " A pleasant interesting tale with good sound teaching, appropriate to the actual 
 needs of very many actual young people." — School Board Chronicle. 
 
 NATIONAL society's DEPOSITORY, SANCTUARY, WESTMINSTER, 
 
22 NATIONAL SOCIETY'S NEW STORY BOOKS FOR THE YOUNG 
 
 BY A. E. DEANE-contznt^ed 
 
 THE TWO ELLENS 
 
 With Frontispiece by C. J. Staniland. Cloth boards, gilt, 
 price IS, 
 
 Miss Deane's story will be found a simple and interesting piece of 
 reading for the very young ; moreover, it contains some sound warnings to 
 parents as to their responsibilities and the unwisdom of always letting 
 children have their own way. 
 
 " This is just the sort of book to give as a birthday present or Sunday School prize to 
 a little girl." — The Churchwoman. 
 
 BY G. NORWAY 
 A ROMAN HOUSEHOLD 
 
 With Three Full-page Illustrations by W. S. Stagey. Bevelled 
 boards, cloth gilt, price 2s. 6d. 
 An interesting description of family life among the Romans in the 
 time of Nero, and of the persecutions and sufferings that the early 
 Christians had to undergo in order to remain true to Him Whom they 
 served. 
 
 " Is an excellent gift book and interesting alike to young and old." 
 
 Girls and Infant Mistress. 
 
 BESSIE KITSON 
 
 With Two Full-page Illustrations by Gertrude D. Hammond. 
 Cloth boards, gilt, price i^. 6d. 
 Bessie Kitson, left an orphan at a very early age, is fortunately rescued 
 from the squalid home in which she has obtained shelter and taken to live 
 with honest, God-fearing people at Windsor. Ultimately the return of 
 Mr. George Kitson from Australia removes all fear of want alike from 
 Bessie and her faithful foster-mother. 
 
 BY L. E. TIDDEMAN 
 REINE'S KINGDOM 
 
 With Two Full-page Illustrations by C. J. Staniland. 
 Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, price 2S. 
 Showing how a young girl gave way to the temptation of ambition, 
 but had the moral courage to confess her faults, which turned out to be 
 blessings in disguise. 
 
 "We place it in a very high position among the season's gift books." 
 
 Teacher's Aid. 
 
 TAKING FRENCH LEAVE 
 
 With Two Full-page Illustrations by W. S. Stagey. Bevelled 
 boards, cloth gilt, price is. 6d. 
 Madge and Will Torrance, the twin children of an artist living in the 
 country, weave a most perplexing web about themselves through playing 
 truant from school on a very hot afternoon ; and their story is likely to 
 prove a useful lesson to other young folks when tempted to be deceitful. 
 
 national society's depository, sanctuary, WESTMINSTER. 
 
NATIONAL society's NEW STORY BOOKS FOR THE YOUNG 23 
 
 BY MAUD VEVERS 
 LETTICE TEMPLE : 
 
 A Story of the Days of Bishop Ken. With Two Full-page 
 Illustrations by C. J. Staniland. Bevelled boards, cloth 
 gilt, price 2s. 
 
 A stirring story of the times of the cruel Judge Jeffreys, and of the 
 dangers encountered in travelling in England two hundred years ago. 
 " The book is nicely written and got up."— The Journal of Education. 
 
 THE KING'S RING 
 
 With Frontispiece by W. S. Stagey. Cloth boards, gilt, 
 price \s. 
 
 A short but effective story of Cavaliers and Roundheads, and of how 
 the Lady Grace Cross contrived to find food and shelter for King Charles I. 
 at a time when he was in great extremity of peril. 
 
 " A charming little story of the troublous days when families were divided between 
 Royalists and Roundheads." — The Record. 
 
 A KING'S THEGN 
 
 By Geraldine M. Gay. With Two Full-page Illustrations 
 by W. S. Stagey. Cloth boards, gilt, price li*. 6^. 
 Describing the life of a Thegn in the time of King Alfred, and giving 
 in the course of the story a very fine description of the great battle of 
 Ethandun, where the Danes under Guthrum were completely defeated. 
 " Is an attractive story, built on the life of a thegn in the time of King Alfred." 
 
 The Record. 
 
 A FRIENDLY GIRL 
 
 By Catherine P. Slater, Author of "A Goodly Child," &c. 
 With Frontispiece by C. J. Staniland. Cloth boards, 
 gilt, price i^. 
 
 This story describes with much pathos and quiet humour how Jeanie 
 Scott, a member of the Girls' Friendly Society, goes as a general" 
 servant to Miss Marget Melville, an old maid living in the suburbs of 
 Edinburgh, and of certain things that happened while Jeanie was there. 
 
 SOME GREAT THING 
 
 By Lady Dunboyne, Author of " Fritz and his Friends," &c. 
 With Two Full-page Illustrations by Hugh Arnold. 
 Bevelled boards, cloth gilt, price 2s. 
 The story of a girl who is always looking for some great thing to do in 
 her life, but finds in the end that the majority of people have to be content 
 with doing things that appear small. 
 
 " Is a most excellent story in every respect." — Teachers' Aid. 
 
 national society's depository, sanctuary, WESTMINSTER. 
 
24 NATIONAL SOCIETY'S NEW STORY BOOKS FOR THE YOUNG 
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A BULLDOG 
 
 By Mrs. Neville Peel. With Frontispiece by W. S. Stagey. 
 Cloth boards, gilt, price is. 
 The story of a number of dogs, " their airs and graces and their 
 adventures, related by the bulldog himself. 
 
 " It is a cleverly written work and deserves to secure widespread popularity.' 
 
 Teacher's Aid. 
 
 LOST ON THE MOOR 
 
 By Taffy." With Frontispiece. Cloth boards, gilt, price is. 
 The story of Little Jack, how he was lost on the moor in a thick fog 
 through his brother's disobedience, and how he was found and finally 
 restored to his home. 
 
 fSpoiiistcoode Co. Printers^ New-street Square, London