45 9 fil m g ED 617 . , . . W hi tney .

WR ITI N GS . N e w E di tl o n , fro m n ew p l a te s . T he set, 1 7

vo l s . 1 6 11 1 0 ,
G A R TN E Y S
'
GI R L H OO D . x6 mo,

l TH E R TO : A St oy r of Y est e rd ays . x6 m o ,

A Tl E NC E S TR O NG S O U TI NG S
’
. x6 m o ,

TH E G A Y W O R TH Y S . x 6 m o,

A S UM M E R IN LES LI E G O L D T H W A I TE S
'
LI FE .

GIR LS A H m o e S t o ry .
I ll ustrate d . 1 6 11 1 0 ,
E AL FO L ! S .

HE OTH E R G I R L S . x bm o ,

S I G H TS AND I NS I G H TS . z vo ls . 1 6 11 1 0,
0 00. O R E VE N ? x6 m o, $x . 25

B O NNY B O R O U G H . 1 6 131 0 ,
BO Y S AT C HEQ U A S S E T I l l ust rat ed . .

M OT H E R GOO S E O R G ROW N O L! S F F E nl a rg d e
r
.

E di ti o n . I ll ust at ed by B o w m x6m o,

W O M E S PU N Y ARN S . Sh o rt S t o ri e s
A S C U T NE Y STR E ET . A N ei ghbo hood S to ry r . x 6 m o,

A G O LD E N GO S S I P . N ei ghbo rh oo d S to y N um be Two r r .

x6 mo , $1 25 .

D A FF O D I L S . P o em s . I ll ustra ted .

PA N S I E S P o em N ew . s. E d iti o n .

H O LY T I D E S fo r th e C hu c h s S easo n s r
’
Sev en S
-
o n gs

r
. .

x6 m o , i l lu m i n at ed p a pe , 75 c e n ts.

BI R —
TA L!
D . N ew P oe m s . I ll ust r at ed . C ro wn
J U S T H OW A ! y t o t h C o k B o o ks 6 m o
: e e o . x ,

W H I TE M E M O R I E S 6 m o $ 00 . x , 1 .

F R I E N D L Y L E TT E R S TO G I R L F R I E N D S 6 m o $ 2 5 . x , x. .

TH E O P E N M Y S T E R Y A R ead m g o f the M o sai c .

S to ry .

H O U G H TO N , M I F F L I N CC .

B OS T O N A ND N a w YOR !
 C ONTE NTS .

INT O THE B Y -GO NES

STI L L NE SS A ND STI T CH E S
TH E COM I N G S I N
-

TH E L I FE A ND TH E GL OR Y
I N TO THE M E A NI N G S
I N TO THE OL D A ND THE NE W
Fo n z m o
IN TO D AR ! CL O S E T S A ND NE I G H B OR -H OU SE S
I NTO THE a mcs

INTO THE SU N S H I N E
IN TO THE SH OP S
IN TO 1 1m Y EA R S
INT O THE NE W TE ST A M E N T P AR T OF I T

IN TO GO D S TR E A S U R E -B OX
’

IN T O THE FA I R Y S T OR Y
W I TH THE SU N D AY STR AY S
INTO OTH E R P E OP L E S B U SI N ES S ’

I NTO THE M I D NI G H T
I N TO THE D A Y GL E AM -

INTO THE M OR N I NG
 P A TI E NCE STR ONG S OU TI NG S
’
.

“
5

C H A P TE R I .

I NTO TH E B Y -GO NE S.

E are go i n g to E urope
folks
’
L I PH A L E T S .

Mother says tha t i n a meek ki n d of way try ing ,

not to be too much set up about i t to the neigh ,

bors When they come i n and ask as the neighbor s

, ,

here have a w ay of d o i n g What the goo d word

,

i s Wi th u s
It makes me thin k that greeti ng
, always , .

It seems somehow as if it wer e a sweet old fashi on

, ,

that m ight have come do wn out of the ki n gd o m of

heaven .

That syllable i s so full word , That which

“
was i n the beginning Wi th G o d and Wi thout ,

”
W hi ch nothi ng w as made that i s made What H e .

has been gi vi n g out always , do w n through the

, ,

an gels unto men and into things G o d s meanings

, , .
’
,

of thought and of life ; his instant bestowal .

L ooki n g at i t so i t i s tender and solemn to hear

,
2 P A TI E N C E S TR O N G S ’
O U TIN G S .

the ne ighbors ask What the good word i s to

,

day And to hear mother say wi th that kind ,

of tremble i n her voice that she tri es to straighten

into c al mness Eli ph alet s folks are going to
,
’

E urope —why i t is as i f the leave for the ple a!

”
, ,

’
sur e w a s j u st the day s wor d from G od .

’
I know mother is glad and proud at E liphal et s
well doing and getting o u She is a little afraid of
- -
.

h is wife because she belongs to a Boston fami ly

,

of consequence and i s very elegant in her manners

, ,

and never takes them o fi not even for the most ,

common every— day But then as mother Says she

.
, ,

“ ”
is n t stu ck up because she never go t u p and
’
-
, ,

she never comes down She was always just so . .

She i s very respect ful an d kin d to mother but she ,

“ ”
don t like to be introduced as E liphalet s wi fe
’ ’
.

”
She i s my daughter i n law M r s Strong N ot- -
,
. .

“
even M r s Eliphalet since father di ed though
.
,

she was particular about that before She never .

objected nor suggested in so many W ords but we

always fin d out somehow just what G e r trude con
, ,

siders proper and likes to be done She i s G er

, .

trude among u s M o ther would n t like it other

.
‘ ’

wi se ; and mother ha s her quiet proprieties too .

Well Eli phalet s folks are going to E urope

,
’
.

H e and G ertrude and the chi ldren an d the i r, ,

 I NT O TH E B Y—G ONE S . 3

nurse and the i r Aunt M arthe (That i s not a

,
.

Yankee shortening ; the French terminal makes

all the difier en c e i n the prettiness It i s just so .

wi th other words I remember that I would not

.

“ ”
call my white wai sts gamps thinking of bed ,

gowns and Sai rey ; but when I found out that i t

“
w as the French gui mpe it gave a grace to the ,

I don t kno w why we

’
name and the thing .

sho u l d n t be graceful
’
e ven i f we have to b e
,

French ) .

E verybody goes to E urope now I thi nk i t i s .

to get rid of the kitchens There are two currents .

i n the A tlantic an upper and a lower The tide

, .

comes in at our b asement sto ries and has to flow ,

out again at the parlor and front doors Perhaps .

that i s the reason the G ulf Stream is changing .

Things have to equalize and accommodate .

E liphalet came out last Sunday evening on hors e

back and to ok tea and told mother all about i t
, .

They are to stay a year or mor e travel in E ngland

and Scotland and Switzerla nd this summer and
, ,

then go to Italy for the wi nter and i n the spring ,

come to Paris ; home when they get re ad y H ow .

much th at is to do and to see ! I wonder if those

,

l ittle child ren w ill take in anythi ng out of it al l , ,

to keep .
4 PA TIEN CE S TR ON G S ’
O U TIN G S .

P ashi e, you ought to go too . You don t get ’

many outings
E li phalet said that just as he went 03 when I ,

w as bidding him go o d by standing on the door -

,

step patting hi s hor se s nose and gi ving hi m

,
’
,

mouthfuls of fresh clover out of my hand .

D o n t I have many outi ngs ?

’

It has be en in my head ever since I don t think .

’

E li phal et knows It depends upon how far you go

.

out when your gate s ajar E verybody s little yard ’

.
’

room opens i nto all out d oors -

.

Why i t seems to me that l ife i s a ll outings

, .

When you don t go out any longer you di e ’

, .

’
There s no such thi ng as shutting people up .

Mother and I have lived here all by ourselves , ,

for ten years Before that we had father to take

.
,

care of for five years from the time he fir st had ,

par alys i s And before that i t w as Aunt Ju di th

.
,

and she w as deaf and dread fully well u n ex

, ,

p ec ted in her ways I m th i rty eight now and .

’
-
,

mother s fifty six ’

My dear little youn g old
-
.
, ,
-

mother ! I am her oldest S o near her ! I am so .

glad We re such comfort s to each other

.
’
.

Why I ve all her life to go out i nto i n the first

,
’
,

place E ver since she used to tell me stories about

.

ii!
? w as h tt l e d vhen she w as
an y
,

“" J
‘
i

j
2
I ‘
t
‘
k
 I N TO THE B Y—G ONE S . 5

She keeps that dear s imple way of speak ing that

,

“ ”
she learned when she w as l i tt le and when she ,

”
was young fr o m her mother and the old time
,
-

fr i ends And yet she has gone on wi th the years

.
,

to take i n and enjoy what the years teach She .

knows new books and new thoughts and the light ,

of t od ay on old thi ngs shi nes for her as trul y as

for any one We tal k over the ph ilosophers to
.

gether she and I ; and w e love the grand specula

,

t i ons that take i n the ideas of a hum anity hundreds

o f thousands of years old and the ea rths buried ,

w ithi n the earth ; i ts coarse wild rudimentary , , ,

seethi ng passionate Past rank and s li my and ra v

, ,

e nons w i th wi ldernes s and rept i le and b east c o v ,

ered up and softened over and changed ; greened ,

an d b eau t ified and peopled wi th fa i rer and fai rer

,

li fe telling u s i n a Word as b i g as the world of

, , ,

’
how it shall b e wi th men s soul s i n the l ong ti me
an d pat i ence that G od i s ri ch i n .

She loves all th i s but she d oes not tro ub le ab o ut

,

new phrases and pronunc i ati ons i n her every day -

speech . She says our folks (k i ndly old

Anglo Sax on) where G ertrude would say our
-

’
family or my father s fam il y
, and she speaks
”
o f when she w as little so that i t makes you feel
,

tender toward th e li ttl e chi l d that she was and that ,

6 P A TIEN C E S TR ON G S ’
O U TIN G S .

somewhere i n her nature she has not yet ceased

”
to be She suff ers the little chi ld in herself
.
,

and is in no wi se ashamed of i t and by it she ,

’
does always behold the Father s f ac e My dear .
,

l ittle young o l d mother ! That i s the heart word

,
- -

I always have for her and that is how I call her

, .

There were so ma ny of them sisters once ; and , ,

her li fe takes me back into all their lives Now .

there are only mother and Aunt H etty Mari a .

A unt H ett y Maria married the two largest and

o ldest farms i n D ear woo d to gether and her hus
b and has been a member of C ongress and she lives ,

at the old homestead and i s a great deal thought

,

of and looked up to She always wears bl ack s ilk

.

i n the afternoons ; and when people come to see her

they p u t on their best i n gowns and in behavi or ;
,

and her t ea— table is always ready for company and ,

set with real china that you can see th r ough

, .

Somebody almost always does come in to tea in the

“ ”
summer time and so her house is soc i ety for
,

B earwood
’
To take te a at Madam P arm en t er s i s
.

to take the best thing at once and the freedom of,

all there i s The ministers always go there and

.
,

the lecturers and people that have any public

,

b us i ness and tho se who ha ve fri ends stayi ng wi th

,

th em.
 I NT O THE B Y—G ONE S . 7

i s very qui et and ol d fash i oned and di gn ified

It -

th ere n o w It has got the a ir that onl y ripens wi th

.

a hundre d years living B u t tho se are the room s

’
.

they were born and grew up i n and were married ,

o ut o f — t ho se who were marr i ed ; buri ed out o f

, ,

—those wh o died ; and there w as where the young

folks had their t ew d ri n ki n gs and the i r co u rti ngs ,

and their houseful s of fri ends at Thanksgi vings

an d holiday ti mes ; and the i r gar den and o r chard
-

walks and talks when the d amask roses were in

b loom or the peaches were r ipe ; and the i r moon
l i ght s i tt i ngs under the great trees at the wi de
front door .

I have al l that whenI go to B ear wood It i s all .

th ere ; and that i s one of my o uti ngs M any ave .

n u ed i nto the li ves that have b een partly told me

, ,

and that have p artly told themselves I never .

stand at the landin g halfway up the b road shal ,

l o w stepped sta i rcase but I seem to feel how i t

-
,

w as whe n they and the i r v i s i to rs went up to bed i n

the old ti mes ; when they sto od there wi th shin ing

candlesti cks in the i r hands and call ed up and ,

down to each other i n the last tal k and laugh of

the n ight whi ch i s al ways the b rightest and most
,

b eguil ing N ob ody ever sa i d a word abo ut that ;

.

b ut I know i t b y what they wo ul d call n owadays, ,

sv c ho m e t rv I a n o se
8 P A TI E N CE
'
S TR ON G S ’
O U TI N GS .

’
Aunt H etty Mari a s pi ctu re hangs i n the parlor .

It s a picture of go wn and great white rufll ed cape

’

mostly ; the features are of li ttle account and were ,

never thought to look much l i ke her But I l ike .

i t for the very gown and cape such as they don t ,

’

W ear now even i n the ir dreams Such things grow .

queer i n a portrai t for a while and then they gro w ,

ancient and graph i c Then they tell stories and

.
,

are as much as a face They become the things .

that p o r tr a y .

It makes me th ink of warm pl easant weather , ,

and company comi ng that picture w ith the low , ,

necked silk gown and the wi de clear fresh musli n

, , ,

c a pe with the ru fl
, l es stand ing o fi at the shoulders ,

and the hair done up in high smooth bows It , .

woul d 1 1 t have been a dress to play croquet or

’

Aunt S all y or sh ip coil i n ; but to talk and wal k

,
-
, ,

and gather roses and sit i n state in the best parlor

,

for a hand round tea ; and so when I stand and

-
,

l ook at i t it takes me ri ght b ack to i tsel f an d in to

,

i ts day .

Why there are plenty of ways to get ou t 1

,

Away out i nto the l ong l ived years with peopl e -

,

one never saw or knew A n o ld house an old .

,

pictur e a word in a book can do i t O ne need n t

, .
’

n ecessar ily cross the water If one do e s it i s to .

,

i W d
p ' r
ifihs 3
M “W
O N
R R
1
 I N TO TH E B Y -
G O NE S . 9

get prec i sely s i milar things More of them per .

,

haps and on a grand er sca le ; but I th i nk these

,

help me to kno w what those woul d be And if you .

really do know what a thing w ou l d be I thi nk you ,

-

hardly ever get i t Because it is the meanings of

.

life and not so much l ivi ng itself that G od has

, ,

for u s here .

I do n o t believe I shall ever go to E ur ope .

“ ”
A j o urney is n t al ways an
’
outi ng after all , .

People go journeys and never go out the least bi t .

They just pack themselves up and first they ,

here and then they are there ; and that i s all the
,

di fier en c e especially in these ti mes of railroads

,

and day and night travel Why E urope was o i1 1y.

,

a b igger Washingt on Street to E ffie Butler G er ,

trude s cousin She went away i n four trunks

’
.
,

and she came b ack in eight tha t was all Shops , .

and dressmakers in Paris and jewelers in Rome ,

and Florence To what she had more was given

.
, .

But she never went o u t .

Perhaps i t i s only what goes out and stays o ut

that counts i n our li ving That is G od s going out
.
’
.

A reaching whi ch i s growi ng and a givi ng which ,

shares and multiplies l ife That was C hri st s out .

’

“
go ing Virtue went out of him Blessing and ’7
. .

hel p o f a ki nd that goeth n o t out b ut by prayer

,
10 PA TIEN C E S TR ON G S’
O U TIN G S .

and fasting . H e h i mself came out from G od

and into the world .

It tells everything that l it tle Saxon syll able of

,

force : how G od gave forth his creati on ; how the

suns flung off their planets i nto the spaces ; what
human livi ng really means and the c i rcles that
,

li ves make in time .

I sho uld like to think up thoroughly what my

, ,

outings have been and wha t they might be

, .

People keep d i ar i es of their travel s : I wo nder

what a dia ry of these woul d be ? fl Li b
12 P A TI E N C E '
STR ON G S O U TIN G S
’
.

it,there 11 be a want for i t I d r a ther use up as

’ ’
.

I go along for myse lf or somebody else ; but the

,

rule stands good against burning up or throwing

Someti mes I thi nk that still people like u s get , ,

most The world dr i fts o u and round and round

.
, ,

an d something is al w ays touching at one s corner

’

giving one a gli m pse and in the stillness one can

,

take in a good d eal that the p eople i n the hurry

can t stop to think o f
’
.

N ow E liphalet and G ertrude are going to E u

rope And they are full of plans and talk ; and
.

they come o u t here with them E liphalet brings .

his gui d e book s and gets out the 11 5 2 9

0 3 ” and

tells u s all the here and the there of i t and the ,

wh a t and the why ; and then have n t w e got i t all ’

mother and I w i tho u t the tr unks and the dress

, ,

makers and the sewing and the packing and the

, ,

seasickness and the crowd and the car e about ,

m oney and the care about o n e s self —the trouble

’

, ,

some self that never seems to be in the way when

it s where it belongs but that the minu te you set
’

, ,

o ff anywhere you Ve got always to take with you

’
,

and to tend ? You see when you travel you must , ,

.

keep taking out and putting away your clothes ,

and your body al l the t i me ; i n and out of bo xes

, ,
 S TILLNESS A ND S TI TCHES . 13

i
f n an d out of boats and cars and hotels If .

your sight and your thought could go w ithout all ,

th is !
They do when your fri ends travel for you .

When you ve found out exactly what there i s to

’

for as you only do fi nd out when somebody

g o ,

i s really going why then you ve almost been

, ,
’
.

’
And when the letters come back you re as good ,

as there .

N ot but what the do ing does deepen i t all It i s .

li ke p utti n gg n y other d ream i nto action You can .

d ream i n a minute but i t take s days and years to

l i ve your dream out ; and if you c a n li ve i t you ,

have n t mad e it your own unt il you do It i s onl y

’
.

that the m i nutes are given to them w ho are for

bidden the days and the years ; and in the Lord s ’

givi ng H e can make the days as the years and the ,

minutes as the days And so things come by and

.
,

you get your sh are and the b it i s multi plied

, .

When the people were hungry H e made them s i t ,

down qui etly on the green grass (There i s always .

much grass mu ch poss ible green content

“

in every plac e ) And H e gave to the few and the

.
,

few to the many ; and there was enough for al l .

I th ink after the studyi ng and plann ing are

,

done wh i ch are the fir st and the essence o f the

,
14 P A TI E N CE S TR ON G S O U TIN G S
’
.

havi ng the next best must be the

,
M
Q u iet hours on the ocean when you know you ar e
.
,

on your w ay ; and over and over ripening and ,

gladdeni ng in your mind come the plans and the ,

visions and the feeling of what i s going to be z the

,

str etches of r ailway between one delight and the

next ; the time you ha ve to take to get the body
al ong when what has been grows mello w in the
,

mi nd enriching and sweetening i t ; and what is

,

coming comes beforehand with a lon g beau tiful , ,

slant as the dayshine does ove r the hills Yes it

, .
,

i s all best And I know I should be gl a d to go

.
,

and l i ve i t l n But I can stay and be glad too

.
, ,

for the m u ch of it that I can get without the going ,

and that this quiet s t aying works w ith also like , ,

those between times of the going Think it over

-
.

a s I wi ll it somehow comes out even

,
.

I believe I like waiting times Perhaps it i s be .

cause I have got used to waiting B u t I like the .

days between the knowi ng and the ha ving of a

pleasure It is with you all the while I like to
. .

expect a letter When it has come there is the

.
,

end of i t I l ike the time when the carpet i s swept

.
,

and the fir e is b r ight or the win d ows open to the

,

sunshine and the flow er s ar e in the vases and the

,
‘
,

fresh covers o u and the cake basket ready in the

,
-
 S TI L L N E SS A N D
’
S TI TCH ES . 15

closet and the friend expected presently If she

, .

cam e right i n in a hurry as soon as the l ast thing

, ,
'

was done i t woul d take away hal f t he p l easan t n ess

, .

And in this I feel faintly as i f it were not all ; as if

there might be a meaning of something deeper and
farther o u I wonder if I could not wait wi th some
.

such peace as this if I were old or had a long and

, ,

mortal sickness or were left al one awhi l e ? Let

,

ting the sunlight of heaven come slanting i n slowly , ,

long beforehand when the day w as sure to be ?

,

W w eet
fl u se of
M rather than a
cr aving and a pain of the taking away that was , _

for such a gi vi ng a ain ? I do not know ; but I ‘

thi i i k it is what this pleasantness of wa i t i ng means .

I was very wise and stron g and contented , , ,

’ ’
was n t I Where is it al l gone and why could n t ,

I stay j u st as quietly now ?

’
O h but it s ve r y di fier en t now !
,

E liphalet has asked me truly and in earnest , ,

to go to E u rope with them !

To put myself away and take myself o ut —yes , ,

well I think I can !

,

To have it all —to mean i t really when we talk

, ,

—to h ave the rest and the hope on the sea and ,

the great beautiful actual thi ngs when we com e

, ,
16 P A TI E N C’E S TRON G S ’
O U TI N G S .

to them and the go ing b ack in the pauses and the

,

‘
stillness ; and the waiti ng for more ; to keep gather
i ng i n and laying by and to come home again rich ,

for all the rest of the years !

But then my darling little mother !
, ,

She says G o dear i e , and she wi ll stay

,

wi th Aunt H etty M aria she never will have a

chance again may be And the home here can be
, .

shut u
p .

She means I never may have the chance again .

B ut th en could n t I take i t partly for her ? ’

, ,

C oul d n t I keep giving it to her as I went al ong

’
,

an d br in g i t all back t o b e glad over together ?

N obody else would wr ite to her as I would every ,

li ttle b it Why I shoul d be like H arriet Byron

.
, ,

who al ways puzzled me so how she ever managed ,

to have the things happen when she was doing

such monstrous days works to wr ite them al l ’

down .

’
If I go ; and I shall keep saying if till I m
-

’
on the deck of the steam er for I can t look it quite ,

strai ght i n the face that I m going away from ’

mother so long or bear to put it certain i n words

, ,

— i f I go I must be ready by the fift een th What

,
.

i s to b ecome o f my wai ti ng ti me ? A m I to rush -

r i ht i nto thi s great pleasure w i thout a breath

g ,
 S TI L LNESS A ND S TI TCH ES . 17

when I l ike so to stop and look even at a l ittle one ?

We sh all see I 1 1 work hard but we w ill have a
.
’
,

qu i et Sun day and Monday before I go to N ew York

on Tuesday .

We shall start together mother and I — that s , ,

’

a com fort I c ou l d n t leave her behind stand ing

.
’
,

al one on the porch And when she gets out of the

.

cars at B earwood there won t be any ti me as E li

,
’
,

p hal et says for a fuss

, Somet i mes a hurry i s the.

b est thi ng I am glad there are qu i ets a n d hurri es

. .

There al ways a r e two things The world i s all .

opposites ; and one thing coul d n t be wi thout the ’

other You can t rest until you re tired ; you can t

.
’ ’ ’

be glad i f you ve never b een sorry We shall fin d

’
.

i t all out by and by ; and how H e sees that every

thing is good .

We ha ve n t any sewi ng mach ine to hurry wi th

’
-
.

We never wanted one I think sew ing m achines .

-

are to needle work just wha t railroad s are to t ravel

-

ing and telegraphs to business You have to do

,
.

ten ti mes as much of i t and you can t stop to enjoy ,

’

it
. It seems to me that the w ay the world grows i s
very much li ke the game of b ez i que they used
to play at G ertrude s It sounds bigger to count
’
.

by hundreds and thousands than by tens ; but i t

is preci sely the same thing after al l as to the , ,
 18 PA TIEN C E S TR ON G S O U TIN G S
’
.

game and a great deal more bothe r In fact

,
.
,

when we once began to change o u r p r oportions

we spoiled the whole thing and got tired of it al to
gethe r .

If people would only d ress themselves and fur

nish their hou ses as simply as they did before the ,

machines would have clear ed up such a blessed

sp a ce in life ! But they went right to inventing
and multiplying tucks and bands and ruffli n gs and
flou n c i n gs and things to put them on to till the
, ,

only diff erence is that they are whizzed to death

with work instead of quietly and peaceably tired
,

out .

N o mother and I have each her wi ndow — hers ,

looks o u t into a larch and mine into a chestnut

her tr ee is t ender fir st with new green fringe and
b r ight with young red budding cones ; an d mine
, ,

gr ows beautiful later wi t h its white feathery spires ; ,

and we have each a round old fashioned li ghtst an d

,
-
,

with a work basket and a sewing bi r d screwed o u ;

-
,
-

d t he r eal bi r ds flu tt er u p the green stai r ways of

"
w
t e branches and sit singing on the rocking tips
,

of the twi gs ; and we are still and happy and have ,

'

our brains to our selves and r est all o u r bo d ies ex

,
~

cept o u r fin ger s instead of kee ping head and hands

,

and feet and ne rves all flying as the children do in

,
20 PA TIEN C E S TR ON G S O U TIN G S
’
.

little thread d r opped into the wonderful life solu

tion to gather i n heaps the lovely shin ing crystal s
, , ,

each to its own And the sti ller you keep the
.
,

more crystals you get Whi ch i s e xactly what I

.

began wi th.
 CHAPTE R I II .

TH E C OM I NGS I N -
.

I D ON T kno w which are the most or the b est

’
,

the outin gs or the int ings There — I thought - .

,

b efore I wrote i t down that I had made a word !

A n d after all I v e only come round to an old
’
,

”
meaning . In t hi nt i nt ing ’
i nk ,

”
l ing
, they are all the same and mean just thi s ,

very thi ng That wh i ch comes i n to u s — faintly

.
, ,

shad owly br eathly — w e can t tell ho w

, ,
’
.

I ll look i t out i n W orcester

’
E tymol ogy un .

”
certain . Well I ve found i t out then Please ,
’
.

put Pa ti ence Strong as an authority in the next

di cti onary .

When I was a li ttle girl th i s house had a p i ece ,

b ui lt on to i t A ll one sum mer there was an n u

.

fin i shed room under the p iazza just b oarded i n

, ,

and once when two or three uncles and aunts were

,

here wi th the i r chi ldren and every place was full , ,

I slept there In the cl ear shi ny morni ngs when

.
, ,

I woke u p there was a l i ttl e beam o f li ght that

,
22 PA TI ENCE S TR ONG S O U TI NG S ’
.

came from the east all the way fr om the great sun
,

str aight d own upon the world striking nothing ,

til it touched an old el m tree in our yard and then

-
,

str eamed through a little knot hole into my ch amber - .

Ther e it made a pictur e on the opposi t e wall a ,

soft gray picture of moving leaves and stems ; only

a bi t of a br anch m agn i fied I suppose according
, , ,

to the l aw of opti cs for things g iven through little

glory holes into camera obscu r as
-
b u t b r inging
-
,

the whole tree in to me for all that ; the tree and

, ,

th e wind also in its bou ghs and the f r eshness of the ,

growing moving mor ning time All this came l n —

,
-
to .

me with a shadow — a hi n t to me shut up -

,

there with only a little knot—

, hole as big as my
'
fin ger for a window And that is the way things
d o come ; as much as to say like the old song , ,

If you want any mo r e can t you sing it your ,

’

self
Thi ngs come bac k so books for instance ; stor ies
.
,

I have read and feeli ngs they have given me

,
.

Sometimes it is n t any one in par ticular but a

’

sudd en sense of them in gener al ; a kind of E olian

sti r of strings in me that have been touched with
p leasantness .

Somebody showed me a spectroscope the other

day I went to see a friend who has the w hol e of
.
 THE C OM I N GS- I N . 23

most thi ngs ; and yet she too must come to the , ,

border beyond which she has to li ve by hints ; she

,

showed me and told me about i t : how the colors

,

were all measured off w ith wonderful lines and ,

each kind of light produced its own — just so much ,

i n b r eadth and in just s uch place i n the pr i sm ;

,

how the light of the sun divided i tsel f and the ,

light of Sirius showed its ki ndred wi th ours ; how

they found out by fusing metal s and seeing where ,

their colors ranged themselves just What must be ,

also in the blaze of the far o if stars and that their

-
,

glory and our own is all of one She burned a .

little salt i n a candle and straight and swift leaped

,

up in the prism along the yellow i n Sodium s line ,

’

a vi vid thr ead thrilled instantly to i ts own pl ace

,

the law of all recept ion of all illum ination of all

, ,

li fe
.

W ell i t comes so i n sudden streaks and flashes

'

each in its own home place in the heart the mem

-
,

ory of what one has gathered and entered i nto ,

and been Through books or places or people or

.
, , ,

thoughts I never know why ; but i n the midst of

.

work this breath comes over me and i n i t i s a ,

spirit— fragrance tha t to uches sense ; a momentary

realizing of all remembrances imagi n ings and , ,

hopes showing how true they are and how once

, , ,
24 P A TI E N C E S TR ONG S ’
O U TI N GS .

had they are never to be lost out o r once looked

, , ,

for they are sure to be

, .

That is why I like to live on i n th i s dear old

home and why I shou ld hate to have even the
,

carpets wear wholly out and be replac ed all to

gether ; it is why a fir e I think is such a terrible
, ,

thing ; it is why I can never understand how

people c an li ke to send o fi to auctions and new ,

furnish their homes Why when they do that .

, ,

they have n t any homes I like to have things

’
.

kept and cared for and turned an d made to last ;

, ,

and when they must go to have the complexi on

, ,

and expression of them renewed i n something as

nearly like as possible I should not like to have
.

our s i tting room ann ihi lated and supplanted by

-

the carpets and wal l paper being changed to as

startling a d i fier en c e as coul d b e any more than I ,

shou ld li ke next spri ng to have al l the trees leave

o u t in roy al purple or the sky turn green
,
G od .

keeps the home feeling i n hi s earth for u s ; I be

-

lieve he wi ll keep i t to o in hi s heaven Thi n gs

, ,
.

must wear out and change but the spi rit and the
sense may last They shall pass away ; but my
.

”
word shall not pass away .

The sitting room and parlor carpet were both

-

ali ke once Then the sitting room carpet wore

.
-
 TH E COM IN GS -
IN . 25

out and the parlor one was put i n the pl ace of i t

,

and one that woul d n t look badly with i t w as got

’

for the parlor ; and so by l ittle and little we shad ed

o ff our wontedness from one i nto the other ; and

now I suppose we m ight take away the fir st and r e

place it wi th this last agai n and have st ill another ,

new one not too di fieren t wi thout the feeling of

, ,

a break B ut now there are only two of u s they

.
, ,

wi ll last as they are I thi nk all our l ives I hope

, , .

they wi ll But then I a m an old maid

. .

I like that si tting room carpet so much ! W ith

-

i ts great old fashioned oval s of shaded b rowns

,
-
,
'

and i t s i n term ed i at e lesser figur es filli n g up wi th

curvi ng lines and leaves just touched with deep
reli ef of green good fast old colors that stand
, , ,

wear and sunshine and that I remember so many

,

sunshiny days by l
I remember a wi nter morni ng when grandma ,

was alive and li ved with u s when I was a gi rl of

, ,

twelve and sat i n the south wi ndow readi ng

,

Irvi ng out of a great vol ume of all hi s works that

, ,

father had bought at a sal e delighting i n Brace ,

-

bridge H all and hardly knowing which was most

,

enchanting and to be c o veted the fai r J ul i a s ,

’

l ife i n her E nglish home or that of the beautiful ,

Moorish pri ncesses i n the A lhambra I remember .

26 P A TI E N C E S TR ON G S
’
O U TI NG S .

the sun pouring broad and full across my lap and

the page and lyi ng level along the greens and
,

browns away out into the open parlor door and ,

g r andma saying The sun lays straight —i t s

, ,
’

twelve o clock ’
All the cosiness of my book ,

and her quiet companionship and her knitting ,

work — she w as footing socks for father — and

, ,

the bright day ; even the yellow gingerb r ead mo

ther gave me for my lu ncheon come back to ,

me bringing after them the joy and freedom and

,

fancy of twelve years old when life was only a ,

sketch book as often as the sun lays straight

,

along the seams And then I look forward as well

.

as b ack for the soul is the living thing ful l of

,

”
eyes befor e and behind and think of the time
,

that is to come the time that the dear kind simple

,
, , ,

grandmother has ente r ed into when ther e shall be ,

no more measur ing of the noonday or of the going

down because there shall be no more need of the
,

sun i tself but we shall d well in the midst of the

,

unmeasured and shadowless light of G od .

I do not s u ppose anybody could have had just

such a home as this anywhere else , .

In the fir st place ther e is the old old garden

, , .

It seem s as if it must have always been o ld There .

are flower s there that don t grow in new gardens ; ’

28 PA TI ENCE S TR ONG S O U TIN G S ’
.

for i t — i n wi de t urf spaces between

, under ,

l ilac s snowballs and syringas and horse chestnuts

, , ,
-

and maples —till the b rown water of the brook

,

runs its sentinel li ne b etween it and the meadow

mowi ng beyond .

Down on one s ide from the west door yard be

,
-
,
~

side the garden wall ac r oss the brook and up

,

again into the beautiful oak past u re where it loses

itself goes the green lane by which the cows have
, ,

been turn ed out to their grass and come home

again morning and ni ght ever s ince my grand
, ,
.

father s father built the place

’
.

Al ong the s ides you fin d the first wild vio

l ets and the little mi t chella and i n one place the
,

wild honeysuckle spicy with odor : and down at

,

the brook the fa ir slight wind flo wer s growing in

,
-

thousands maki ng you think always of a low

,

b reeze running al ong the gr ound and liftin g up

their deli cate faces ; and up i n the pasture the
lesser Solomon s seal that I go and brin g home by
’
,

apr onfuls i n the late May and early J une ; and in

the August ri pen i ng there are blackberries and
thi mbleberries un der the walls everywhere an d i n
O ctob er you can go down over the pasture ledge
i nto the hollows against the wood and fin d the ,

wil d grapes purple and whi te lyi ng among the ir

, ,
 TH E C M O IN G S—I N . 29

great cool leaves against the hot faces of the sun

gathering rocks .

Inside the house it is just o u r house Full of .

u s all ; fill ed up once and never to be empt i ed of

the presences that have made it home All the .

rooms open into each other up stairs and down ; ,

you can alway s shut and bolt a door if you like ,

but i t is nice that they c a n all be set w ide The .

west door opens from the porch i nto a square side

passage up through which at the back t wi sts a
,

li ttle staircase which you turn i nto at the bottom ,

and tu rn right out of it again because you can t ,

’

help yourself at the top and before you th ink of

,

”
go ing up you a r e up
,
Sim ilarly as Dickens
.
,

says — do wn A re al cute li ttle stai rcase that

, .

carries out the senti ment of the house join i ng par ,

lors and chambers like a brace or like the thing ,

proof readers put for a si gn of a transposal If

-
.

’
you can t have a hall l ike a saloon and a staircase ,

wide enough for four abreast then have this ,a ,

little b it of a turn round that lands you somewhere

-

’
else before you know i t and that don t pretend to
,

be anythi ng of i tself I hate a mi ddle s i zed entry

.
-

w ay that i s neither out doors nor i n wi th tw o

, ,

chai rs and a hat tree - .

On the ri ght hand i s the ki tchen ; and i f the

30 PA TIEN CE S TRONG S ’
O U TI N GS .

door i s open no matter ; for you 11 only see a

,
’

white scrubbed floor and a still whi ter table and

-
, ,

some bright tins an d a blazing copper pump and

,

boiler and a velvet—

,
black stove wi th a squ are of
fresh washed oilcloth arou nd i t ; and perhaps get
-

a whiff of something n ice baking in th e oven .

O u the left is the little parlor —the winter

room ; and out of that opens the summer parlor ,

lar ger and lying at the nort heast corner of the

,

house A door le ad s from this into the front yard

.
,

on to the grass under the mulberry trees ; and an -

other opposite into the sitting room lar ger than -

,

either and connecting with both ; and from that

you go out on the broad back piazza or into the ,

kitchen and so you have fin i shed the round

, .

U pstai rs just the same ; only there is a l ittle

back stairway nipped out of a corner so that ,

you r e not obliged to go through other rooms to

’

get down from either The great chimney stack i s

.
-

right i n the middl e and the sun seems to be on all

,

sides of the house at once because of the doors ,

through and through that all come oppos i te to

,

windows and if he looks into one room invi te h im

, , ,

right across i nto another Just so with the breeze

.

i n summer t i me ; you can get it anywhere .

I And this i s only the shell ; there i s all the fill i n g

 TH E COM I NG S—I N . 31

up . the dear old furn i ture and curtains and

A ll , ,

bedquilts of everybody s dresses — and book

,
’
,

shelves and books and pictures and ornaments

,

tha t are an inner shell and the fil l i n g up of these

) ,

that i s the life ; that reaches away i n and away

out backward and forward ; that the use and the i
,

handling of these things even the havi ng them

,

before one s eyes in moods of pleasantness or pain

’

, ,

of thought or listening in times of search and

,

efio rt of i n coming and answering of love and

,
-
,

prayer and faith and doing ha s made to repeat ,

itself and link itself all through with such chains

of remi nder and association that just the same
l i fe could never have been or grown elsewhere and ,

can never truly feed itself so well as here .

I begin to think I a m l i ke the old king of G ra f

nad a fix ed in one spot but with windows open ,

ing out every way ; and a magical board on which

i s repeated for me the moving of all life that is
beyond me and out of sight ; that I may watch ,

and know and even truly handl e and rule it all

, ,

getting my own out of i t as if I were among i t .

For we are back again mother and I ; and

our trunks are unpacked ; and this is why I have
been all over the old home outside and i n as peo , ,

ple do who have been away so long .

32 P A TI E N C E S TR ON G S O U TIN G S
’
.

For I shal l never get over the feeling that I

ha ve been to E urope though E liphalet s folks went
’

without me after all That was what I meant to

, .

have said at the beginning only I got so taken u p

,
.

I met with an acc i dent the Saturd ay before w e

,

were to sail I fell down the little front stair case

.
,

out of t he best chamber door into the kitchen and ,

broke one of the bones of my left leg just above

the ankle.

I had to take to my old outings again the n ew

ones were not to b e just yet
, .

If I want any more I must sing it myself

, .

O r it will be sun g to me if I listen

, , .
 CHAPTE R IV .

TH E L I FE A ND TH E GL OR Y .

TH E dear little mother brisk as a bee ki n d wi th

, ,

as much of G od as a motherly heart can hold has ,

gone downstairs with E mery Ann .

E mery A n n is our fri end i n the k i tchen ; she has

kept the tins and the coppers shining ever since I
w a s ten years old Born wi th a fate and a genius
.
,

to scrub and to b ri ghten ; christened w ith an i n

sp i ration
.

They are going to beat whites and yolks of new

laid eggs fin e sugar and a little drif t of flour
, , ,

“
b arely enough to hold soul and body together ,

E mery Ann says into the spongiest

, no ,

sponge i s tough ; it i s n t spo nge cake they make

’
-
,

but the foami est pu ffiest ai riest yell ow tendernes s

, , ,

of sweetness that can be baked in a pan and come ,

out with a crispness all over i t just suffic i en t t o ,

hold its rari ty i n and g i ve you a plac e to handl e

,

and b eg i n o u .

The more mother i s dri ven the more she can

do always She i s like flam e o r gun cotto n
, .
- .
 34 P A TI E N C E S TRONG S O U TI NG S
’
.

Try to build a fir e with only a little kin dl i ng ,

and be char y of your wood bec a u se of the li ttle

the r e i s to start upon give it onl y one solid stick
, ,

and see how loth it will be to take hold ! H ow it

will eat up its chance and dodge its work ! H ow
,

the little fli c ker s will dwin dl e and shrink li ke pre ,

tenses that h a ve no heart in them an d leave only a ,

smoke and a blackn ess wher e they just touched

what was laid upon them and drew back ! Then
i g i ve it mo r e to do before it is
, quite burnt out .

0
5
Lay another sti ck o u and another Leave h ttl e
,
.

and climbing places and see how the life

-
,

leaps up again reaching to the topmost after the

, ,

nature of al l spir it to which the bright element is

,

so close an app r oach and emblem You ll build .

’

your fir e just by laying it bigger G od makes u s .

burn so .

’
It is a g ood thi ng to remember I ve thought of
it many a winter s morning when I ve been down
’
,
’

on my knees on the heart h coaxi ng the blaze .

I ve tho ught of the same th i ng when I ve had

’ ’

an old pair of scissors to deal with ; a dull loose ,

p ai r w i th no grasp in them Try them on a single

, .

thread or a thin fli m sy fabric and what a fuss !

, , ,

They double and grind and fray and worry and

, , , ,

m ight as well be o ne half on one s ide of the room

36 PA TI ENCE S TR ON G S ’
O U TI N G S .

di r ectly But if you ve got to crowd close squ eez

.
’
,

i n g i n one thi n g i s always making some little inter

stice for another The busiest day tha t comes
.
,

wi th her is sur e to leave a corner of chance for

,

extra work ; somethi ng that can be done as well as

“ ”
not , seeing she i s about amongst things She .

wi ll stir up a pan of cake because she fin d s she has

to wait a few minutes for the flat irons If she -

.

had been upstairs and settled down she m i ght not

, ,

have thought she coul d take the time to come pur

p o sely and do i t So there s that much clear gai n
’
. .

Busy lives are full of gains li ke these .

But it i s nice to have rest l a i d o u t for you once ,

in a whi le — even by a broken leg I think on

, .
,

the whole now I have tried i t that i t is rather bet

, ,

ter if anyt hi ng than headaches You ha ve the

, , .

same pri vilege and can make a good deal more

,

of i t .

I am too much mother s chi ld to be re all y lazy ; ’

b ut I think for all that it i s one of my outin gs ,

when I have to gi ve up an d stay in bed awhile I t

'

i s morning all day then That li ngeri ng pause of

, .

rest and thought — thought coming in so easily and

,

freshly when li fe is put o ff a littl e and we need

, ,

not begin again just yet to d o A ti me w e are .

sore tempted to steal a l ittle more oi ; and tha t is ,

 THE LIF E A ND TH E GL OR Y . 37

trul y so good for u s that it is given to u s now and

,

then in a whole slice perforce To have the cham

, , .

ber fresh and sweet the bed nice w i th new li nen

, ,

one s best cap and r u ffles o u and all the little dear
’

f am iliar things set straight and looking upon one ,

round about with their pl easantest faces to know

that one is j u st ified i n i t all and can t help i t ; b ut
-
,
’

may just take it as a free gi ft and lie softly under ,

the blessing of a ministe r ing love I thi nk i t ,

makes what comes of pain a blesse d ness ; a help ,

to o for the days beyond

, .

Mother has done i t all for me just now sweetly , ,

and heartfull y ; and has gone down wi th E mery

Ann as I said leaving me here with the window
, , ,

Open and my books and paper and penci l on the

,

bed beside me her kiss warm on my forehead and

, ,

G od s rest underneath me to wait for the int ings

’

,
-
,

and to go out with a soul like a bird that has all

heaven to fly i n .

“
v The E verlasti ng A rms I think of tha t when
.

ever rest is sweet H ow the whole eart h and the

.

f str ength of i t
.

that i s almightiness is beneath eve ry

, x ,

t ired creature to g i ve it rest ; ho l d i n g u s always ! ,

N o thought of G od is closer than that N o .

4
human tenderness of patience i s greate r tha n that
Twhich gathers i n i ts arms a little child and hold s ,
38 PA TI ENCE S TRONG S O U TIN G S
’ ’
.

i t,heedl ess of weariness A n d H e fill s the great.

eart h an d all upon i t with this unseen force of his

, ,

love that never for gets or exh austs itself ; so that

,

everywher e we may lie down in his bosom and b e

comfort ed Wearin ess and despair an d penitence
.
,

and pain and helplessness these prostr ate them ,

selves ; they fling themselves on the heart of the

Fathe r and H e holds them there Jesus fell on
,

hi s face and prayed .

A very gentle wind lifts and lets fall the white

curtain edge and moves tenderly the you ng leaves
-
, .

The great branches ar e still ; only the little out

most twigs and shoots sti r softly and shyly as it
touches them hiding thei r faces against eac h other
,

as if some holy myste ry came close And so it .

does .

The first th in g I opened my eyes to this morn

i ng was this li ttle moving of the muslin shade
against my par tly open win dow It is a livi ng .
,

and not a dead world that we are born an d wake ,

daily into ; everything moving and throbbing wi th

, ,

li fe and breath and pr esence

, , .

It is not death and emptiness we go out into ,

any mor e when we die b\uj fl t o the ful lness and

,

the i nmost of the li fe behind the appear ance In .

thi s i nmost how close we sh al l come to H im and

,
 THE L I F E A ND THE GL OR Y . 39

to each other ! C loser than we ever did thr ough

the types and patterns .

People talk about physical man ifestati ons of

spi r itual presence ; as if they by their prying ha d , ,

found out some new thing and got at what they ,

never could reach before When G od has never .

”
left himself wi thout a wi tness and the hill s and ,

the trees and the clouds and the grass blades -

forever making signs to us — the manual of hi s ,

meanings .

Without the Word was nothing made that i s

”
made .

There i s no empty talk with H im .

And this Word is the same — the self same ,

-
,

with the living loving speaking C hri st O ut from

, , , .

the Father this yearning seeki ng bestowal of him ,

self came in its full ness by the begetting of the

Son The whole and uttermost meaning of G od in
.

and fo r his world The alphabet of his language

.

in hum anity holding all its signs and possible

,

word s beforehand The Alpha and O mega

, . .

B y him are all thi ngs and in him all thi ngs con ,

sist
.

That i s all the theology I can fin d or c o me to .

”
That i s enough C hri st i n the bosom of the
.

’
Father s glory G od wi th us b y hi m
. .
40 P A TI E N CE S TRON G S O U TIN G S
’
.

I can sh ape it dimly to myself in this w ay If a .

mortal man could have a glorious and holy c on c ep

tion a purpose that should reach far out of him
, ,

and could have such life i n himself as to give it

l ife in i tself so that it should be a love to bless
, ,

and a consciou s gladness to return to him again so

that it should in a beautiful pe r sonality born of
, ,

hi m as his child and none the less his o wn out

,

going be sent to unfold its work counseling w ith

, ,

the soul that caused i t and exchanging a sublime

,

and intimate joy ; if his spirit like the sun co ul d , ,

throw o il a thought pl a net so — then out of him

-
,

might have gone forth something that should be

like the Son of G od .

Begi nning at the other end working painfully ,

u p the philosophers h a y
,
ze gaghgi B
r art way
’
find

ing M o wn i n
g in tent of the long
labor of creation ; not remembering how G od s ’

thought i s di fferent f r om our thou ght — that it ful ,

fill s itself and i s and lives how H e cann ot th ink

, ,

of anything that straightway sh al l not be ; how

when H e thou ght his Fatherhood and his c r eation ,

and loved his thought it may be tha t hi s C hrist

,

must needs have been born that his thought

,
-

might know itself and love H im back and do his

, ,

will and perfect his joy wh ich cannot be alone

, ,
.
 TH E LIF E A ND TH E G L OR Y . 41

The Man ; whose life was to be illustrated in ,

time by all m en ; member s of his body ; the full

,

ness of H im who fill eth all in all I n hi m as he .

,

in G od .

This was the glory that he prayed for ; the glory

that he came into our h uman life fal len away fr om ,

the Divine Pattern to redeem unto himself ; that

,

which he had with the Father before the world ,

”
w as. I am before Abraham
,
.

The beginning the fir stbo rn from the

dead from the dead of that which was not ;
G od s gift of hi mse l f unto hi msel f ; hi s i mage
’

when i n that image H e woul d make l i ving soul s .

“
The fir stbo rn of every creat ure i n whom i t
pleased the Father that there should all fulness
”
dwell . Does not that grand fir st chapter of C o
l o ssi an s tell it all
And then again the begi nning to the H ebrews
, ,

to the people who w ith their old trad i tions of c rea

, p

ti on and their sole revelation of Jchovab woul d ,

most of all look to b e told of the ori gin of C hr i st

far back in G od .

“
Who be ing the brightness of hi s glory and
, ,

the express image of his person and up hol di n g a l l ,

”
thi n gs by the word of hi s power thi s very G od ,
-

strength of the E verl ast ing Ar ms tha t i s forever

42 P A TI E N CE S TR ON G S O U TIN G S
’ '
.

under us — i sblessed out of the deep heart of

,

A lmigh tiness w ith an i n fin i te human j oy Thou .

art my Son this day have I begotte n thee I will .

be to hi m a Father and he shal l be to me a Son

, .

And l et all the angels of G od wor ship him

C an I believe to o m u ch in C hrist the Lord ? ,

Perhaps the apostle might mistake as people ,

measuring hi m t o day would reason ; but I P a

-
, p

t i en c e Strong mistake al so many thin gs

, H ow .

can I judge ? I think I had better be mistaken

with Paul who had the nearer and the grander
,

vi sion than by my feeble self

, .

More again I will be mistaken wi th H i m

, .
,

when he says : H e that hath seen me hath seen

the Father The onl y begotten Son whi ch is in
.
,

the bosom of the Father he hath declared h im , .

”
N o man cometh un to the Father but by m e .

Somebody greater than I shoul d make out the

awful argumen t I am onl y Patience Str ong
. .

These are the thoughts that come to me of Jesu s ,

and they come onl y so They come in flashes .

lightni ng out of the one part unto the other part

un der heaven ; link i ng great words together and ,

showi ng the glory i nto which we are all b aptiz ed ;

the glory of the name of the Father and of the ,

S on and o f the H oly G ho st

, .
44 PA TI ENCE STR ONG S O U TIN G S
' ’ ’
.

That which stan d s so joined together i n the ,

w ord of C hrist and i n the impul se of faith i s ,

enough . The manifestation of J esu s and the

nearness of G od .To feel hi m close i s to be
drawn i nto the I n fin i te Glory C hri st raised
.

from the dead by the glory of G od This that

.
,

Paul said after was simply perhaps what Thomas

, , ,

felt . The r ec ogn i ti on of the Son and of the

Father whi ch is forever glad and forever one
, , .

So that he that abideth i n the doctri ne of C hri st

hath both the Father and the Son and receivi ng
hi m the Lord we do always i n the self same m o
, ,
-

ment rece i ve and fill ourselves wi th G od .

I have gone h igh and far tod ay H ere must

, .

th e end be and th e hu sh
, at His feet !
,
 CHAPTE R V .

I NT O TH E M E A NI N GS .

I ! NE W that the world was bu ilt by correspond

emees before I ever heard of Swedenborg ; that
there were meanings i n thi ngs and that thi ngs had
,

to be made for the gi vin g of the meanin gs I sup .

pose I have sai d i t over and over already i t is so

, , ,

much i n my mind And why not ? Since the

.

whole world and worlds are the etern al tele

graphy from G od s thought i nto ours ; meant there
’

fore to be in our minds and that continuall y the

, ,

very i npour ing of life .

I have read them out some of them i n N ew

, ,

C hurch writings since ; and I have only wondered

that there had ever needed to be such a system
built ; as if C hr i st had not suffic i ently indicated
and inaugu rated i t when he translated all his holy
,

lessons straight from the glowi ng parables of G od .

And I th ink — at least i t al ways seems to me

that the great t rouble wi th the Swedenborgi an sys
tem i s that i t i s too defin i te You can t make a dic
.
’
46 P A TI E N C E S TR ON G S O U TIN G S
’
.

of these things The Spir it takes them and

t i o n ary .

uses them as it will They are b r oad and elastic .

,

and m any sided ; they show thi s to the soul to day

- -
,

and that t o morrow as it needs ; and every show

-
,

ing is true And the soul must grow up into them

.
,

as a child into a language into which it is bor n ;

whi ch is s uch a di fferen t li vi n g thing fr om the ,

same langu age taught by rule and me thod of letter

and construction That was the way they heard
.
,

of old by the Spirit each in his o wn tongue in

, , ,

which he w as born no other , .

I know that water means truth and cleansing

the truth that enters through the intelli gence and ,

the clear seeing of G od s signs

-
’
.

But you cannot say i t all in sayi ng that , .

It is gladness and gi ft and many things more ,

.

R ound and round the wo rld through all the th irst ,

of i t it goes taking i ts way in many changing

, ,

forms I n it a r e movi ng things ; things that are

.

bo r n o i and ar e joyous in i t as o u r thoughts and

, ,

knowledges are born o f and glad i n the f u ll deep , , ,

sea that spi r itually holds them I t cools it com .

,

forts it qu enches it delights It is the fine ele

, , .

ment by which a re transfused all the subtleties of

vegetable li fe ; all the juices of our physical bodies .

It i s the veh i cle for giving of good and for takin g ,

 I N TO THE M EANIN G S . 47

away of sup erflu i ty and evil ; it penetrates solves , ,

persp ires ; it is one of Go d s great comprehens i ve

’

wonders .

J esus coul d prom i se no greater nor full er than , ,

to say I will g i ve you water ; and i t shall b e in

,

you sp ri ngi ng up to everlasti ng life

, Water i s .

joy, satisfying all craving and answer meet i n

this embodi ed pledge of heaven .

If I were to gi ve you so m e thoughts of m i ne

about i t just as I once wrote them down perhaps
, ,

”
you would say It i s not Patience Strong
,
.

That i s w hy I hardly like to gi ve them ; and yet

they belong just here Th i nkings t race them
.

selves round until they meet their o w n curves

,

again like some intri cate pattern that joi ns its l i ne

,

and shows i tself suddenly one .

I was always a l ittle afr ai d of big words .

When we were children E liphalet used to call me

,

Polly Syllable i f ever I use d them and noth ing

,

made me more ashamed .

So I have mostly kept my verses to mysel f .

Mother sees them ; but then she knows ; she under

stands ways and fashi ons tim es and occasions
, .

She knows that the same woman can put herself

into a gi ngham short gown and old shoes or high ,

heeled slippers and a l ong trai n ; and that noth ing

48 P A TI E N C E S TRON G S ’
O U TL NGS .

i s eas i er perhaps than such outside change

, , , or

makes less matter to the re al woman i ns ide I .

thi n k she could write poetry perfectly well herself ,

and come out of it again i nto her simple Yankee

every day exactly the same as ever We li ft up
-
, .

our words to meet our thoughts ; and let them

down agai n for homelier uses .

An yway I just a m Pati ence Strong ; I am sure

,

of that myself whether or no O ther peo pl e must

, , .

make what they can out of i t .

I wr ote thi s then about the , ,

R A IN .

From all t hi s vital b f e art h or o

A b e t h e h l th t t he ai
r a x a e o r,

That he av e d istilled t e q ua l grace

,
n- o ,

Falls a fre sh b u ty e v e ywhe re

, o n , r .

The dark m uld d i ks the sunse t cl u d

o r n o ,

A d t ast e
n f he av e ; u c nsc i usl y
s o n n o o ,

G ee f e t—
r n depthsor s ti rr ed t o cat ch are s

A far-o ff fla vor of the se a.

No dro p is l ost God c ou t e th all

. n .

A d i cy cre ts i n gl y c wn ed
n s , or ro ,

Wi t h f i t e pe t l yi eld a d take
a n ros -
a s n ,

A d t he u w ast ed j y g e s ro u d
n so n o o n .

On e p i it m ve th i i t all ;
s r o n

On e l ife th t w o ke th l ar ge a
a r n d fr ee ,
To e ach fro m all fore ve m re
, ,
r o ,

Gi ving d gat he ri g sile tly

an n n .

G od i le j oy go es roun d goes round ;

’
s st n t ss ,

N0 l tha t dwel leth s ap art

so u o

I t m ay t feel th c ir cli g p ul e
no e n s

Outwelli g f om t he E ternal H eart

n r .

A t h irst ! a thi rst l The san dy soi l

B e ars glad trace of le af o tr ee ;
no r

No gras b l ade ighe th to the heav en

s- s

I ts lit tle d o p of ecstasy

r

Y et other fiel ds are sp e a di g wi de r n

Gree b os m to t he b u t e u sun ;
n o s o n o s

An d p alms d cedars ha ll sub li me

an s

The ir aptur e f r t hee wai ti g o e l

r o ,
n n

It c omes with smell of su mmer sh owers ,

To stir a dr e amy se e withi ns n,

H a lf h pe a d h alf a p i ed re gr e t
o ,
n a n ,

I t m ay b o i t mi ght ha v e b ee !
e, r, n

The j oy tha t kn ows the e i s a j oy ; r

That sce ts i ts b re t h a d c ri e s
n a , n , T i s the re !
’

A n d p at i e t i n i t s p ure re p ose
'

,
n ,

R ece iv e th so t he h li e shar e o r .

I know a li fe whose chee l ess b o un d r

I s like a deep a d sile t chas mn n

L eft d ark b e t wee the daybri ght hi lls

n
,

I n ti me long p ast by fiery sp asm , .

50 PA TI ENCE S TR ON G S ’
O U TIN G S .

The m cki g su nlight le ps c ro ;

o n a a ss

Th ta e s with L e vit e gl ce go by ;
rs, an ,

So vai l y d th i ts dr e ary dept h

n o

P l e ad t o th e far oif p itiless sky

-
, .

Y et ev e fr om the fii ty m a ge
r n r ,

A n d d own e ach u gh d c av e ous si de

ro an rn ,

T i ckle the d ps t ha t b e the i b alm

r ro ar r

F m fe y b ank an d pastu e wi de
ro rn r .

Itd i keth d i keth d ay b y day ;

r n ,
r n ,

A d sti ll w i thin i ts b oso m deep

n , ,

The w ait ing w at e fil te d cle ar r, re ,

D oth i n a c ry stal b eau ty sleep .

Wait in g an d swelli ng
ill i t fi d , t n

G d t le t l g while pl ced d pl ed
’
o s ou , on a an a nn ,

W he ce t g d j bil t i t h ll weep
n , s ro n an u an , s a s

D w wi t h a g bu t th l d ’
o n, so n - rs , o er e an .

’
I don t think I had any l ife i n particular i n my
m i nd when I said that C ertai nly I would n t .
,
’

have you suppose i t was my own And yet my .

,

o wn may have l ooked so to me i n some dark mo

ment or other For I have had my pinches and
.

pains ; and I have seen people who were shut up

from much of the sunl ight that seems to b e every
where ; and out of the wai ti ng and the wantin g
that so I know of comes the c omf o rt that we may
al l take together .
52 P A TI E N C E
’
S TR ON G S O U TI NG S ’
.

and tiny things in bushes and branches were mak

i ng their little home fli ght s and happy heart chirps ;
- -

an d somehow the wide air and the sounds and the , ,

stillness and the sure and beauti ful motion

, the ,
-

region of life so close and yet so out of grasp ,

opened a strange sense to me ; a sense of the near

and i ntangible things of the sp i ri t .

No t a great emp ti ness un tr aversable but , ,

full of movement and errand Yes that is what it .

,

tells u s That out and above and beyond where

.

w e can bo di ly go G od has made things with wi ngs

, ,

that li ft themselves i n this fin er element and go ,

straight and swift fr om point to po int whither they ,

need and whither H e will O ut of our vi sion away .

,

over forests and waters to far o fi places and back ,

-
,

to our side .

They are thoughts again — those other thoughts

, , ,

more instant and keen not of the mind life but of , ,

the soul , that reach and long and go forth and , ,

d i vi ne their way thro ugh the invi sible .

The eagles gather together to that whi ch draws

them and the doves fly to the i r windows
,
and ’

the li ttle sparrows even are safe ; for G od t akes

, ,

care of them and not one shall fal l to the ground

,

w i thout him H e also feedeth them

. .

They are afiec ti on s that fin d that to whi ch they

,
 '

I N TO THE M EANIN G S . 53

are sent let them forth from whence you will ; tha t
,

know their climate and their food and their dear ,

and pleasant haunts ; and that link the l atitudes

together .

No ab floated long upon the dark waters ; then

i nto the air he sent forth a dove she came back to
hi s heart at fir st beari ng no hope ; then she brought
,

hi m a greenness of peace ; and by and by she went

and staye d .

So it i s after a gr i ef The thought that goes out

.

comes back a restless pain after a while it brings

,

some leaf of healing ; then i t fin d s the green place

of its longi ng and we feel i n ourselves its far and
,

sweet alighting and w e know that by and by we

,

shall be there .

That is the di fference b etween the thing and the

type of i t The bird fli es and we have no more
.
,

hold of i t The thou ght goes and something out

.
,

of our own selves some real thing —ha s met the

dawn or has found the mountai n or entered before
, ,

hand i nto the b lessed summer .

I was so glad in these things that came to me to

night ; so glad of the steps and sha des by whi ch
earth cli mbs and r arefies t ill it touches heaven It .

seems as if G od brought u s al most there ; thinning

l if e t ill i t i s all b ut sp ir i t —to uch ing i ts forms
,
54 PA TI ENCE S TRO N G S O U TI NG S
’
.

with a mor e delicate glory from the rock and the

,

water to the air and the light ; from the coarseness

of touch and taste to the sweet subtleti es of soun d
and odor and the faint percepti ons of something
,

1 be ond even these

M 1 y ? .

In a twi light like this or i n the tender ear ly

, ,

morning when the music is just a breath in the

,

b irds throats and the fragran c e i s something that

’
,

you har dl y know how you get whether thr ough ,

sense or spi r it one m ight seem to have no choice

,

Which world one would waken into out of the

b eautiful dr eam ; one i s so upon the threshold .

When J csus said The kingdom of heaven is at

,

”
hand I don t thi n k he meant so much a kingdom
,
’

com i n g as a ki
,

“
The ki ngdom n is close by ; that i s
“ ”
what at hand means .

Say not there are yet four months — o r four ,

cycles ; lift up your eyes and look ; the fiel d s are

,

white al read y ; and the harvest of the k ingdom i s

ripe in the very midst of the wor ld
, .

’
I was so glad in these thoughts that I could n t
wait for mother to come i n — she had gone out , ,

b y very hard begging of mine to drin k tea w ith ,

M rs Shreve ; so when E mery Ann came up with

.

m ine that i s w ith my fresh m ilk and my bread

, ,
 I N TO TH E M EANIN G S . 55

and b utter and my currants and raspberries red

, ,

and whi te mixed in a little glass di sh and covered

,

’
with whi te sugar I coul d n t help catching at
,

her Besides something else occurred to me all i n

.
,

a flash .

J ust look there E mery Ann please ; on tha t, ,

little table in the corner See if the book is n t .

’

there that Miss Philema brought for me the other

day in a green binding : Thoughts in my G ar
,

d en
,
’
that s i t N ow wa i t a minute
’
. And ,

I held her fast by a corn er of her apron .

Wait a mi nute I don t believe a b it but that ’

”
i t will be here It ought to be . .

I turned the pages as quickly as I coul d with

one hand ; I dared not leave go with the other of
E mery A nn I wanted somebody .

Birds and other things Wai t a m inute .

Birds and all winged creatures correspond to

there I knew i t ! E xactly the same ! Just as I
,

found it out my own self E mery Ann when

, .
,

two people fin d out the same thi ng you see i t s ,

’

sur e .

Hum ! I don t know Lots of people have ’

.

found out lots of mistakes Lies beside And .

, .

”
stuck to em ’
.

But not thi s way N ot things that you fin d .

56 PA TI ENCE S TR ON G S O U TI NG S
’
.

str a i ghtout by just looki ng at them E mery Ann

, .
,

I know what the b irds mean And she says so .

,

too . They re thoughts Things that go

’
. really
o — where nothing else can H eaven is just as
g .

full of goings and comings as the sky i s of birds .

There s a way everywhere ; for wi ngs or some

’
,

thing .

E mery Ann al ways rubs everyt hing down .

H um I she said again Like as not That

. .

”
acc oun ts for all sorts of fli ghti n ess .
 I NT O TH E OL D A ND TH E NE W .

WH EN I have once had a thought of my own ,

or one that is brought to my remembrance —i t ,

keeps coming back bringing others with i t —all

, ,

its relations It joins thi s with that showi ng ho w

.
,

all belong to gether and illustrate and str engthen

,

each other The mind i n i ts working overlaps

.

i tself like the tide or like the way a little chi ld

, ,

takes to learn a verse or a hymn O ver and over .

,

one li ne then that and the next joined with it

,

then the two with a third So o n al ways begi n

, .
,

ning again or back fo r a little w ay It is the way

, .

of the kingdom of heaven out of whi ch one b ri ngs ,

the treasures new and old .

Living by hints S ince that came i nto my head

.
,

i t has helped everyt hing .

The grandest and truest and sweetest things are

always h ints no more The minute you try to
, .

be literal and expli cit wi th them they are gone .

You c annot argue or exp l ai n the thi ngs of the

58 P A TI E N CE S TE ON G S O U TI N GS
’
.

spirit The highest and most int imate percepti on

.

are glimpses Things said all out are platitudes ;

.

feeling analyzed and expla ined is dead before i t is

di ssected dead and tim e i t was b uried
,
.

O ur human love and our heavenly faiths the

, ,

’
surest comforts of C hrist s gospel hang themselves ,

upon suggestions .

J esu s never says all H e l ets fall golden words

.
,

that provi de no record into the great deep where ,

common words are lost ; he touches the key note -

of a truth wi th a single divine smiti ng and leaves ,

its c i rcle of soun d to spread ; only calli ng down

after i t into the years H e that hath ears to hear
,

l et hi m hear It is the secret of i nspiration ; the

.

d ifference between tha t and common study an d

thinki ng It is the j u sti fic at i on of Moses before
.

the computers and the c l assi fiers And that is j ust .

what came and jo ined i tsel f to my not i on of the

i nt ings
-
, the hi nts .

I have been read in g late ly am ong these th ings

that are written by the p l urm n et and li ne of sci ence ,

and that are so full of jealous anxiety about the old

fai ths that did not wait for them .

The wonder to me is what they fin d to c on fli c t

about ,
these phi losophers and theologians Why .

the ones are so indi gnant at M o ses and the o thers ,

60 PA TI ENCE S TR ONG S O U TI NG S
’
.

s i on ? If this great hi nt of his does not touch at

once the subtile inmost of the li fe God gave and ,

co ntin u a lly gi ves into his wor ld ? O ne bre ath of

,

hi s command one pul se of his w ill and straight

, ,

w ay every particle is luminou s with presence ,

i nstinct with electric force .

H ave they c o me to anything nearer the awful

l ife secret than this ? H ave they entered farther
-

i nto the holy place i n their newest theories o f

,

n ebulous m i st golden with glory

, gathering and,

r evolving and fli n gi n g o ff into sp ace by the gran d

primal energy whi ch can be only what the prophet

declares by hi s direct i ns ight the i nform ing word
, ,

o f G od ?
It was this that Moses bad to declare ; not any
a ccount of i nterven i ng processes What i f he had
.

wai ted unt il the last fossil was dug up

H e wa ited for nothing neither for geology n o r ,

for the measure or shape of the planet nor for the ,

boundary li ne of the system H e tal ks superbly of

.

the heavens and the earth of waters under t he

firm am en t and waters abo ve the firm am en t ; of the
seas and of the dry land ; of the gatheri ng together

and the setting apart H e does not go in to de ta il ‘

. .

H e onl y deals wi th the m agn i fic en t outline One .

page of a l i tt le boo k hol ds all hi s words abo ut i t .

4 33 "
r s
, A
I ,
 I NT O THE OL D A ND TH E NE W . . 61

He sings hi s glori ous song of the creation that ,

stands true in the soul of i t whate ver comes to be

, ,

proved or overtur ned in circumstance H e enu .

m erat e s the orders of life and being and says , ,

“
simply N one of these are gods G od gave hi s
, .

li fe into them all B y separate tho u ght he mad e

.

”
th em each to be N one came but by his act
. .

And after each clause of the great story that could

onl y be a holy poem after each declar ed creative
,

“
i mpul se he repeats h i s refrain :
,
And G od saw
that this al so was good And the evening and the .

morning were the fir st or the second or the ,

”
thi rd day .

There is no absurd fab le i n th i s There i s .

onl y a grand hinting at prec i sely what the philo

sophers are proving the mighty order and
, ,

’
succession and pat ient sure development of G od s
, ,

work .

We are such poor li ttle letter boun d creatures

, ,
-
,

think ing only of sunrise and sunset ; not learn ing ,

even what our own day is to u s of which the earth

, ,

movement the shine and the shadow are only the

, ,

typ es and the correspondence W hen we l ive tr u e .

days , days like G od s making each a st ep and

’

an accomplishment and entering i nto hi s morn ing

,

and e venin g joy then we shall kn ow We get

,
-
.
62 PA TI ENCE S TR ON G S O U TI NG S
’
.

faint gl impses when we have been a li ttl e faithf ul ,

and a great deal helped of hi m When there .

comes a p urpose with the freshness and a certainty ,

of something done with the decline ; when the out

ward day has its i nward counterpart ; when our
whole so ul has turned i tself to i ts sun and strength
in the heaven and is on in i ts orb i t over a spi ritual
,

spac e .

After such patt ern i n hi s o wn i n efiabl e an d eter

nal Life H e was m a ki n g our little planetary d ays
,
.

What had they to do with me asuri ng him ?

Six days and then the S ab bath The rest G od
, .

has i n the depths of his o wn Spir it over h i s work ;

the blessedness that returns upon hi m out of his
gi ving ; the sublime alternation i n the Divine Na
ture of which this seventh day also tha t he g i ves
, , ,

us i s a symbol and result

,
.

Fo r it is true a ll thr o ugh as everything is work

,

i ng out from G od into the last circle of his provi

dence ; it runs into our literal weeks a n d days .

E very Satur day night fall and Sunday dawn of a

-

busy life pr oves i t to soul and b ody It i s because

, .

of the image of H im in which we are made that

there is possible and needful to u s also his own , ,

glad peace ; hi s rest and r eflo w and gathering

, ,

up . What has this either as to hi m self and hi s

,
 IN TO TH E OL D A ND TH E NE W . 63

m ysterious periods to do w i th o ur mere hours

,

an d reckoning ?

It seems to me as if Moses woul d l augh at our

foolish interpretations and di sputes as i f it coul d
hardly have occurred to him that we would mistake
hi m so It seems to me he w as grander in his i g
.

n o r an c e and insight than we are in our little bits

of fact and calcula tion tha t we have p i cked up and

are continually rectifying .

H e stood with G od rece i vi ng of hi m sublime i n

,

tu i tions uttering them with lofty fervor in poetic

speech It was that recognition which waits for
.

no slow learning ; which needs it not ; which makes

the fisher m an of G alilee able to say to the face of
C hr ist Thou art the Son of the li ving G od i
,

And to which the Lord makes answer Blessed ,

art thou ! For flesh and blood have not revealed

it unto thee but my Father which is in heaven
,
.

Behold this is the rock whereon I will b u il d my

,

church and the gates of hell shall not preva il

”
against i t .

G od has forever built his church on thi s H e .

never h i d away his li vi ng truth the n eed of man , ,

i n the dead rocks or the deep earth H e gi ves i t .

,

q uick and warm into the hum an sp i rit ; it is nigh

, ,

even in our mouths and in our heart s .

64 P A TI E N C E S TR ON G S
’
O U TI NG S .

I think the song of Moses and his bold story of

the G enesis — so d aring in its p er so n i fic ati on so ,

deeply and minutely tr ue of human spirit and life

in the Father s hands — wi ll stand and will sound
’

glorious and interpret wonderful ly in the ears of

men while many a theory and philosophy shall
,

shift and crumble Becau se it is b ehind all these

.

i t holds fast by the skirts of G od s own garment ;

’

b ecause it reads forward an d not backwar d ; it

looks fr om ete r nity dow n into time B y and by .
,

wi t h slow footsteps the knowledge of time and the

,

record in thin gs wi ll lead up to i t and they wi ll ,

fin d themselves at one .

I think G od was good and wise to gi ve u s hi m

self fir st and his story afterwa rd I sometimes .

wonder why these worshipers of fact do not fin d a

fact a s gr eat a s any in the existence a n d perpetua
tion of that which we call the Scr ipt ure of R evel a
tion That G od has not su ffered what he has
.

given into the souls of men to perish witho u t a

sign any mo r e than the tr ilobites o r the remains
,

of the c a ve d weller s H e keeps his ou t side story

-
.

with care and leads u s to i t in his own good

,

time delighting o ur minds wi th the knowle dge

,

of his wonders H e keeps al so — a li ving thing

.

am ong us the record of the highest reach

 I NT O TH E OL D AN D TH E NE W . 65

of t he so ul afte r him and of his ful lest inward

,

g ift.

Simply that the Bible i s makes me sure that

G od s gl o ry is in i t
’
.

O nly I know that havi ng gi ven once it i s that

,

he means to an d m ust needs gi ve again and th at

, ,

the instant bestowal must lighten upon the old ;

that the one wi thout the other is dead Therefore .

“ ”
the d ead do bury the i r dead I h thy l ight .
,

”
only shall we see light
, .

We can di g for foss ils we must beg of G od for

h imself .

My outi ngs are getting to be such sermons !

Livi ng i s a strange thing If you put it to .

gether just as it i s given out it hardly looks as if

i t belonged to the same piece It sou n d s positively .

w i cked if you tell of i t Dusting and divinity .

,

prayers and pie crust mix themselves up to-

,

gether Jo sep h s coat w a s o f many colors So

.
’
.

are G od s love and gift ’

.

“
To mor r ow perhaps I shall lay O r igi n and
-
, ,

Destiny by and be making the sleeves of my n ew

,

ru fl i ed sack that I mean to look so n i ce i n ; and I

’ ’
sha n t seem to have any longer reach or tether
than the few inches of whip hem and cord gather - -

ing that I shall be doing I shall like it too and

66 P A TI E N CE S TRONG S O U TI NG S’
.

my whole day w ill be taken up with i t and if I ,

fin i sh it all I shall go to bed wi th one of my li ttle

c a m bri c satisfacti ons .

Well H e does also a great many li ttle and a

, ,

great many pretty things , .

We cannot be too little to be like Him ; nor so

great as to work outside of H im .

I wonder when I shall open this parcel that

E liphalet left fo r me when he went away It i s
to be sometime when I am particula rly low in my
mind and want somethi ng to hearten me and chirk
,

”
me u p . E li phalet admires to tal k like all the old
aunts and grandm others once i n a while and tha t ,

w as the message he sent out with it by G ertrude .

“
S he said in her pretty w ay that it was
, a fai ry
,

gi f t ; a nut to be cracked when the time of need

”
came .

It feels like a book May be it i s some li ttle

.

pictur e I like to wonder what it i s ; I don t know

.
’

bu t that i f I had n t such a plenty of other things

’

to keep me from being down hearted I might -

,

“chi r k u ” j u st on the guessing and never need

p ,

anything more .

That is such a good brimful word — hearten !

, ,

I t gi ves you the reason why Nobody can be low .

 CHAPTE R VI I .

F OR ZI N O .

E ME R Y A NN had ki ll ed a fly that had b een buzz

i ng round her nose .

There she cried w i th satisfaction as he fell ,

“
from between her hands there s o n e less of ,
-
’

’
em l
O ne l ess li ttle l i fe i n the world ,
said I hyper
senti ment all y .

Well may be he 11 b e something better next

,
’

”
t ime said E mery Ann
,
.

Do you believe in that I asked her .

Forzi no said she ,

.

E mery Ann was not talking Ital ian It w as the .

“
Yankee which being i nterpreted means A s far
, , ,

”
as I know .

And that i s as far as a Yan kee or anybody else , ,

can go .

As far as we know why should n t it be ? ,

’

Why these pai ns of life and death for things for

whi ch there is to be nothi n g better next time
 F O RZ INO .
”
69

I wonder i f anybody ever suggeste d as a solut i on ,

of the development question the i dea of sp i ri tu a l ,

”
selection . We hear enough of natural selec
”
ti on and of how it may be that whole races li ve
,

and prop agate and die stru ggling towar d an attain

,

ment of more perfect o r ganization to be realized ,

afte r they a r e d u st of fossil .

What of the seed or life i tself ?

What good does it do the mollusk that there i s
to be a ve r teb r ate by an d by ? or the monkey that
the r e are men to come ? Or men i n the i r turn , ,

that there are to be sons of G od again upon the

earth when their mistakes and half d evelopments -

are over ?
What if no life i s ever lost ? If G od giveth it
a body — to every seed its own — as it pleaseth
, ,

h im over and ove r up and o n ?

, ,

Two thi ngs stand right up i n the way .

Deaths al so ; over and over .

Forgetfulness .

B ut then “ for zino aga in H ow far do we

-
.
, ,

know ?
O nly the dead can tell what death has been It .

may have been many times -

an ecstasy .

E me r y Ann s ’
forzino set me out on thi s
quest .
70 PA TI ENCE S TR ON G S O U TI N G S
’
.

Pain onl y gets a soul when i t comes to man

onl y begin s to get somethin g near it when it comes
to the orders nearest human in the i r larger i n
st i n c t s .To other things it is always a sur pr ise ,

not knowledge and reason ; a sur pri se repeated

from moment to moment as long as i t lasts A nd .

a surprise is nothing except as you can turn round

and look at i t or expect another
, .

A dog or a horse will cringe and howl or qu i ver ,

and snort with the terror which is the sp i ritual

pai n when a danger that can su ggest approaches
, ,
.

A moth wil l b u r n itself half to cinder and str uggle ,

back wi th its last strength into the flame again .

Suffe r ing that is a ll of the body may not be i n ,

our w ay of appreciation suff ering at all

, .

A man knows what i s the m a tter with h im .

That i s the trou ble H e car r ies b a ck the nerve

.

report to the centr e of a grand and intense vi tal i ty .

H e has eaten of the tr ee of knowledge that is in

the midst of the gar den The hi gher the civi liza
.

tion the greater the d r ead of in jury and death .

The C hinaman and the savage have li ttle or none ,

at all .

Instantaneou s pai n i s said to be no pain There .

i s neither expectation nor after thou ght A s u dden .

,

terrible hurt benumbs itself It is too swift and .

 F O R ZI N O .
”
71

strong We do not know what has happened to

.

us. It is after we begin to fin d out and the mind ,

takes pa r t remembers anticipates imagines

, , , ,

compares watches , that the agony begins It i s

, .

a thing of the spirit .

It may be that we only w ho can make of i t a ,

sac r ament are baptized into the f ull intimacy of

su fi er i n g It may be that for any creature who
.

can approach our knowledge of i t it is by just so ,

mu ch in them as in u s the working toward a far

, ,

”
mor e exceeding glory .

G od is merciful H e takes care of hi s own mys

.

t er i es H e gives to nothing more than it can bear

.
,

or more than shall be good .

Perhaps the chief wonder after a great phys i cal ,

hurt is that it had not been harder to endure

,
.

There are blessed laws of alleviati on bounds be

yond which are insensibility and rest possibly ,

even as heat and cold at thei r excessive points ar e

,

one , as great joy is a pang and deep grief a ,

strange blessedness ther e may be also an agony

,

to rapt u re known only to them who are taken into

,

the mystery There is al ways circumstance ; the

.

special providing for each experience which i s never ,

forgotten that which makes u s say after ward If ,

i t had not been just so ; if there had been a l i ttl e

72 P A TI E N CE S TR ON G S O U TI N G S
’
.

more or a little di ffe r ent !

, It is never mo r e it
i s never di fier en t it i s always just what we can
b ear.

G od is gracious not to our soul s only but to

, ,

o u r bodies not sn fieri n g any to be tempted

tr ied pr oven
, beyond that they are able ; but
”
making always some w ay of escape .

We can leave i t all with H i m .

If the whole cr e ation tra vaileth in pain to

”
gether i t i s surely for the glory which shal l be
,

”
reve al ed .

But then besides the forgetful ness ; the blank

, , ,

behind and befo r e

If li fe has climbed so why shoul d we not r e ,

member the steps ?

Pe rhaps w e shall come to i t when a ll the glory ,

i s revealed Perhaps the fur ther we go — the

.
,

more we i nclude the further we shall remember

,

back .

Meanti me at this moment w e do know what

, ,

nothing less than h u man can We can di vi ne the .

life that is below u s ; all its meanings are our s .

The insect in the sunshine has perhaps in its own , ,

li ttle atom of consciousness no m ore positive sens a ,

tion of its separate j oy than the man has looki ng

, ,

o n read ing i t so and bringi ng i t back for com

,
 F ORZ INO .
”
73

p ari son to some sense of his own i ncluded in hi s ,

l arger being Somewhere i n hi m i s just this very

.

pleasantness : where did he get i t ? The insect

knows no t hing of hi s gladness .

Somewhere in hi m the man i s the flight and

freedom of the bird in the a i r the cool de l ight of
the fish i n the sea depths ; the bright brisk b us i
-
,

ness of the squirrel in the still green wood H e , .

knows it all .

Why does the ch ild love b etter than anyth ing

the stories of little lives li ke these ; the pretty
fables about dormice and lizards ants and butter ,

fli es bees and rob i ns

,

I don t pretend to decl are why ; I don t assert

’ ’

anyt hing ; I only say as E mery Ann does , ,

“
forzino !
Above they know u s as we know these We
, .

shall come sometime to know even as we are

, ,

known T hen w e shall hold i t — perhaps remember

.

i t — all .

I said someth ing of thi s to E mery Ann Not as .

I have said i t here but just in the way of common

,

talk
You see I suggested as to the question of
, ,

pain, everyth ing i s n t al ways as bad as i t seems

’
.

What we have never tri ed o urselves we cannot tell ,

74 PA TI ENCE ’
S TR ON G S O U TING S
’
.

about Doctor s say that a good de al tha t looks

.

l i ke terrible suffe r ing — spasms and such th ings ,

— may be mer e muscul ar action .

That s very c o m f ort i n — to the doctors said

’ ’
,

E mery Ann They ve tr ied em pe r haps But

.
’ ’
, .

i t don t take a doctor to tell that things show for

’

more n they are Why bar e ugliness does E very

’
.
, .

b ody gets along with their o wn ; but I ve noticed ’

folks —I don t m ind hom eli n ess now any more

,
’
, ,

than I do kitchen chairs i f they ar e clean and ,

whole and set str aight ; but I can t bear faces that
,
’

seem to want c l e ar i n u p —well with m ou ths say ’

, , , ,

that you d think they d hate to keep their o wn

’ ’

’
to ngues in side o i And as to noises and fu ss I ve
.
,

seen a piece of wor k made over takin a nap wi th ’

,

j erki n and sn o r i n that you d say was fit s if you d

’ ’
,
’ ’

never come ac ross it before I g u ess it s pretty .

’

near right most of i t ; thi ngs are made frightful

,

that we d bett e r try to keep clear o i A t any rate

’
.
,

”
we can t fix it now if it i s n t
’ ’
.
,

E mery A nn is never uneasy about anything that

“ ”
she can t fix ; what she can she has no peace
’

’
of mind with till it is done She does n t fix her .

paragraphs though ; she drops in her prepositions

,

and her obj ective cases just when she happens to

get hold of them and her relati ve prono uns set up
,
 0
PA ENCE S TRON G S O U TI NG S 6
‘

V
TI ’
.

b y and by ther e will neither of them be seen if , f

/
thi ngs go o n ; but i n their stead one un iversal ,
C/
melancholy fadge and wrinkle from sixteen to ,
C
d (
W omen use d at th irty five or to put on mod - so , (N
,

e st delicate su bmissive little caps ; and then they

'

, ,

could gr ow gray or bald under them without a sep

arat e agony for ever y hai r ; now when the locks ,

bleach instead of bein g accepted and worn i n the ir

, ,

beautiful whiteness as the light of heaven touching

,

upon one s he ad they are Mrs S A A ll en ed and

’

, . . .

when they thin ah worse contingency ! they

, ,

are deployed painfull y an d i n su ffic i en tly over the

needf ul space and a satire of unaccounted for
,
-

abundance pinned on behind or atop .

People used to fin d out ways of mellowi ng and

sobering in thei r dr ess too as the woods begi n to , ,

do in September and so have their own especial

,

beau ty as well as the green June hers There w er e .

”
things once that were too young for mid dl e age
to bedizen itself with And the r e were things also
.
,

just as pretty in their time that young gi r ls had to ,

grow to .

’
I won t say anything about manners ; they
’
can t be peeled o fi or m u c i l aged on ; what the
,

soul puts forth wi ll be ; and if it does n t put

,
’
 F O RZ INO . 77

fo rth ,
well , w e l ose our peaches and our gol den

H ere i t is ; women may choo se — thi s or that ; ,

they must choose and take the consequences

,
.

They may ripen their beaut iful elder woman

hood fair with i ts quiet and content noble and
, ,

sweet with its larger life and loving that gives u s 4 ,

4

at l ast the real dear old lady and withou t which A

, ,

the dear old lady can never b e ; or they may hold 2

on desperately as old girls and wrinkle up just as 7
,

they are that way makes the Mrs Skewt on s . .

You can t have results wi thout processes you

’

have got to make up your mind deliberately when ,

you come to the crest line of l ife in what fashion

-
,

you will go down into T

There is a t i me no doubt when it seems sad and
, ,

hard when the path fir st turn s and the eastward ,

4
heaven of youth lies behind the hill ; when the
glad little brooks begin to run the other way i n ,

stead of leaping to meet you ; but go on l ike one ,

of G od s women ; it shall be an easy and tender

’

slope under your feet ; and the lowering sun shall

shine upon your steadfast face to glorify i t and at ,

the foot is the broad sweet valley and the r i ver

, ,

o f your ful l deep peace

, .

There i s where my dear little mother has helped

78 PA TI EN CE S TR ONG S O U TI N G S
’
.

me so I t is beautiful going on j u st after her

. .

And when I sit and look at the two there in her

window with their work and their caps an d their
,

cosiness and hear them say to each other what a

,

litt le while ago it seems the t i me befo r e their

,

l ives bega n to run apart — i t is an o u ting that I

,

can t get any other way ; a reaching o u by some

’

thi ng like heaven s own counting over the years

’
, ,

to the time when nothing shall seem far back or

away or tedious to have been borne ; and heaZen
, ‘
V

i tself shall be the nearest of all .

I read them my thinkings about Pai n and

Change when I had writte n them do w n
, .

”
Yes said Aunt H etty Maria
,
If only G o d ! .

mad e all the pain and gave it to us But what

,
.

about the pains w e have ear n ed ? The pains of

our sins
Mothe r spoke out then quick before I co uld, , .

W hy H etty Mari a the thief got that an

, ,
~

sw er e d for u s A n d the Lo r d gave hi m part of

.

his o wn peace and promi sed him Parad i se

, .

The c r oss of Love i s close b eside the cross of

Sin .

J esu s hung between the m al efactors .

They knew not what they d i d G od kn ew ,

an d meant i t so .
 CHAPTE R VII I .

I NT O D AR! CL O SETS A ND NE I GH B OR H
-
O U SE S .

D ever do that sa i d Aunt H etty Mar i a

ON T
’
,
.

C arry your can dl e as straight as you can but ,

never go prowling back into dark closets to look

” ’
after mischief that you have n t done .

”
It s clear fidget I kn ow said mother
’
,
b ut ,

’ ”
I ve done i t many a time myself .

I had been looki ng for something i n the little

c lothes room
- I knew perfectly well that my
.

candle had n t snapped while I w as there and that

’
,

I had n t held it near anything ; and yet after I

’

brought it back to mother s room and gave her ’

the rol l of linen she wanted I went q u ietly to the ,

closet again and shut myself i n in the dark and

, , ,

l ooked When I came b ack the second ti me and

.

sat down Aunt H etty Maria said that

,
.

Don t do i t she repeated

’
,
C lear fidget i s .

the worst thing you can gi ve up to It 11 come back ’

.

at times when you ca n t satisfy your self It s a

’
.
’

’
way yo u get i nto and i t 11 foll ow you up Don t
,
’
.
80 P A TI E N C E STRON G S O U TI N G S
’
.

get out of bed to see if you have locked the door

’
when you know ther e is n t one chance in a hun
’ ’
dred that you have n t Don t pull your letter .

open to see if the money is safe and right when ,

you know you had i t i n your hand to put in and it

can t be anywhere else Don t keep making crazy
’
.
’

dives into your pocket and bags to see if your ,

purse and your keys are the re after you ve ,

’

star ted on your journey and you can t help i t ,

’

i f they ain t It s an awful habit I tel l you

’
.
’
,
.

You 11 go back into act i ons a n d reason s and hap

’

p en i n gs just so ; i nto trouble and sickness and

, , ,

death too Looking after what never was in em

.
’

and doubting what you know there c ertam was .

”
I tell you for I know
,
.

Aunt H etty Maria had had troubles i n her l ife ,

notwi thstanding the s ilk gown and the wh i te caps ,

and the looking u p to of all D earw o o d There

- - .

we re things she was n t s ure she had n t made mis

’ ’

takes i n though she was a woman who had always

,

tried thoroughl y to do her duty Per haps i n .

some other place I sh all say m ore of what I know

about i t I understood enough about it then to
.
,

feel that she spoke out of a dee p place and that ,

'

the strong sense that advised me aga inst the clear

fidgets had had sore battles to fight agai nst them ,
 D AR! CL O SE TS A ND NEIGH B O R —H O USES . 81

b efore it stood up in her so , commanding them all

If I ha d my li fe to live over again there s n o ,

’

’
rul e I d lay do wn for myself firm er And that 8
’
.

”
w hy I speak to you .

A s if I had m y life to li ve at th irty e ight 1 -

’
And yet as if I had n t l
I think someti mes we don t any of u s fin d o ut
, ,
’

ho w to li ve till we have pretty well used up

spoiled pe rhaps
,
one life
, .

D i d anybody ever knit a perfect stock i ng ri ght ,

ofi at the fir st learn i ng ?
’
,
Is n t the fir st ex p eri e
ment a tangle more or l ess of dropped stitches
, , ,

run all through or twi sted i n the picking up ; of

,

puckers and stretches unpremeditated and m i s

,

placed wi den i n gs out and narrowings i n ?

’
Are n t there patient eyes over the needles per ,

haps i n our life learnings ? Is all th e yarn spoiled

i n conquering the stitch ? Are we to w ear our
first poor work inevi tably and always
, O r when ,

out of the knowledge gained at i t we can ae com ,

p li sh a better sh all i t not b e gi ven u s to do and

,

to possess and the old puckers be qui etly un

'

e
,

raveled for u s and lai d away out of our sight

If mother and Aunt H etty Mari a gi ve me lovi ng
and watchful c o unsel at thi rty eight looki ng upon -
,
82 PA TI ENCE S TR ON G S O U TIN G S
’
.

al l these years of mi ne as a me r e setti ng up ,

how will the good angels out of their deep eternity ,

an d its holy wisdoms look at their s ? ,

The very c al m and beauty that s i ts upon them

now ,is it not the smoothing out for a fai r and
glad begi nning again ?
Don t go b ack into the dark closets !
’

It was a dear bright wor d to me Perhaps i t i s

, .

the wor d that will be said to u s in heaven when we ,

c o me out i nto the light there that is f ul fil li n g and

absolvi ng love Pe r haps we sh al l be comfort e d
.

an d forgi ven b eyond wha t we can thi nk o r ho p e .

Ro se N ob le came in thi s morn i ng .

I think i t is one of the comforts of not b e ing

very rich peopl e that you r friends talk o u t to you
,

more of any l ittle plans or perplexities they may

,

have and with which m oney as the wor ld runs

, , ,

m ust necess ari ly have so much to do .

Whether the old dress i s worth makin g over ;

what sort of carpet would turn out the best and
c heapest ; or if the dress i s qu i te worn out or the
, ,

carpet can t be had — the want and the way to

’
,

b ear i t They will speak of these things which

.
,

’
are the day s burden or i nterest sure of your sym ,

pathy ; sure al so t hat they can, by no di stant

, ,
84 PA TI ENCE S TR ON G S
’
b U TI N GS .

self When he can do that he will not be afrai d

.
,

to ta ke a wife and count for her also .

I said I knew all abo ut R ose That w as true ; .

as to R obert I don t know all ; not quite al l that

,
’

she does ; and there is a something whi ch Rose

herself does not fully know yet but for which she ,

waits till he shall have it al l to tell H e i s thi rty .

years old and it is a story of his early youth A

, .

dar k close t perhaps where he d i d leave somethi ng

, ,

smoulde r ing But she is not af raid She knows

. .

hi m as he is .

R ose has kept school ever s i nce she was s i xte en

years old ; what she has d etermined to do before
”
she ever marries o r counts up in any way for
herself is to buy the little house for her mother
,

that they live in now She has got th re e hundr ed

.

’
dollars more to save to do i t That does n t seem .

much towards the price of a house but it i s a little ,

o n e and she has saved i t all

,
by fifti es and hun
dr e d s out of her school keeping from year to year
,
-
,
.

In the m ean while they have to live ; and thi ngs

wear out ; and Rose won t let them grow tbo ’

shabby to spoi l so the pre t ty i dea of the home she

,

i s working to keep for goo d and all

So it was the sitt ing room carpet that was worry
-

ing her n o w .
 D AR! CL O SE TS A ND NEIGH B OR -
H O USES . 85

They are so dear you see It will cost for ty , .

five dollars I don t talk to mother about i t I ve

.
’ ’

come to you If I do make up my mind to get i t

.
,

it m ust seem easy or she would n t take any com ,

’

for t in i t Patience I wonde r if there s always a

.
,
’

p r ophecy in names The r e certainly was in yo urs ;

.

and in E me r y Ann s ; how do you suppose m ine ’

happened
R ose N oble I said slowly why sho u l d n t
,
’

i t have h appened
I thou ght of her fr esh sweet natur e and of the , ,

something deep and grand there is in it also to ,

which the freshness and sweetness are a mere

outwar d adding The bo r n name and the gi ven
.
,

name ; they ar e precisely as they should be .

It makes you think of the golden old times ,

sai d Rose Oi the full pouches and the princely

.
,

g i vings I
. w i sh there were a mag i c in my name .

I wish whenever it were spoken a real rose noble -

might dr op down T hen I should n t have to .

’

count yards an d shillings Then you see O .

, ,

’
Pa t ience i t might be nearly here the ti me we r e
, ,

wai ting for !

I saw that something more than common was o n
'
’
R ose s mind I did n t want to ask and I did n t
.
’

want t o interrupt i f she chose to say more ; so I sat

,

s ilent .
86 PA TI EN CE S TRONG S O U TI NG S ’
.

He m i ght come this fall hi s wor k is nearly

done I think he will c ome But I can t possibly
. .
’

be ready with my part I must leave mother and

.

! atie comfortable and you see I do want lots of

,

li ttle things myself besides the big ones P a

, .

t i en c e if it s one ridicul ous thing more than

’
,

another just this min u te

, I m such a goose
,
’
,

it s ’
a band of back hair !
I did n t thi nk R ose was a goose
’
.

I looked at her pretty head with its b r ight hai r , ,

not very long she had had a fever fr om over

,

work a year and a half ago and it had been cut ,

short , and so fin e that its re al thi ckness hardl y

to ld ; so that al though when she brushed it o u t i t
w a s light and full and shining and looked ever so ,

much it wou ld compr ess itself with the least little

,

t wist like a skein of floss and show for nothing

, , .

I did n t blame her a bit when othe r gi rls were

’
,

wearing whole man u factures of hair work that -

hardly let the original foundation betr ay itself at

all as to what i t was or was not for wi shing just
, ,

for a little mor e l i ke hers to make the story good

, ,

as it was really meant to b e and might be by and , ,

by. And Dr H aile c om ing before long at least

.
,

to see her .

And yet I do on pri nc iple hate false h air

, ,
.
 D AR! CL O SE TS A ND N E I GH B OR —
H O USES . 87

O nly it i s a t hing to wear now as much as caps

, ,

or bonnets ; and everybody knows Indeed you .

,

ha ve to wear it i n stea d of bonnets or else look so ,

scooped out .

I d on t know where the line is A gr ea t d ea l

’
.

i s bad and fr ivolous and extravagant and worldly

m i nded ; but a l i ttl e just what R ose N oble ,

wanted to make her head graceful and pr e tty ,

somewhat after the taste of the time —well I gi ve , ,

i t u p as I have to gi ve up many puzzles ; things

,

that begin blamelessly enough but end all wrong , ,

and carry the world by the ears into all sorts of

snarls .

Anyway I don t thi nk R ose N ob le was so very

,
’

silly And I told her so

. .

But then she could n t spend ten dollars for i t

,
’
.

That ended the matt er .

I t w as only a wish g i ven up to stronger and ,

dear er claims If that were the settling of such

.

points always ! I suppose in that case though

, , ,

there would be precious li ttle back hair worn ex ,

cept what grew A nd we should al l look well.

enough .

I think very likely there are moral questi ons

, ,

th at can t be generalized Spec i al deci sions must

’
.

make up the broad resul t and answer If every .

88 PA TI ENCE S TR ONG S O U TI NG S
’ ’
.

body marks their own i nch the line will be drawn ,

all round the world U p and down perhaps l ike

.
, ,

an isotherm al ; but it will be there as true as con ,

science o r science can make i t .

That remin ds me I was thinking of that word

.
,

”
conscience the other day Oi the con of i t
, . .

” ”
Togethe r
. With Together with whom
.

What makes con science d i ft er en t from othe r know

ing ? What but G od s knowledge joined to ours
’

The very cont act of the human and Divine ?

R ose N oble laughed with a tear i n her eye at
, ,

her own silliness but i t was very pathetic to me .

“
So many little things — besides the big ones
,
”
,

were wanting i n her young life of whi ch other ,

careless lives were full .

I was quite sad abo ut i t after she had gone I .

sat still half an hour thinki ng it over an d over

, .

Some people had aunts and uncles if not fathe r s ,

and mothers w ho could gi ve them the little embel

,

l i shm en t s and opportunities of yo u th E ven I .

,

mor e than half as old again and past car ing for ,

much of these ou tside things had E liphalet and ,

G ert ru de to be tho ughtful for me when it would n t ’

do for me to be thou ghtf ul or wishf u l fo r myself

to gi ve me a new pin at C hr istmas and a silk dress ,

on a birthday or when they went shopping in New

,
 D AR! CL O SE TS A ND NEIGE R OR -
H OU SES . 89

York ; even to ask me — i f I had n t broken my ’

bones and blundered out of it to go to E urope

wi th them .

I could th i nk of so many people who wanted

’
what they could n t possibly get and nobody would ,

be likely to give them as long as they lived Mrs . .

Shr eve who was worrying through the summer

,

with an old cooki n g stove that spoiled all her cake

-
,

and woul d n t heat her flat irons ; Mrs N oble and

’
- .

R ose want ing to carpet their sitting r oom and put

,
-

new curt ains in the best bed room ; and obliged to

choose between the two people poorer than these ,

wi th re al sufieri n g wants all ar ound u s ; oh what

, ,

a wanting world i t was !

I did n t know as outi ngs into such a world un
’

less one could go with H aroun A l Ras c power ,

were worth havi ng after all , .

All at once I caught myself u p

, .

“
I never shall have a better chance ! I sai d
out loud . U nless something should ha ppen
that would take the heart wholly out of every
thing I truly bel i eve I m just about down hearted
.
’
-

nough .

And so I went and got the packet whi ch I had ,

.

fai rly for gott en s ince I had been able to b e ab out

the house .
90 P A TI E N C E S TRONG S O U TI NG S
’
.

It was n t much to open it was soon untied

’
.

A little note from E liph al et and ,

two l i ttle
co mmon blue covered books
- .

A n account opened at the Thi rd N ational B ank

,

of Boston with a deposit of thr ee thousand doll a rs

,

to the credi t of Patience Strong !

And a che que b ook to draw the m oney out wi th
-
,
.
92 P A TI E N CE S TRON G S O U TI N G S
’
.

It woul d have cost me that and more the , ,

tri p to E u r ope for whi ch I substituted my trip

down the t rammel staircase so he wr ote i n his ,

“
note . Therefore do j ust what you like wi th i t
,
.

Invest i t come out to E ur ope after u s or spend it

, ,

”
all i n g imp and sugar plums - .

N ow then coul d n t I have out i ngs ?

’
, ,

C oul d I though ? J ust where I most wanted to

,

g o ? Into w i shes and wants into hopes and ,

troubles ? Into Mrs Shreve s kitchen w ith a new .

’
,

Perfect R apture cooking sto ve and a man to set i t -

up ? Into Mrs N obl e s parlor and bedroom wi th

.
’
,

carpet and curta i ns

’
When I came to th i nk of i t I d got the lever , ,

b ut I was n t so sure of a pl ace to plant i t

’
,

without hu rti ng anybody .

N ot right down on any qui ck tender pri de or , ,

delicate sel f respect and independence

- That .

woul d n t do ’
.

I must take care that my dol l ars di d n t get i n ’

First I made mother solemnly promi se never to

,

tell , until I did .

Then I lay awake the b est part of three n ights ,

plotting and planning Taking m y sha re of the .

’
wo rld s skein to unravel ; the how to make ends
 IN TO TH E MI D D L ES . 93

meet What everyt hing and every soul i s busy

.

about one way and another from the least to the

, ,

H ighest ; from the bringi ng together of the grub

and the green leaf to the lifting of men s so ul s up ’

i nto the H eart of G od .

There i s this and that cotton on one s ide of the

world m ac hi n es on the other — c o fiee there dry
, ,

goods and i ron and Yankee notions here men ,

women and children there starved and over ,

crowded work and wi de la nds out here and

, ,

yonder .

There are the homely two ends i nc o me and ,

outgo there is money in po ckets want i n b od i es ,

and soul s there is a w o r d to say and an ear stra i n ,

ing to hear i t ; the wor ld i s running round and

round It i s in great and small grave and gro
.
,

tesqu e ; the k i tten after its o wn tail the baby try

i ng to get i ts big toe i nto its mouth ; the mystic
sym bol of the serpent ; the planet wheeling round
the sun the fiery beauty of the zodi ac .

I thi nk what wi th pl ann ing and sleepi ness I

, ,

w as a little feverish and conf used perha ps ; all

these things ran through my head in such cu ri ous

associati ons .

My litt le b i t was onl y thi s — our s i de of the

,

w ay and over acro ss ; I and my b ank b o ok he re -

94 P A TI E N C E S TRONG S O U TI NG S
’
.

the Shreves and the Nobl es an d thei r worries and ,

puzzles there H ow shoul d I get the two to

.

gether
I felt mysel f dread fully outside all at once with , ,

my thre e thousand dol lars H ow shoul d I get i n .

,
‘

I who thought at fir st I had got tickets for

everywhere
Finally and i n the first plac e I ma de up my
, ,

mind that I must learn G erman R ose N oble .

knew i t and I di d n t
,
’
.

O ut under the beeches in the old garden whi le ,

the summer weather lasted ; while Rose s school ’

had long vacati on and she wa s busy making pretty

,

nightgowns and under robings I coul d help her

-
.

whip and hem while I grated consonants between

,

my tons ils and learned long sentences in which the

,

nouns were centipedes and the verbs were nob ody

knows where A nd over the G erm an and our
.

needlework w e should grow i ntimate

,
more in ,

timate than ever ; and I shoul d fin d some crafty

and blessed way of puttin g i t the rest of i t the , ,

i
l ittle th ngs and the b ig thi ngs bi t by b i t that , ,

even pride coul d not resist that i n t ru th it coul d , ,

have nothing whatever by any pretense to do , ,

”
w ith It would be like a game of solitai re
.
,

“ pat i ence "

as they cal l i t i n the E ngl i sh n ovel s
,
96 P A TI E N CE S TR ONG S O U TI N G S
’
.

makes anythi ng our stor y The same story woul d .

be anybody s else if they could stand wher e we do

’

to look at i t It s the pleasantness of books

.
’
,

and
In the m id dl e yes I i nterru pted mother
, .
’
.

The word struck me G od is in the middle

. .

E ve rybody s sto ry i s his

’
.

“
A nd it s the joy we enter into
’ ‘
said’ ‘
,

mothe r fin i shi n g her sentence and weaving in her

, ,

word an d thought with m i ne Is n t it .

’

“
Loving the neighbor as one s self The ful ’
.

fil li n g of the whole law the pe r fect r ounding of

the circle Stan ding in the middle beside G od
.
,
.

Self i s onl y the centre point We can put it -

.

where we please There was an angel standi ng

.

’ 9’
in the sun .

Mother reached over and took up the Bible that

w a s on my little table
I wanted to see she said pleasantly af ter, ,

she had fou nd the place Why it s a kind of .

,
’

a wonder child ! It comes like what we were say

,

”
ing . And then she read
H e cr ied o u t with a lo u d voice sayi ng to all ,

the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven C ome and ,

gather you r selves together unto the supper of the

”
great G od .
’
It fit s right i n Patience , .
 I N TO TH E MI D D LES . 97

I t al ways
does come so mother O ne part is , .

never put into my head that the other does n t fit ,

’

right o u and tel l more It fits to the old thi ngs

, .

too I t shows the pattern they were all cut out to

. .

The fowls that fly in the mi dst of h eaven The .

’

livi ng kn owledges and thoughts that go and come

all thro ugh the heavens and between all souls .

The bird meaning You remember mother

-
.
,

’
That was the supper they could n t come to
who were taken up with their own their little bits
of land and their wives and their merchandise
, , .

But out of the highways and hedges they came .

’
Those who had nothing It s the rich that can .

” 3
hardly enter i n .

If they r e in the m i ddl e of nothin g but thei r

’

ri ches O r the ir pl ans or the ir pleasures or their

.
, ,

cleverness or their prettiness , Yes it s the .

,
’

mi ddle that si gn ifies If you re in the wrong .

’

mi ddl e move right out of i t ; fin d a new one ;

,

”
they r e all around ; everyt hing i s a mi ddle
’
.

I went o u thinki ng i t out so and brush ing my

, ,

hai r Mother had come vi s iting while I was get

.

ting ready for bed They are dear l ittle vi siting .

times then ; then and at the early morning when , ,

we are begi nning new together and the fir st ,

thing i s to fin d each other for a minute It has .

98 P A TI E N CE S TRONG S O U TI NG S
’
.

b een so ever s i n c e I was a li ttl e childI b el ieve it

.

will be so when w e b egi n new together by and by .

The fir st thi n g will b e to fin d each other to look

,

i n each other s morn ing faces

’
E verything i s a
.

si gn and G od will make i t all come true

, .
1 00 PA TI ENCE S TRONG S O U TI NG S
’
.

p ai nted and sti r red and uplifted itself with an

ecstasy that was at once replete and i n satiate The .

globe itself seemed to revel in blue space It must .

needs roll o u O ne coul d almost feel how i t would

.

be i mpossible to lie so at a still point of bliss The .

glad golden orbit was ac counted for

,
.

Down the lane the wild grape vines had heaped

,
-

up banks of living green over the low old wall ,

the creepers tossed the ir grace and glory from tree

to tree ; the clemati s was cloudywhite with blos -

som the ferns were plumy an d fragrant i n every

little angle ; and the dear li ttle life e verlasting -
,

wi th i ts delicate mystical odor was plenty under

, ,

foot The blackberries were full and sweet wi th

.

their dark win e and the scent of the pines and the
,

cedars came up to meet you from the wood .

”
We must go do w n there said R ose , .

Shall we stop a n yw her e said I It s a day .

’

”
to go and seek a summer fortune -
.

“ ” “
So I picked up Ahn and the Lesebuch ,

and we went down Down into the cool and damp

.

by the brown br ook ; over and u p i nto the spicy ,

stillness of the evergreen past ure ; close in among ,

“
the cedars against the shadow of the great rock
, .

The path b rought up here ; or we mi ght have

wal ked on until — well at least unt il some dusty
, ,

r
 I NT O TH E S UN SHI NE . 1 01

turnp ike stopped u s The rock w as bette r It was

. .

the best thing about thi s lane and wood path that -

it had a natural pause and end I l i ke an upshot . .

E lse you keep ou with many other things as

,

well as green lanes t il l the turn pike runs across

, ,

and the green wood shows i ts li mits and the beauty ,

i s all over .

“
I sai d a bi t by heart out of the Lesebuch ,
.

”
Abraham baute einen Al tar And I decli ned .

the dreadful little G erman art i cl e that sti ckles so

for al l its cases like any grown u p si gn ific an t word -
,
.

And then R ose told me a li ttle about substanti ve

declensions .

I began to see the fog I knew I had not got .

i nto i t s o I held my pe ac e But I saw it was com

, .

ing That is the reason it is so much harder for

.

grown people to l earn a language or any n ew ,

thing A child just takes the one step set for him
.
,

neve r counting o u or thi nking how many more

, ,

there may be or what they have to do w ith each

,

other We grown u p simpletons anti c ipate an a

.
-
, e

lyze and try to get hold of the theory and muddle

, ,

our brains Therefore al so we must become as

.
, ,

”
little chi ldren to lear n the kingdom of heaven
,
.

I m not di scouraged yet R ose ; b ut I wi sh to

’
,

’
tell you that I know it s there .
1 02 PA TIENCE S TR ON G S ’
O U TI NG S .

What di scouragement ?
,

Yes ; the climax of i t ; there s always a cli m ax ’

of di scouragement in everyt hi ng When you get .

into the thi ck of i t and can t see how or if ever

,
’
, ,

’
you re comi ng out It s in a poem or a story or
.
’
, ,

a sermon or a paintin g or a p i ece of musi c or a

, , ,

dress fitti n g or a house clean i ng or a li vi ng It s

-
,
-
, .
’

’
al ways there ; and you ve got to run against i t ,

and have your tussle wi th i t Then all at once if .

, ,

you r e blessed you come out of i t into the clear

’
, ,

’
daylight an d wonder where the dark was It s
, .

the mirac le worked in everythi ng It s the open .

’

ing to the knocking It s the bor n ing as the

.
’ ‘ ’
,

”
l i ttle ch ild said .

That s a very true thi ng Patienc e I m gl ad

’
, .
’

you ve said i t O nly I can t help wondering

’
.
’
,

once i n a while if some people don t have to live

,
’

”
all their li ves i n a climax .

I never heard of but one person who did sai d ,

I, and that w as M r Micawber And you . .

know how it w as disposed o i s i mply enough for , ,

hi m . If he i s going to b e continually arrested ,

hi s fri ends have just got to be continually baili ng

hi m out says Aunt Betsy Dickens put it i n
,
’
.

'

e xtreme as his way is but he puts the very d oc

, ,

”
trine of heaven i nto i t whi ch is al so hi s way
, .
1 04 P A TI E N C E S TR ONG S O U TI N G S
’
.

gra ndmothe r s spoons So I want —i n stea cl

’
.
, ,

i t s a f a i ry st o r y you see — to go a day s shop

’
, ,
’

ping with yo u dear J ust on e day I want a real

,
. .

good o u ting you see ; and besides that my pocket s

, ,
’

”
bur nt all thr ou gh and thr ough .

Wher e ha d all my beau ti ful craft gone to and ,

my gam e of patience ?
I coul d n t help i t ; it was just like me ; my
’

heart and my pocket w er e bur ning ; how coul d I

wai t till I could say i t in G erman and R ose in a ,

cli max all the whi le

And besides that I said before it was a morning
, ,

of outings The whole wor ld was reach ing and

.
,

givi ng and asking and brimful and runn ing over

, , , .

But the open heart ed day was on all sides She

-
.

w as to u ched and tuned wi th it as well as I She .

”
was n t R ose Noble either for nothing
’
, ,
.

H er face was sweet an d bright and surprised , , ,

w ith a thankful pleasure as if some little sun ,

'

shower had fallen and there was a hi gh generous ,

understanding in her eyes .

And she said simply

’
I can t refuse you the more bles se d n eSS
’ ‘ -
,

P ashi e can I
,

It was all right and very well and the glad out
go ing day had made me do i t and fix ed it all a , ,
 I NT O THE s U N SH I N E . 1 05

great deal b etter than I coul d have planned For .

the r e was plenty to do somehow by and by , ,

.

When we came home we found Mrs Shreve sit .

ting with mother They had b een laughi ng till

.

there they both sat wi ping the i r spectacles Mrs

,
. .

Shreve was qui vering yet .

Why what i s i t l i ttle mother ?

, ,

And so they told i t over again H ow Mrs . .

Shreve s new green Irish girl

’

,
I shall always
have a n ew gi rl and a raw one as long as I have ,

”
my old stove she said as chipper as ever for all
, ,

that had been fo und cry ing at the stairs She .

’
di d n t know how to go up and down She d .
’

never learned on anything but a ladder at home , ,

and had come straight from shi pboard .

It only shows said mother when we had got

”
, ,

a li ttle over it again the things we d o learn with

, ,

’
out re ali zing We have to begi n when we r e
.

’
babies that s certain
, .

And we never know what w e re l aying up ’

”
for sai d Mrs Shreve
, . I suppose i t 11 be so .
’

between thi s world and the next in things we ,

”
never thi nk oi .

In just thi s very thi ng sai d I se i zed sud , ,

d en l y w i th the mean ing There are stai rs be .

”
tween the sto ri es if we knew how to use them
, .
1 06 PA TI ENCE S TR ONG S O U TI NG S
’
.

Spi ri t s crying at the bo ttom and sp iri ts cry ,

ing at the top perhaps and only the angels

, ,

kno wi ng how to go up and down sai d mother ,

gently .

“
I thi nk said R ose the stairs w e l earn on
, ,

are the stairs bet ween the sto ries here —between ,

”
the di fieren t human li ves .

I knew I should get it out of you said Mrs ,

.

’
Shreve . That s what I came and told the story .

’
for I did n t kno w w ha t it was but I had a feel
.
,

ing of something in i t besides the fun And you

, .

’
always have the thi ng that s wanted cut and ,

dr i ed and bottled and l abeled

’
, There s always .

herb s and c ordi al in thi s ho use if everyb ody else i s ,

”
o ut
.
1 08 P A TI E N C E S TR ON G S O U TI NG S
’
.

their heads and getting a general wild reckl ess

, ,

i mpression that nothing matte rs in particular but ,

that they and their pl an s and their pockets are

, , ,

but simply absor bed into the business rush and

whi r l of that day s Washington Street without any
’
,

reference to personal resul ts they may c o n gratu ,

late themselves on rare presence of mind and tena

cions indivi duali ty .

There are the styles and the materi als , the i m ,

o rt at i o n s of the season and no other ; so ma ny

p
patterns in a piece or a losin g remnant one,

pri ce at all the stores ; no w ay of substituting or

savi ng What i s to be done ? All political economy
.

and commerci al combination are against the simple

m i nded li ttle back parlor plans and reckonings of
,
-

l ast night .

But I was begi nning with the pleasantness ; I

did n t mean to get into the cr aze Sometimes you
’
.

don t ; sometimes everyt hing falls right i n It is

’
.

all match— grooved you make all your connecti ons ;

another ti me everything is unhi tched .

We had a smooth day R ose and I ; from the

,

ride down the shady O ld R oad in Fa rmer G r ai tt s ,

’

covered wagon with our best bonnets on (people

,

who go every day or two keep Boston bonnets

of a meaner sort but if we did n t wear our best ’
 IN TO THE SH OPS . 1 09

to Boston when shoul d w e wear them

,
to the
coming out at night gal van ized up to the arm sizes
,
-

wi th every little nerve and muscle watchf ul and

consci ous of paper parcels vari ous i n shape and
bul k never to be l ost feeling of till they were got
,

safely home an d wi th onl y our elbows left to hold

,

against our pocket— plackets for fear of the picks .

The waysides were blue with the midsummer

flo w er s of the wild succor y The tansy was getting
.

golden tops Ther e was a little savor of sea sal t

. e

ness in the air that just tingled the nostrils deli

,

c at ely and made a cordial of the light A u gust

,

wi nd We met li ttle boys with bare feet and big

.

b askets going up to the pastures berrying R ound

, , .

the railroad station were gentlemen in summer

trousers and waistcoats and straw hats unfolding ,

their morning papers ; and ladies alighting from

carriages givi ng each other fresh morning greeting
,

with fr esh br ight faces

, .

What a pret ty world it was this s i de of i t !

,
-

H ow eas ily the day began and might run o u and, ,

other days come after just like this I ,

It was queer thou gh to think of dear good Mrs

, , , .

Shreve at home with her raw g irl and her pester

, ,

i ng stove and her ironing on thi s gay free day

, , ,
.

And of people s i ck on beds and people tired w it h,

110 P A TI E N C E S TR ON G S O U TI N G S
’
.

night watching an d people hard at wor k in dusty

-
,

li ttle shops and mothers wi th arms full and houses

,

waiting to be put to morning rights and all the ,

worry and ache and wear iness that were surely

about somewhere O nl y people are so quiet about
,
.
,

i t ! T he world has learned to put up with so

much ! The r e are the hous es in whi ch such mani,

fold cares of life ar e goin g o n hushed hanging no

, ,

flag out making no sign ; nobody rushi ng out at

,

the doors to proclaim a g r ievance or protest ,

against the careless comfort riding by .

Yet the whole world lies open Skyward and no ,

wall s shut out the heavenl y sight and m in iste r ing .

N o pl ac e even is mean to the angels ; they come

, ,

and bring their own glory with them .

This went thr ough my mind standing i n the vi l ,

lage waiting for the cars There was little st i r

.

except what car time made ; and presently there

-

would be a rush and a shr iek and a hu stle and ,

then i n a minute the still little place would be left

,

to its own stillness as if i t had just died And it .

gives up the ghost so every day , .

It was something to be part of the ghost tod ay .

To be one of these for whom the fuss was made ,

and whom the little boys looked after leaning over ,

the bridge rail ; little boys some of them w ho

-
, ,
112 PA TI ENCE S TR ONG S O U TI N G S ’
.

me to have the silk measur ed OR for R ose — that

w e both decided woul d be so especially p r etty for

her — as it would have done if I had gone alone

and bought i t and brought it home with the form al
,

parade of a p r esent .

I let her pay in the street cars for both with her ,

ready small change ; and it was several times for ,

I coul d not tax my weaker l imb with too much

walki ng about And I let her settle for the dinner
.

checks at Vinton s while I fin i shed my i ce cream

’
,
- .

I never thanked her o r took any noti ce ; it was ,

all for granted that we were out on a holiday to

gether spending our coppers
, .

So she did n t mind so much I mean —when

’
,

I p ai d at H ovey s And then I di d n t g i ve her

’
.
’

time to think of an ythi n g except whether I was ,

going to break my neck or at l east my l eg again , ,

as I plunged across Summer Street amongst the

teams and carriages threading myself in and out ,

against the b ack wheels and ran up into the carpet ,

stor e.

You see it s your mother s turn n o w R ose ; so

’ ’

hush u p I think myself it s the m others that

.
, ,
’

”
o ught to have the wedding presents .

Tha t w as an inspirati on R ose could n t refuse .

’

for her mother and her mother could n t refuse

,
’
 I NT O THE SH OPS . 113

after Ro se had accepted I never thought of i t t i ll .

that m inute b ut i t was one of the thin gs that fayed

,

right i n that blessed day

,
.

”
I don t know said Ro se with a k i nd of a
’
, ,

gasp i n her b reath as she wh i spered for the car ,

pet gentleman had met u s n ow at the head of the ,

stairs b ut I feel as if I was go in g over Ni agara

Falls
Prec i sely ; so what have yo u to do wi th i t ?
It s the river s l ookout C an you show u s some
’ ’
.

small figur ed i ngra in carpets

-
,
bright co lors , ,

b rown wi th a li ttle cri mson s i r ?

, ,

I sai d it very glib understanding myself per ,

fec tl y which I don t al ways do at the right

’
,

’
ute when I go shoppi ng That s another d if .

ference in the days and the state of brain ; the,

memorandums may be all the same I established .

the rapport d irectly b etween me and the sal es

,

man and the particular roll of carpet that was

there among those walls of rolls like the stat ue in
, ,

the marble It is dreadful when a sort of fog

.

co mes over you just when you mean to make your

wi shes plain a d i st ru st of the instant apprec i
,

ati on of your attendant who of co ur se i n that , , ,

case instantly doe s n o t apprec iate It i s your

,
~
.

fai th that fails and s o yo u stand b efo re the m oun

114 PA TI ENCE STRONG S ’
O U TI NG S .

tain the whole enormous stock i n trade

,
and ,

nothing moves ; except indeed e xactly the wrong , ,

thi ngs whi ch if he s ver y obliging he goes on with

, ,
’
,

’
til l you are re ad y to cry because you can t po ssibly
stop him .

N ow it was roll ed r ight down

,
the very thi ng ,

w e had thought of and talked about ; li ttle bright ,

brown leaves and red berr i es twi sted together

, ,

o ver a mottled ground of qui eter shades ; well

c overed in the patt ern and well knit i n the w eav
,

i ng ; good to sweep and to wear and lovely to ,

W e 11 send the e xpress for it to morrow morn

’
’
-

”
i n g sai d I ; and I left Rose sitt i ng on a carpet
,

ro ll whil e I got away to the desk to gi ve the ad ,

dress and pay the b ill .

Tha t hh d n t seemed much e i ther ; w e were

’

su i ted so quick and there was so l i ttl e chance fo r

,

co mparing an d counting up .

’
Afterward we were in and out at Mudge s and
, ,

C hurchill Watson s and H olbrook s ’

j olly
,
’
,

an d reckless as two li ttle drops i n the rap i ds that ,

had just as lief go anywhere now among the rest , ,

as how c oul d we help i t once we had got i n And

w e made up i ndiscriminate bundl es to gether she ,

c hoo s i n g and I ch oo s ing an d bo th p ayi ng till I

, , ,
116 P A TI E N CE S TRON G S O U TI N G S
’
.

enough to day
-
. I felt i ntimate and pri vileged
everyw here ; for I had — or had had — a hundred
and fifty doll ars in my pocket and twenty eight
,
-

hundred and fifty m ore at ho me in the blue book

, .
 C H APTE R XI I .

I NT O TH E YE A R S .

R O SE w as as shamefaced over the b ox o f b ands

as i f the man were used to blushes .

Of course there was nothing for s ix dollars ,

scarcely for ten or twelve ; though at last fin d i n g ,

that the law of increase in price was more accord

i ng to the i nch or two diff erence in lengths than
to the thi ckness I matched the bright chestnut tint
,

of the head that bent itself so mutely above the

counter of falsities wi th a soft full fall of hair
, , ,

not qui te so fin e or quite so long as those w e had

been looking at but bright as R ose s o wn and
,
’

which the deal er sai d he woul d let u s ha ve for

“
eleven dollars . And cheap too for the shade
, ,

”
everybody s wear ing
’
.

R ose li fted her head and moved the box sli ghtly
,

from her . You see i t is no use she sai d and , ,

”
perhaps i t i s just as well .

But I was so determ ined that day u po n my

wi ckedness .
118 P A TI EN CE S TR ONG S ’
O U TL NGS .

I put the hair into her hand .

“
See said I
, the color is pe rfect — better
, ,

than those long ones A n d I thi nk we can come .

”
to some agreement We are country ladies I .
,

observed persuasively and c o nfid en ti ally to the

hair merchant and expect to make bargains you
-
, ,

”
know .

Meanwhi le I had got out a five dollar b ill I - .

coul d have picked R ose s pocket let alone my own ’

, ,

for all she woul d have noticed abo ut i t H er head .

w as down agai n She did n t know what to do ’

.

with the band of hair or how to get rid of i t I , .

believe she was getting vexed wi th me .

I held up the five dollar note over her shoulder-

,

bet ween my thum bs and fin ger s I nodded to the .

”
m an C al l it s i x dollars said I as bold as J ac k , ,

—
the G iant ! il le r “
That was the price she had
.

made up her m ind to .

The man s eyes l ooked funny for a minute be

’
,

t ween gro wing b ig suddenly and then twinkling .

I don t thi nk he ever had such e xtra ordinary cus

’

t o m er s before .

“
Well —i t i s an odd length — an d wove i n
, ,

the old style flat if it suits you I 11 c a ll i t six ;

, , ,
’

though i t s low ve ry low ; and I should n t li ke

’
,
’

the p r i ce to be told oi .
1 20 PA TI ENCE S TR ONG S O U TI N G S ’
.

come across to morrow morn i ng and bear

-
,
all the
”
blam e And help make the carpet
. .

The next day was my birthday I have got into .

a w ay of havi ng birthdays lately They al ways .

used to come once i n a whi le but nowadays the

, ,

whiles are short er .

There w as more than a plenty of time between

them once ; I got quite t ired of being eight years
old I remember befor e the day came when I could
, ,

say I w as nine ; and I was thoroughly used to call

ing myself fif t een before the dignity of sixteen was
l aid upon me .

I was in no danger then of forgett ing my age

, , .

Ther e was a real mile between each two milestones .

I traveled in a coach and four i n those days I

coul d see the wheels go round and count the little ,

flo w ers by the wayside A t some point or other

.
,

unperceived of me they took o ff the horses and

, ,

put o n steam ; and now whiz ! the milestones flash

,

by me t ill life seems sometimes nothing but a post

,

and r ail fence .

T here i s really such a thing as an uncertain

, ,

age It is a solemn fact that the time comes when

.

calculate bhl ore yo u can tell

'

you have to ’ ’

the truth Why it i s quite har d e nough to r e

.
,
 I NT O THE YEA R S . 1 21

memb er the year of our Lord at least b et ween ,

J an nary and J ul y N o wonder they make a fes

.

’
t i val of the world s b irt hday They have to . .

It is a mer e practi c al necessity W i thout i t the .

,

very planet woul d lose count and go adrift like ,

any other spinster I hardly got used to 1 86 7 b e

.

fore 1 8 6 8 came ; indeed i t seems queer st ill that

,

we are in the sixt i es at all I r ea li ze nothing far

.

ther down th an the forti es The rest seems tacked.

on in a hur ry The years ar e as if they had been

.

gathered before they were ri pe ; or l i ke what I

w as talki ng about the other day the machi ne ,

stitches that you don t have the comfort of a s

’

sti tches ; the fir st thin g yo u know you ve got a ,

’

seam .

That brings me back to this very blessed b i rth

day of mine , m y thirty ninth
-
There w as an -
.

other seam done ,

I had only got to jo i n o fi
-
,

and I meant to have a holiday I gave myself my .

own treat . I tyrann ized over my li tt le mother ,

and made her g i ve up everyt hing she had thought

of, the speci al raspberry roll for dinner and the-

iced cake for tea — the mak ing of them at least

-
, ,

that she w as going to help E mery Ann with ,

and come over wi th me p i cn i cki ng and carpet sew

,
-

ing at the N obles E mery Ann c oul d m ake the

’
.
1 22 PA TI EN CE STR ON G S ’
O U TI N G S .

raspberry roll al one and bring i t after u s at twel ve

-
,

o clock
’
.

We ha ve a fashi on round i n our little ne ighb or

hood ,
the Shreves and the N obles and we
, of , ,

picnic vi sits We di d i t before great surprise par

.

ti es were invented We woul d take our pie and our

.

knitting work and run i n

-
, It i s a nice w ay . .

E speci all y i f you choose a day when you know

that the gi rl is gone or any little domestic enter
,

prise out of the c oo king line and adverse to i t is , ,

afoot ; yo ur kn it ting work is nothing to lay by

-
,

you know and you are running breadths or setti ng ,

up china before anyb ody notices ; and the pie or

,

the roasted ducks come in so pleasant and un ex

p ec ted at the end For it i s an understoo d point
.

that though you br ing a basket as big as a baby s ’

wagon and only produce fo ur nee dl es and a ball of

,

yarn to account for i t and though everybody has ,

to wal k roun d it and over it twenty t imes it shal l ,

b e an utterly invi sible and spiri tual presence till

the s u rpri se comes out of i t .

I k illed two b irds to day or I made two kn ots -

i n the end of my seam .

I had something all re ady i n my pocket for

Dickie Shreve ; that is for h is mother only she , ,

would n t know i t It was re all y a cooking stove ;

’
.
-
1 24 PA TI ENCE S TRON G S O U TI N G S
’ ’
.

The carpet arri ved at Mrs N oble s just as we .

’

did ; and she did n t know whi ch to let in fir st

’
.

G ammel was in a hurry and the great roll was ,

right in the door way and so were w e There

-
.

were so many counter excitements and it was so -

,

exactly as bad for u s as for her blu ndering right ,

upon this particular moment that everything was ,

got over w i thout being really done at all gi ving

and taking and blam ing and thank ing and wal k
, ,

i ng i n and m ak ing welcome Mrs N oble never . .

got farther or clearer than

, ,

Well I never did ! R ose said but I could n t

,
’

have be lieved what coul d possess you ? I don t ’

know a thing to say — I have n t got a s in gle word

,
’
.

C ome right i n and lay o ff your things I m right

, .
’

”
down glad to see you at any rate , .

W e had n t anything to lay o fi but parasols and

’
,

then we all fell to cutting the cords and pulling

away the heavy paper and letting out the bright
,

lengths over the floor .

Well who w ou l d
, began Mrs N oble again . .

I do declare it s perfectly elegant ! And I can t

,
’ ’

say a single word I She was as sure of th i s

as any speechmaker and went on accordin gly
, .

Why you could most p i ck up those leaves espe

, ,

c i al l
y the l i ght shad ed ones tho se maple yellows
- - .
,
 I NT O TH E YEA R S . 1 25
’
They look so raised And i t s such a good mixed .

ground and the pattern all wove i n so close and

fir m . Why there won t be a pocket i n i t when it
,
’

wears ; and it never wi ll wear It 11 t urn over .

’
,

and end for end and anyway Well there , I .

, ,

have n t got a word !

’

’
Sure enou gh now she had n t She had sai d it
, .

till it had come true .

We had a beautif ul time cutting and matching , , ,

’
and sewing ; only there was n t half enough to do .

There were only five long seams for four of u s ;

and the ends to catch stitch down and the short -
,

p i eces to p ut on for the side wi ndows by the chi m

ney B y the time E mery Ann and the raspberry
.

roll came we had got all through and had spread

, ,

i t out and were wal king on i t .

You might rake em u p all i nto one corner ’

, ,

”
they r e so natural Mrs N oble began over again
’

, . .

“
I should n t ever have li t on i t
’
They d have .
’

sold me some old thi ng in squares or eggs or di a , ,

’
monds I m so old fashi oned looking you see ;
.
-
,

they keep things laid by for old women and out

West And you can t show em hal f you know
.
’ ’
,

that is i f you r e at all pol ite Paper hangings and

,
’
.

carpets are the biggest trial s to b uy ; I d as li ef b e ’

”
fed wi th a spoon .
1 26 PA TI ENCE S TRONG S O U TIN G S
’
.

It was such a real good ti me It was one of

, .

the b est b i rthdays I had al most ever

l ast of the thirti es .

It was one of the life outi ngs ; one that

-

ave b een hard and regretful but fill ed bri mful

,

sunsh iny pleasantness for me to rememb er it

s by .

L
I sha n t b e a bi t afrai d to go cl ear out — into
’ ’

ot t y
.
1 28 PA TI ENCE S TR ONG S O U TI N G S’
.

known mother hood

l
All mu tual relations are lik e
.

r eflec t ed r a i n b o ws The fir st is straight from the

.

sun ; but the second is over against it and li ke unto

i t ; and the one light is in them all .

We almost always make some pla n that links

our bi r thdays together and keeps them as one .

We take the for tnight to do something pr etty and

extr a for the hou se beginning on my day and
, ,

fin i shi n g and setting up on he r s or we go to Dear

wood o r to Boston — to E liphalet s taking the
, ,
’

pleasantness of the plan and the sta r ting and the

anticipation fo r me and the better pleasantness
,

of the hom e coming for her ; and lay up thi r teen

days of things to talk over all wi n ter between , .

O r we h a ve somebody to stay with u s and keep ,

simple festival without thei r knowing why per ,

haps .

This time our hearts were i n the same thing ,

R ose N oble s littl e wedding havings we had got

’

i nto the m i ddle of those I had almost mad e the

.

child believe that she might go on with what she

knew she could do her self and leave the rest to ,

Providence that had beg un to b r ing things to bear

, ,
’
and was setting a hope for the b right O ctober in
both thei r hearts t hat would never be let to come
quite to nought .
 I N TO TH E N E W TES TA M EN T PA R T OF I T
. 1 29

As the s c hool ! atie was to keep it up now

fo r , ,

wheneve r she left it so that made no di fieren c e .

And the r e was something I had got into my head

to do th at I coul d do best by way of helping R ose
, .

What woul d become of me if I had — what does

become of people I wonder w ho have
, ,
thirty ,

or three hundred thous an d to do w ith and to ao

count for 7 My outings c r owd so with these three
thousand opportunities of mine For I mean to .

spend them every one somehow ; and put out w ha t

they get at interest I shal l have i t all my life to
.

be glad of and the gladn ess of i t shall be growing

i n other lives Bank i nterest is n t the only inter
.
’

est even in common sel fish money using A man

, ,
- .

failed and they took all his money away ; that was
all they coul d fin d though he said he d had forty ’

years of good livi ng and they could n t touch that

,
’
.

H ow can I tell that I shoul d be here to use i t as

it came ,the little income — two or three hun
,

dred a year ? O r that some trouble of ours should

not cl aim it or sweep it all away ? O r that I
should keep my good mind even and do wi th i t ,

the best it could do and not be tempted too much

, ,

here and there in my own livi ng and havi ng

,

O i course I coul d fix it someho w to all prob ,

abil ity ; I could endow or bequeath but I b eli eve

,
1 30 PA TI ENCE S TRONG S O U TI NG S
’
.

so in that other li ving i nterest better than the

, , ,

dollars that gro w out of dollars and can only do ,

dollars wort h as they come after al l N othing

’
, .

stops ; 19939? i age is only the sign of a reale r thiE & _

The box of ointment might have been tu rned into

three hun dred pence and doled out he r e and,

there ; but i t was all poured on Jesu s head ; and ’

the perfume of it has come down into the whole

world and the year s of our Lor d an d has fil led
, ,

thi s room of the Father full .

I have got Seeli e R ubb on my hands now Oi .

cour se Why are w e shown fir st one thing and

.
,

then another ? First blue books full of money ~

orders ; an d then Seelie R abbs — i i we r e not to ,

’

put this and that together ?

Why should n t I spel l after the Lord as fast as
’

H e puts his fin ger on the letters Dollars — o r

any gifts are only illum inated init i als the shi ne
of them is only the leading to what comes next ; the
l ittle plain black print that j oins the mean ing o u .

Seelie B ubb s li ttle pale face and t ired figu r e

’

did n t stop under the locusts and l ook over i nto

’
,

our side yar d that very next M onday when I was

-

shaki ng my duster o u t of the parlor wi ndow wi th ,

out comi ng i nto my pars ing and spelli ng Every .

body must study the i r own pri mer .

1 32 P A TI E N C E STR ONG S O U TI N G S ’
.

with pink bows i n its ear s fil l ed up the w i ndow

seat and the dust of the street came d rifting in
,
.

If shops did n t only have to be in villages

’

Seelie s a id .

Yes if work could al l be done i n the pleasant

,

green places ! I think of that sometimes in the , ,

village and in town H ow the work of the world .

o
W y s the world and blots the colo r of i t out
,
fl
.

x
.

H ow men come with their mill s and tm

j
/

smithing i nto the woods by the rivers and how ,

other things have to come after till everything is ,

graveled and planked and bricked and crowded

u p and the beauty i s bu r ied and a stone put over
, ,

it
. And yet the sweet earth with the seeds in it
is underneath all the while and the bl u e and the ,

’
clouds ar e overhead and i t s always a pl ace that ,

m i ght be and that there are some scraps left o i

, ,

trees and water and grass blades coming u p be

,

tween the bricks after all , .

If it was only the pl anks and the dust said ,

Seelie “
But it s getting pretty bad lately wi th
.
’

B a d sham s smoke since he set the new chimneys

’
,

going They come right up out of the hollow and

.
,

so just send that yellow choke into o ur w indows .

O nce or twice every day —when they fir e up or ,

somethi ng — i t s dreadful It s bad for mother

,
’
.
’
,
 IN TO TH E NE W ES TA M EN T PA R T OF
T I T . 1 33

too s i nce she had the pleur i sy O h i t s another

,
.
,
’

world the minu t e you get this s i de of the hill

I know how that is I know how the woods and .

pastures meet you with their sweet breath as you ,

come down just ever so li ttle over the crown .

You r e not busy now then ? The fall work

’

has n t come in much

’

’
N 0 Miss Widger won t want me till about the
.

twentieth I wish she did Then the fall hurry

. .

begins I ve been out now since the second week

.
’
, ,

i n August I meant to have gone down E ast to

.

my uncle s for a vacation but mother has n t been

’

,
’

well I wish I could get her up here It would

. .

do her a sight of good to come up and breathe a

”
little But she coul d n t ever walk so far
.
’
.

G reen pastur es and still waters What that

promise must be to so many !
I sent some sponge cake and some pears to See
li e s mother and the rest of tha t day I thought i t
’
,

over —ti ll i t fayed i n .

That s O H my mind ! said mother putting

’
,

’
away the week s men d ing and turning the sto ck ,

ing basket bo t to m u p
-
.

“ ’
I don t kno w as there s any part icul ar good i n
’

that said Emery Ann

, Somethi ng el se ll be .
’
1 34 PA TIENCE S TR ON G S ’
O U TI NG S .

onto it agai n d i rectly I ve spent all my l ife i n .

’

”
getting thi ngs ofi my mind .

”
Well that s i t said I
, That s l ivi ng
’
, .
’
.

”
Seems so sai d E mery Ann and went out of
, ,

the room .

Mother I want to do something rather queer

, ,

I began as soon as she had gone “ I ve been .

’
,

”
thi n king of it these two days It s on m y mind .
’
.

Well c hil di e
, sai d mother w ith faith and ,

patience in her vo i ce .

I did n t want to try the m too far She might n t

’
.
’

altogether like i t and quite reasonably , .

Would you mind ? Would you thi nk i t very

queer ? I ve looked at i t till I can t tell It s as
’ ’
.
’

straight as can be in a N ew Testament l ight .

“ ’
I h0pe my spectacles won t make it c rooked
”
then said mother As if she ever crooked any
, .

thing !
It s the R ubbs Seelie and her mother You
’
.

know Seeli e i n Miss W i d ger s little shop ? The

,
’

very thing that makes i t queer i s the N ew Test a

”
ment part of i t .

Mother smoothed her gown over her lap and ,

sai d nothing waiting quietly fo r me for me to end

my shy ing about ; and come to the N ew Testament
part of i t .
1 36 P A TI E N C E S TR ONG S O U TI N G S
’
.

And the darling little woman smoothe d out her

lap again motherly and welcomi ng and her face
, ,

opened itself like the daylight and —I could n t ,

’

see the q ueerness myself now It ha d all come , .

into place a part of the things that are ; the set

,

tl ed things that in a minute ar e no longer strange

, ,

but get an old look directly as if they had been ,

from the beginning .

I ve got to skip over this fortnight pretty much ;

’
,

I wish I had n t The r e was ever so much i n i t

’
. .

R ose s pretty work which Seelie said was a rest

’
,

i tself after the fin er i es of mill gi rls and servants

,
-

and t he walks down the lane and in the garden ; ,

and Mrs R ubb s t al ks about down E ast and their

.
’

happy days and their tro u bles and their moving

, , ,

and how they had been p ut to it to get on he r e

and E mery A nn s nice breakfasts and d inners and
’
, ,

teas ; and Mrs B ubb s noticing o u r old fashioned

.
’
-

b ackgammon table in the corne r — so odd and ,

so handsome — that swiveled round and opened

,

over and had the little side cribs for the men and
,

boxes and was so pretty with the inlaying of two

,

color ed woods ; and mother fin d i n g out that she

kn ew how and was so fond of i t and used to play
, ,

so much onl y their board got broken fir st an d

, ,

then lost in the mo ving and their games together

 I N TO TH E NE W TES TA M EN T PA R T OF I T . 1 37

in bl i n d m a n holidays ; and everything seem i ng

’
s

so nat ura l as if they might have been friend s or

,

cousins instead of strange people out of the vil

,

lage ; and Mrs B ubb s sayi ng that there was one

.
’

more beautiful place in the world and she shoul d n t ,

’

eve r l ose it nor forget it and their going home

in Far mer G rai tt s wagon with some of E mery ’
,

’
Ann s bre ad and mothe r s cake and a pair of
’

, ,

roasted chickens because their fire had been out

,

for ten days and a big basket of pears and Porte r ,

apples and tomatoes and some H ubbard squashes

, ,

under the seat because we had more than we

,

knew what to do wi th ; and best of all wi th a color

i n Seeli e s cheeks and a look i n both the i r faces
’
,

as if it was glad and worth while agai n to be al ive .

This was the between ti me ; but I had something -

kept back still for the real birthday when mother

, ,

was her d ear br i ght fif ty seven

,
-
.

I took her to walk in the warm sunset — w e ,

were having beautif ul days and gr eat ripe harvest , ,

moons — and we went away through the cedar

,

woods till we came out on the E dge Rock where ,

our land ended and a piece came in cornerwi se up

, ,

out of the hollow ; a beautiful little piece three ,

acres and a half or so of oak and maple woodland , ,

— open ing out on the other s ide upon the li ttle

1 38 PA TI ENCE S TR ON G S O U TI NG S ’
.

twi st of cross—
road and squari ng so wi th our own
,

boundaries further up .

Mother never cares to own thi ngs just f or

owning ; but sometime or other the old home pl ac e -

would be E liph al et s ; and men like thi ngs square

’

and shipshape she knew he d think of it by and ’

’
by and she d often b een half a mind to speak
,

about i t ; but she d rather buy it herself if i t

’
,

should ever come convenient ; and I know she

woul d like to c a l l it hers a li ttle while to o for she , ,

always loved this rock and the beautiful billowy

, ,

o utlook over the t rees and she had memori es wi th

,

it .

N ow thi s land was R ose N oble sa part of ’

what her father left her separate from the ol d ,

farm whi ch was sold out in the ear ly days of thei r

trouble and nobody had wanted i t enough to gi ve
,

a good value for i t or i t would probably have gone

,

after the rest l ong ago ; so they had sold s ome

wood and pai d the tax es an d R ose l aughed abo ut
, ,

”
her real estate .

’
The other day I bought i t of her in mother s
,

name gi vi ng her four hundred and twenty five

,
-

dollars And to night I had t he deed i n my

.
-

pocket and while we stood there on the E dge

Rock and the ma ples were spl end id in the sun
,
 CHAPTE R XI V .

O Go n s TR E A SU R E-B OX
’
I NT .

’
I sure I did n t b egi n to kn ow what I was u n
M
’

d er t aki n g when I set out to write down ab out the

O utings .

Why there is no end to them ! They are the

,

forever beginnings The very flow of the ri ver of

-
.

water of life that cometh out of the Throne To

, .

say all about them wou ld be to make a Bible or a ,

world E ven all of them that ther e is in the very

.

qui etest life ; for each touches and takes fast hold
of the whole Besides the th ink outings and the
.
-
,

do outings and the gi ve outings —whi ch are life

-
,
-
,

and love and some si mple shape of which we every

,

one must discover i n ourselves —there are the ,

come outings and the fin d out ings and the grow

-
,
-
,

outings and the tur n outings —which are the

,
-
,

wonderful gift and dealing and disclosure and pro

vi d en c e of G od in and for and about u s
, It was .

“
for Life the Lord bade u s Watch ! N ot for
death and d oom It is to L ife we are bl ind and
.
 IN TO c op s
’
TREA S UR E—B OX . 141

unconsc ious not knowing what hour H e doth

come .

It Was a li ttle thi ng — to tell of after words li ke

,

these — that made me think of thi s so just now

, , .

It was a fin di n g o ut of myself I have painted

-
.

a l ittle picture .

I did n t know as I co uld I learned something

’
.

about i t years ago at school as all the girls did

, ,

just as I learned a li ttle music and left o fi pr ac ti ,

cing gradually after car es came and kept me busy

, ,

and the old piano gave out and everybody s el se ,

’

had an octave and a half more and the n ew beau , ,

tiful music w a s all written for the grand i n str u

ments Besides which after Aunt Judi th came
.
,

she could n t bear the noi se

’
.

I think I always noticed lin es and shades and ,

had an eye for what w as true and i n symmetry .

And somehow it must have b een mullin g quietly

in me as a lesson does learned over night and
, ,

slept upon ; gathering to itself little hints here

and there unconsc i ously ; trai ning and u n folding a
,

possibility that somet ime shoul d come to the light

suddenl y I suppose I never darned a stocking or
.
,

shaped the curves of a dress or looped up a wi n ,

dow curtain o r more than all set delicate flowe r

-
, , ,

stems i n branch ing harm ony and made the ir b right ,

142 PA TI EN CE S TR ONG S O U TI NG S
’
.

ti nts li e against each other i n the accord of color ,

so as to spell the meaning meant without this ar t ,

instinct which is the translation of heavenly l an

guage catchin g insensibly and laying up some new
,

and beauti ful phr ase .

I sup pose that eye and touch and feeling are all
educated by the commonest teasing little every
, ,

day things ; the tr ying to fit things and lay them

straight ; the making of beds ; the setting of tables .

I suppose an o r der ly room when w e m a ke the ,

order and have to study how teaches a lesson i n

, ,

groupin g and per spective an d H eaven onl y knows

,

what mor e That one cannot tr im a bonnet with

.

out learning truths of lines and contr asts ; that do

i ng any one thing well even setting stitches and
pl aiting fr ill s — puts a key into one s hand to the ’

opening of some other quite different sec r et ; and

th a t we can never know what may be to come out
of the meanest drudgery .

The Lord hides away the seeds of wonderful ,

joyful life i n u s ; and w e sleep and wake night ,

an d day ; and they spri ng up and gr o w we know ,

not how .

A t any rate someth ing put i t into my head al l

,

at once that I should like to try to m a ke the beauti

ful lines and touches that I studi ed every day i n a
1 44 P A TI E N C E S TR ON G S O U TI NG S ’
.

much ; and that i n our few and tiny steps upon

,

the earth w e do draw the great globe itself toward

,

u s with all its wealths i n every footfall

, , .

We know not ve r ily that whi ch is laid up for

, ,

us. The r e are such beautiful things p u t by In .

G od s house and in G od s time ther e are such

’
,
’

treasures It comes t rue so wha t I wish ed once

.
,

when I was a little gi r l and mother gave me some

,

things out of an old trunk I watched her looking

over . If I could only have great boxes ful l of
things saved up to pick out from always
The kingdom of heaven i s li ke unto a house
holder .

It has made me very glad — wi th a new and ,

l arge for th looking and expectance

-
just the ,

painting of this little picture .

I have got a little easel now in my window and , ,

mother sits by knitting while I paint I am do

, , .

i ng autumn leaves to burn upon the wal l s inside

,

when the outside blaze i s over I have got the gold .

brown of the hickory and the deep bronze of the

,

ash and the amber and flam e of the maple and

, ,

the shining c r imson of the oak ; and I am grouping

them together and unr aveling their marvelous
,

i n t er wea vi n gs of glorio u s color and matching and ,

mocking them with u mber and carmi ne and sienna ,

 IN TO s on s ’
TREA S U R E —
B oz . 1 45

and vermilion and fin d i n g one speech in the

dead minerals and in the li v ing leaves .

Mother is so pleased .

But her pleasure gets a meaning in i t n ow and ,

then that makes it seem a sadness to me

,
.

I catch her thought so quickly ; before she has

fairly got i t herself she says sometimes We do
, .

understand e ach other almost too well .

“
It is in her face Yes ; one thing more to fill
, , _

up life and to satisfy ; if the l onely days shoul d

,
M
”
come .

Aga inst this l ook I thrust the other day a sud

, , ,

den word of blank di versi on .

M otherdi e ! Wha t i s mostly i n Aunt , ,

H etty Mari a s dark cl oset I wonder

’
,

I had been pro mi s ing myself a tal k ab out thi s a ,

J ohn H alli day .

I had been forget ting John Hall i day these ten

years I never knew hi m much H e was ten
. .

years younger than I and he came to D ear wo od

,

when he w as seven or e ight years old and I was ,

o ut of my childhood then and had left o ff maki ng

,

the l ong play vi s its i n whi ch I shoul d have co me to

-

know and care about h im O ur busy and troubled .

days at home , wi th Aunt Jud i th and fath er

1 46 PA TI EN CE S TRONG S O U TI NG S
’ ’
.

began not very long after tha t and I only heard a ,

li ttle bit here and there of what went on between

J ack as she c alled hi m and my Aunt H etty
, ,

Maria .

H e was away at school some years and then at ,

college and then I know he went to G ermany ,

to study professionally they said and that be dis

,

appointed her and worried her somehow ; and she

w as pretty strict with him even i n her w ay of ,

doing everyt hi ng for hi m ; at any rate that they

’
d id n t get on together and that she stopped him
,

short at last suddenly and called hi m home ; but

, ,

that he went away somewhere again soon after , ,

and had never come back to her ; and that there

had been a cloud as it were behind her in the
, , ,

l engthening year s whi ch she w as afraid to turn

,

and look back at Without really kn owi ng any

.

thing o r ever before asking a word I had felt this

, ,

about Aunt H etty Mari a ; so that I understoo d

what she meant when she said that day I tell , ,

you for I know ; and I was not a bit surpri sed

,

at mother s answer of the s i mple name

’

”
John H alli day .

What di d Jack do exactly mother ? , ,

Well it was n t so much perhaps wha t he d id

,
’
, ,

do as wha t he d i d n t ; and yo ur Aunt H etty

’
,
148 PA TI ENCE S TR ON G S ’
O U TI N G S .

thing really only somehow she took the clear

, ,

comfort out of i t she was so afraid of his being

,

spoiled She gave h i m a good piece of cloth and

.
,

a long thr ead only she put a pin to it instead of a

needle fo r fear he shoul d make a botc h She sent
, .

him to school and through college and out to

, ,

E u r ope ; and he d i d pul l the pin head through -

,

and made a pretty big hole in the cloth ; he got

into a way of havi ng and expecting and spend
, ,

i ng mo r e and more ; and she looking forwar d all

, ,

the same to his comi ng back and earning his li v

,

i ng and putting a man s shoulder to the world s

,
’ ’

wheel E specially after the har d times of 5 7

.
’

came an d so much of her money went i n the great

,

Life an d T r ust C ompany smash Then she had to .

draw in and she expected h im to right off ; and ,

then it came out that he wanted ever so much more

to p ay up with ab r oad A n d then at last he got
.
, ,

b ack ; and things did n t open right out for him

’
,

and he was there at home Idle she thought and .

, ,

not in enough hurry to besti r hi mself ; and though

sh e wo ul d n t but have done fo r him she was too
’
,

high spir ited for him to like his willingness ; so

-

she had plai n words w ith him at last ; nobody ,

knew what ; but there was more wor k i ng in h im of

independence may be than sho wed or than c oul d
, , ,
 I N TO G OD S’
REA S UR E—B OX
T . 149

well stand being doubted and he spoke b ack ,

and took hi mself o ff ; and she s never seen hi m ’

from that day to this O nce i n a while there has

.

come a lett er from somewhere j ust to let her know

,

that he was alive and not bearing any ill wi ll

,
-

but no ac counts of what he was do ing or word of ,

coming home ; only that i n the last of the war he

was a surgeon i n the arm y under Sherman ; she
heard fr om him at C hattanooga and he came round ,

in the G rand March to Savannah ; that was the

last she knew of him and she s proud of hi m ’
,

and wo rri ed out of her life about him and t a m i ng ,

her back all the time on some thi ng she can t bear
’

to look at or make up her conscience about in her ,

de al ing with hi m ; and she s grown an old woman

’
,

and her hair and her teeth have al l gone i n these ,

”
ten years.

Where was he b efore he went i nto the war ?

There never came two letters from the same
”
plac e I supp o se that was a p urp ose
. .
 CHAPTE R XV .

I NT O TH E FA I R Y STOR Y .

D
’
talk to me mumbled Aunt H etty
ON T ,

M ari a when I can t tell which is teeth and

,
’

whi ch i s bread and butter I- -

Aun t H etty Maria had come down again for a

fortnight To go to the dentist s this time I went
.
’
.

wi th her and it was pretty funny

, .

’
I ve come for the permanent set said my ,

aunt to Dr T whom she had not seen for

.
,

three years when she took ether and pulled h i s

,

hair . I never wore the temporary ones They .

were to o temper— y I lost all my patience with

.

’
em They kept m e thi nking of the wailing and
.
‘

’
gnashing and so of all my sin s But I ve made
,
’
.

”
up my mind to learn how now , .

’
When we asked her what for she woul d n t tell , .

She w as queer all through that visit When we .

remi nded her of what she sai d when she thr ew Dr .

T s fir st work across the room and

’
took to ,

” “
her gums again she only answered , Well I , ,
1 52 PA TI ENCE S TR ONG S O U TI NG S ’
.

and hi s li ttl e fili n gs and fitti n gs till we thou ht she ,

g

would ruin her appetite and di gestion by the time

she got the full use of her teeth ; but she w as in
such a hurry she would n t go blundering back ’

to D earw oo d not knowi ng what order of natural

hi story she belonged to or whether her bones
,

were outside or i n H ere there was nobody to

.
,

not i ce ; but there there was never any knowing

,

”
who might come .

She had one little d ouble to oth on each s i de left

’
out ; she did n t care her own were so for five and
twenty years while the six in front were good ; and
she wanted to look natural And the left large .

incisor must lap over its mate ; her old ones did .

Something came out i n Aun t H etty Maria s ’

face with her new teeth which had never been so

, ,

plain there before It was a sweetness and open

.

ness ; the curve of her l ips lost somethi ng that had

grown set and hard in i t .

I have noti ced i n people who have had this aid

and replenishment of art that al most al ways some
,

expression comes to light suiting so curi ously with

,

al l the other feat ur es that it is like a revelation .

I know one woman who looks sly ; and a man

whose jaws fill ed o u t with their new furnishing
, ,

gl eam cruel like a tiger s I can thi nk of others

,
’
.
 I N TO TH E FA I R Y S TOR Y . 1 53

who have had di sfigur em en t and disgu i se replaced

wi th what seems mor e truly to belong to them ,

and to have been intended from the fir st ; faces

tha t look more gentle generous or delicate A n d
, ,
.

I do not believe someho w that anyt hing can come

, ,

out of u s by any accident but what is i n

, , .

When Aunt H etty Maria was packing her trunk

to go away she spoke out ; her mouth was made
,

up to i t by that time .

I ve had a letter from Jack H all i day

’
.

We m ight have kn own i t was coming even ,

b efore Aunt H etty M ari a and the teeth and the , ,

s ingi ng Why else did we get tal kin g of i t that

.
,

day just a little whi le ago

,
mother and I ? ,

Things in this world always come marked with a

”
to be continued They never ri se up sudd enly
.

and go right down again into their graves like the ,

South Am erican mumm ies they tell of i n the earth

quake And i f they d i d do i t I don t b eli eve i t
.
,
’

would be the last of them .

‘
When the chestnuts are ripe i n the old woods ,

and the new cider i s making I expect some ’

,

—to hear from h i m again .

”

We knew that fir st part was i n quotati on marks .

She said it as we say words that have been la i d by

in our hearts .
1 54 PA TI ENCE STR ’
ON G S O U TI N G S
’
.

And then you have got to come up to Dear

”
wood .

Why it wi ll b e al most right away auntie

, , .

Yes ; al most right away It sounded l ike

.

music and dancing — the to ne she spoke it i n

, .

Like the music and danc ing the oldest son heard
in the parable .

N o w where i s my second b est cap box ? P a

,
- -

t i en c e won t you jus t see whether E mery Ann h as

’
,

done pressing out that piece of bobbinet ? And

gi ve her this yard of wide bl ac k sil k for an apron ,

”
and these two pocket handkerchi efs - .

And th i s was the last she would say to us then

ab out J ohn H al li day .

It was two weeks later when w e got word and

went up .

The old house w as all open and sunny Aunt .

H etty Mari a had delicate li ttle lavender ribbons in

her breakfast caps and white satin ones for di nner
,

and evening She had left o fi the old black lace

.

and purple except when she was dusting or cook

,

ing She looked as I remembered her fifteen years

.

b efore .

It all went right through me tha t morning when ,

he came J u st as if I had been John and Aunt

.
,

H ett y Mari a and myself all at the same i dent i cal

, ,
 P A TI E N C E S TR ONG S O U TI NG S
’
.

But what about you r name J ack ? D i d you ,

thi nk I would n t look for that ? ’

My name has been in the papers now and ,

’
then I guess Most men s have of late years
, .
, .

But I c ut the head and tail O E and threw them in ,

the fir e i n the first place as the White C at did i n

,

the fairy story when she wanted to be t urned i nto

,

”
something better J ack answered lightly , .

When he said that I jumped right o fi my chair , .

As true as I live i t never c ame into my he ad ,

before I had n t remembered i t for years and

.
’

years ; but now it flashed across me — the boy s ,

’

long name as I had heard it sometime when he

’
first came to U ncle P arm en ter s .

J ohn R obert H aile H all iday .

”
What s that for Patience ? sa id John as I
’
, ,

sat down agai n .

I don t think it was a good plan O r a ri ght

’
.

”
plan said I catching my breath from my sur prise
, , ,

and speaking quite decid ed and resentful What .

i f it did n t turn out so wonderfully much better

’
,

after all and the head and tail had to be raked

,

out of the ashes and tacked on again ? O r if some

people some bo dy had come to like the middle
part best ? As they c o ukl n t ever perhaps li ke ’
, ,

the rest of i t or any name again ? I think i t was

, ,

to o bad up on them !
 IN TO THE FA IR Y S TOR Y . 1 57

John came right over to me where I sat and ,

del i berately p inched me So tha t nobody else

.

coul d see however

, .

“ ’
Pati ence Strong ! You re rather con fused i n
your analogy but — you know a good de al too
,

much ! he whi spered .

E verybody knew it pretty s oo n though It was , .

a turn— outi ng ; such as they pretend to keep for

stories ; but such as happens every day i n the li fe
that stories are made up out o f And I had been .

i n every bit of i t ; fir st one part and then another .

W hose sto ry was i t I shoul d li ke to know m ore

, ,

than m ine ; or hal f so much — seeing that they ,

could n t possibly be on b oth s i des of thems elves I

’

It was a l ittle hard for Aunt H etty Mari a at the

very first to be sure ; just as if she had only got
,

hi m back to give hi m r ight away agai n ; but al most

befo r e she knew i t she was taking R ose straight
'

into her heart and home plann i ng whi ch rooms

,

would do for her and th ink ing whether she had

,

bette r put up red curta ins or white ones i n the

long chamber and that it woul d have to be be
’
fore the dreary weather came she could n t bear
,

to thi nk of a weddi ng i n November M ight n t .

’

w e make it out for the thi rti eth ? There was some
thi ng so gl ad ab out O ctober ; the v ery sound o f i t
1 58 PA TI ENCE S TR ONG S O U TI NG S ’
.

was yellow and b r ight like fruits and sunshine and

,

”
tingling j ui ces and clear frosty air , .

All this taking it for granted that D earw o o d

,

should be their fir st home that she had a right to

them both A l l talked over agai n and aga in
.
, ,

while D r John w as down at M

. m ak ing
“ ”
he a d and tail of it as best he coul d with the
N obles And then he br ought R ose up for a three
.

’
days visit to his mother ; and she in her own dear ,

l i ttle way settled everyt hing as she chose

, .

Let u s come back and build our own nest with ,

”
you to help u s please she said to Aunt H etty
, ,

’
Maria when Jack was out of the room
, Don t
you ti r e yourself al l out alone and take away all ,

the good of i t You see w e should have nothing

.

to do but to sit right down in a fin i shed place and ,

that s always disappointing People that do the

’
.

making ready put thoughts and thoughts into i t

, ,

one after an other with every little fix i n g and

,

touch ing ; and then ju st in a minute the folks that

, ,

’
come are shown i n and it s all over Let s have
,
’
.

the thoughts and the comfort together please ,

.

And so it was the nicest nest building that ever -

was . We were all there and there was plenty of ,

room for u s all beside the long chamber and the

,

”
l ittl e b ay that we were fix i n g up
, .
1 60 P A TI E N C E ST RON G S O U TIN G S
’
.

said Rose H alli day up at the top of a fli ght of

,

steps hangi ng a b asket and look ing for sci ssors to

, ,

cut the cord .

J ack made a stri de across the room to where

they lay and a long arm up to her to gi ve them
, .

’
And I don t know that I really see the need ,

she added if thi s is to last

, .

I guess i t wi ll la st — all the help and comfort

,

J ohn H all i day can gi ve her — to the end of hi s

,

li fe
.

I have had the beauty of i t I who ne ver w as

,

marri ed or l ike to be an d i t makes my heart

,

warm .

And mother and I are going home again n ow , .

 CHAPTE R XVI .

W I TH TH E SU N D A Y STR A Y S .

I T i s strange how one little

gl i mpse one l i tt l e ,

taste —of another person s li ving or gl adness

,
’
,

stays by yo u and opens the door toward all the

,

rest .

E very morn ing now when the northwest a ir i s

, ,

cri sp with mountain frosts and the smell of r ipe,

ness comes with every stir and the sun glory is ,

-

keen i n the clean swept atmosphere and the crown

-
,

of the year s joy lies upon the ear th I think the

’
, ,

fir st thing of the pleasantness up there at Dear

,

wood ; of the new bright home there o r rather of

, , ,

the fresh beautiful soul in the old Oi John and

, .

R ose standin g al ways on the morn ing threshol d -

,

looking into the years together as we look into the ,

hours when the day is prime ; of the cosy break

fast and the after breakfast settling of R ose with
,
-

her wor k ba sket in her window among her plants

-

of Doctor H all iday reading ; of Aunt H etty Mari a

looking in every li ttle whi le as she goes up and ,
1 62 P A TI E N C E S TR ON G S ’
O U TI N GS .

down upon t his new acqu isition of hers of youn g

, ,

beautiful life continuall y wanting f r esh little

views of i t as we do of pretty and comfortable
,

thi ngs we have just got and brought home .

W hen the night dr aws i n and the fir e is cheerful, ,

and the winter la mp is lighted that ha s been set by

-

thr ou gh the war m tw ilighted eveni n gs and all

, ,

the comfort tha t has eve r been in one s l i fe o r that ’

one has r ead o i seems to wrap itself ar ou nd

,

one in a deliciou s ful l ness — then ag a in I think ,

of D ear w o o d and of all t he long happy winte r

, ,

that is befo r e them the r e ; befor e t hem to whom

a single hou r togethe r w a s bu t a little while ago
so much Oi the p r etty worsted work Rose meant
.

to do that she never had had time for in her

,

b u sy car eful life at home ; of A u nt H etty Mari a

,

knitting and John drawing or wood tur n i ng

, ,
-
,

fo r he does all so r ts of charming ingenious thi ngs , ,

— an d of all the pleasant choice of thought and ,

t alk and occupation which that f r ee time gives

, ,

when there ar e no old things to mend no hu r ry of ,

p r oviding no anxio us complications to u nravel

, ,

s u ch a s come with the living o n bu t all is new ,

and pl en t if ul and smooth wi th the smoothness of

,

that which is un begi m .

Why it i s beautiful just to know of i t i And

,
1 64 PA TI ENCE S TR ONG S O U TI NG S
’
.

bilis with the lily and the di stafi for my dear

, ,

little mother at C hri stmas t ime

, .

Besi d es that the new horse railroad i s opened at

,
-

l ast as far as Hibben s Lane O nly five minutes ’ ’

.
,

walk from our door Why we are almost city .

,

’
people I But mother an d I don t go i n mu ch A t .

fir st I thought w e should n t be much concerned

’
.

’
I di d n t worry about the Sunday people and ,

the fruit trees and the gardens as some of the

-
, ,

neighbors did In fact I have had so many other

.
,

things to take up my mind that I re al ly thought

very l ittle about i t until all at once when we got
, ,

home from B earwood we found that the cars were ,

to run and that we were to be Metropolitans the

,

very next Monday Things al ways do get fin i shed

.

up ,
or broken o ff or chan ged somehow while , ,

you r e gone
’
.

It has come to m e s ince — the force of i t

tal king with Seeli e B ubb She w as her e one day .

last week to cut my new brown empress cloth

,
.

It s just — more outings ; these very Sunday out

’

ings .

I m so glad Seel i e sai d of these new horse

’
, ,

cars Susan came out last Sun day wi th her hus

.
,

band and two of her children to drink tea The , .

other two are coming next time Why i t seemed .

,
 WI TH THE S UNDA Y S TR A r s . 1 65

al mo st l ike Thanksgiving Mother said she di d n t .

’

kno w as she should ever have used her best cups

’
and saucers again they d been put away so long
, .

They re real beautiful chi na M i ss Patience ; and

’
, ,

’
the pl ates ; there s only seven left of them but ,

they ve each got a separate figure There s cur

’
.
’

’
rants o u one and strawberries on another and
, ,

cherri es and plums and peaches and grapes and

, , , ,

a cut pomegranate ; and with every fruit there s ’

a l i tt le blosso m of its own dropped on one side .

Mother says it always makes her feel l i ke p eop l e

aga i n to set them ou
Seelie set up the shoulder puff of my sleeve half -

an i nch hi gher as she spoke gi ving an air I

, , ,

suppose more like people to my plain w i n ter

, ,

dress than it might ha ve had but for the little

,

ac companyi ng p u fi and set u p of her spi r its as -

,

she told about the plates .

“ That i s n t too high i s i ? ” I asked a l i ttle

’
t , ,

O h dear no mi ss ; the hi gher and squarer

, , ,

the b etter now Why they act ually put little

, .
,

crutches under the i r shoul ders somehow they say , , ,

to rai se them up And what wi th the b uckram

.

fronts and the panni ers behind and other things

, ,

that they just whi sper ab out why b es i des need , ,

1 66 P A TI E N C E S TR ONG S O U TI NG S’
.

i ng to be a archi tect an d engi neer b efor e

qu ali fied
you can be a real dress maker I ain t trul y sure -
,
’
,

someti mes that i t i s n t a downright wickedness

,
’

al together I

People talk said I about B o sto n not being

, ,

fin i shed I wonder if the w om en ever will be

. .

They ve been added on to and taken o ff from and

’
,

lengthened out and cut sho rt and humped up and ,

flatt en ed down an d I don t know how m any di ffer

’
,

ent things since I can remember I wonder if

, .

they ll ever fin d out what is just r ight and pret

’

”
t i est an d stop there and be comfo r table
, .

“ N o in ”
said Seeli e B ubb wi th a simple
d eed
, , ,

little consternati on i n her voice at such a fooli sh

looking for .

“ ”
Do you know Seelie I said soberly , that , ,

when I hear these thi ngs I feel as if I saw the ,

‘
abomi nation of desolati on standing in the holy
pl ace And I can seem to understand the woe
to those who shall be mothe r s in those days I
”
It i s pretty b ad Miss Patience little Seel i e
, ,

“
repeate d sh aking her head
, And i t does make .

me feel wi cked learning to make a t r ade of i t

, .

Why i t i s n t hardl y much bett er seems to me

,
’
, ,

some of i t — than selling li quor to the men I

,

Onl y you work for the plain people Seeli e ; i t ,

1 68 P A TI E N C E S TR ONG S O U TI N G S
’
.

hands full and hearts ful l of the countr y just this ,

once a week i t s beaut iful I It makes me thi nk

,
’

of the Lord walking i n the corn fiel ds A nd it s -

.
’

true for more than the walking too I m afr aid , ,

’
.

I guess the poor thi ngs are pretty well a hu ngered -

,

some of them before they get back They don t

, .
’

”
all have home teas to come to
- .

They ought to Seelie somehow !, ,

That w as my fir st thought about it and i t

stayed by although I had to turn i t over awhile
,

befo r e I could quite see the N ew Testament part

without the queerness .

I d o n t want to be crazy queer about anything ;

’
-
,

and I know it s no use to expect to provide for all

’

the S unday strays and that it would n t always do

,
’

if you coul d but then to think of the young

fathers and mothers week workers
, bring i ng -
,

out the little children i nto the blessed country on

the day of the Son of Man and going b ack any of , ,

them worn and hun gry ! H e al ways had compas

,

sion on the multitudes and cared lest possibly

, , ,

there might any faint by the way If we could get .

out of this world i nto the nearest edge of the

heavenly places once in a while woul d the an gels
, ,

shu t their doors I wonder ? Would n t they

,
’

rather take u s in and feed a s wi th the b read of the

 WI T H TH E S UND A Y S TR A rs . 1 69

kingdom ? I think we shoul d look for them to do

so and that our idea of the heay
, en we may go into

by and by i s fir st of all of so mebody coming to

, ,

meet u s .

I thought and thought till I felt there was ,

surely something in the way of a loaf for me to

, ,

do And that w as the beginning

. .

Mother and I talked it over And so Saturd ay .

, ,

w e b aked a basket of crisp ginger bre ad and fr ied a

panful of doughnu ts and Sunday mor nin g w e set ,

out a pitcher of milk from the mil king And then .

w e we r e all ready ; if the l i ttle children d i d come

al ong .

Then being all ready I began to be afrai d

, ,

they would n t come our w ay S o about three

’
, .
,

o clock I said to mother

’
,

’
M o t herd i e ! I believe I ll put on my hat and
shawl and walk down toward the head of the lane
, ,

”
and see wh at I can see .

And mother laid her spectacles down on the win

dow sill and smoothed out her lap saying
-
, ,

So I would They might tur n o ft the other

.

road by the brook ; and that would be a pity see

, ,

ing the doughnuts and the gingerbread are up

here besides the lane that of course they would n t ,
’

”
kn ow oi .
1 70 PA TI ENCE S TR ON G S
’
O uTI NGs .

We had r eally begun to expe ct so m e sp ec i al

they.

It was a lovely late au t u mn day It seemed as .

if the su n had d one his s u mmer work and the

spar e f r a gments of his glo ry were flun g down upon
u s for pure j oy A s if human cre atur es might
.

have them all now that the grain was ripe and the
,

grass gone and the fr uit mellow It was like

, .

after the par ty .

I met them just there by the brook or rather I ,

saw them coming an d managed that they should,

overtake me with my f ace toward home as I stood ,

and picked some bits of b r ight leaves out of the

hedge .

They c ame up chattering — the li ttle ones I ,

.

had been puzzling what I could say if they did n t

’

take our road ; indeed what I coul d exactly say ,

i f they did But you al ways see as you come to i t

. .

”
Let s go this way says the biggest girl
’
,
.

”
Down here where this pretty water goes .

N0 says the boy stur dily I don t care for ’

the water I saw a squi rr el up he r e on the wall

. .

”
I want to see where he goes to .

”
It s quieter thi s w ay suggests the man
’
,
.

”
And sunnier this replies the woman ,
.

Well mother what do you say ? Say qui ck I

, ,
1 72 P A TI E N CE S TR ONG S O U TI N G S
’
.

themselves ; only I did just bethink m yself to turn

back and say to the elder girl lest they should
‘

happen to get out by the turnpike and so ,

round
C ome back thi s way dear and stop a minute
, , ,

”
and I will give you some flo wer s .

S o we we r e sure of our company now mother ,

and I an d we went an d suga r ed a plate of dough

nuts and had mugs handy for the childre n ; and
,

then I sat down again an d went on read ing to her

”
o ut of the Sc hii n berg C otta Family
-
.
 CHAPTE R XVI I .

’
O OTH E R
I NT P E O P L E S B U SI N E SS .

SO that began i t And no w as I said I have

.
, ,

plenty to plan and to do Because al though the

.
,

pleasant autumn weather is soon over an d the ,

winter ti me i s no time for Sunday out ings yet I

- -
,

kno w how it will be when the spring comes and

how Fast Day and May Day and every day that
, ,

they can get will be bringing them — those that I

, ,

have got acquainted with (and it i s wonderful ho w

one gets on in any particular world of people when
one once begins with one or t wo ) and many more , .

And they shall all be welcome We shal l ha ve .

to bake bigger b askets of gingerbread and fry ,

huger pans of doughnuts and keep out whole

,

bowls of m i lk but there shall not one of them go

by our door w i shful or weary .

And i t gi ves the chance for other thi ngs O ne .

doing lights the way to the next All the l ittle .

paths and aisles toward the light of the Gr eat Love

ope n into each other .
 ’

1 74 P A TI E N C E S TR ON G S O U TI NG S
’ ’
.

There a r e books and pictures and things to

l ook at for the fathers and mothers and the li ttle
, ,

chi ldr en Books to lend too ; they like so to take

.
,

somethi ng home So I have got plain bound

.
-

copies and copies second—

, hand nicely covered , ,

qui te a bookshelf full of pleasant useful reading , , ,

on purpose ; and it is nice to have plenty of

money to do this wi th so comfortably I buy .

cheaply and m ake the most ; for I like to keep the

,

feeling of being rich behind my doing as long ,

I can Some things must cost ; the stereoscopic

.

vi ews for instance I have two glasses and a

, .
,

great many pictures ; I can never ha ve to o many

of these Why when they get out here
.
, these ,

fri ends of mine which is as far as they wi ll ever

,

get most of them in point of fact I can take

, , ,

them right on into all the beautiful unkn own pla ces
of the wi de world Into the Alp—heights and the .
,

Yosemite to N iagara and Trenton and Mount

Washi ngton u p the Saguenay and the Missis
sipp i among the Dall es of the St C ro i x and to the .

fall s of the M innehaha These are the people that .

ought to go in this way What a shame it would .

be to keep such wonderful gli mpses in rich parlors

and libraries only ; for people who can go far and
wide i f they choose among the re al i ties I
, ,
1 76 P A TI E N C E S TR ON G S O U TI NG S
’
.

It wi ll tell it to them for i tself The word i t .

speaks w ill bury i tself in the ir souls ; a seed to

grow up i n to the grandest holiest knowledge It , .

i s something to minister such sacraments as these .

”
It i s all very well E mery Ann says with , ,

the decent mechan i c people But ho w will you do .

when the ragged boys and the coarse men get wi nd

o f it and come al ong
I suppose I shall think when the time comes ,

I an swered A n d if they are too c oarse I dare

.
,

say noth i ng will drive them away s o oner than

”
pol iteness .

’
There s something in that sa i d E mery Ann , .

My s i ster L o vi n y used to tell her litt le boy ,

Don t come into the parlor unless you can be

’

poli te So one day he stood i n the doorway when

’
.

’
she had company Why don t you come i n H o
.
,

rati o and take o il your cap ? says L ovi n y

,
I .
‘

don t feel as i f I wante d to b e polite says he an d

’ ’
, ,

cleared It don t al w er s take a p erl eec e o ffic er to

.
’

’
keep folks out from where they ain t fit not ,

”
even forzin o out of heaven
, , .

“
Mother says she s proper glad we thought of ’

it
. Dear mother ! What shall we do when the
quai nt old people are all gone and the quaint old ,

word s are al l used up ? They are a part of speech

 I NT O O THER PEOPLE S B USINESS ’
. 1 77

by themselves ; not common not ill bred nor a n y ,

-
,

thi n g like modern slang ; but ful l of pure meaning

and time flavo r The old Puritans sent them down

-
.

to u s many of them ; thi s certa inly They were

, , .

so self contai ned and words were so chastened i n

-

their using N obody was ever ex tr a va ga n tly gl ad ;

.

“
nothing was ever ex cessi vely pleasant ; onl y pro
perly so Yet the sober word meant all that they
.

could say as much as o ur words do ; and the mean

,

ing grew more and more as they crowded all their ,

feeling into i t until the very term o f moder ation

,

and restraint came to ha ve a most li p smacki ng -

sound of the super lati ve .

Sometimes I think I get more out of other peopl e

than i s fair ; I have gr own so into the w ay of put
ting myself in their places and feeling just how
thi ngs must seem to them It is almost like read .

i ng their letters or listen ing at the ir doors I

, .

wonder if it s old maids way ; and if tha t i s ho w

’ ’

w e get such a charac ter ; b ecause we must needs

bo rrow s o much ? I wonder if i t i s the essence of

prying and gossipi ng ?
I think the di fference must b e i n the poi nt of
vi ew If you stand outside and peer and p i ck and
.
,

criticise i f you look for what had better not be

, ,

then I m sure chok ing in the sea i s n t a b it too

’ ’
1 78 P A TI E N C E S TRONG S ’
O U TI N GS .

bad for such a haunting and possessing ; but if you

g o right down into their hearts and feel their joys ,

and t r oubles wi th them I think that i s even ,

what our Lord himself did and how he helped ,

“
them and bore the i r sorrows and i niquities and
, ,

gave them of his peace .

I try to have it so For my i mag i nati on — what

.

ever that is and I think it is the powe r that goes

,

out of u s into spi r itu al places gathering real ities ,

w i l l reach forth and lay hold of wh at is not al t o ,

gether my very own

, .

I go here and there i n this fash ion To Dear , .

wood as I was saying ; and lately very much just

, , ,

i n this way to Mrs Shreve s

,
.
’
.

She has had a piece of good fortune She has .

had some money left her Money that she never .

expected or heard o f Things are never done

.

”
h appen ing i n this world
,
E mery Ann says , .

”
E ve rything can wait but chickens and children , .

Late i n life after many pinches and worries it

, ,

has come to her N ot an enormous fortune ; but

.

that large en ough to her qu i et wants that sets ,

her heart at rest .

A n d it is so pleasant to feel how i t is wi th her .

And she shows i t so simply Not by any airs or .

p retenses ,
no i ndeed I O nly by b reathing free ;
,
1 80 PA TI EN CE S TR ONG S O U TI NG S
’
.

The way i t happened was this .

I know that if I were putting together a story ,

for the sake of the sto ry — which I never meant,

to do and never coul d have done in all my life

, ,

the way it happened ought to have come first ; i n

deed everyth ing ought to have come fir st except ,

the very thing that I was dr i ving at N ot by any .

means with A B and C regularity eithe r ; I kn ow

, ,

“
better than that too ; you must say i t skipping
, ,

about I have not read the new style of novel and

magazi ne writing unobservantly You must dip .

fir st into a little bit of the end ; then plunge into

the m iddle talking about people and places and
,

things as if everybody had been regular ly intro

,

d uc ed and then gradually by l i ttle dashes an d

, ,

all usions catchings up and hitchin gs o u get the

, ,

antecedents and the connections togethe r wi th the ,

help of the clever re ader — and nobody else has

,

any bus i ness w ith modern literature in a man ner ,

equally creditable to his sagac ity and your o wn i n

en uit
g y .

But as I am not writing a story only putt i ng ,

down things and thoughts as they come to me i n a ,

very plain smal l every d ay livi ng

,
I put down
, ,

’
fir st what interests me most dear Mrs Shreve s ,
.

long breath .
 I N TO O THER PEOPLE S ’
B USI NESS . 1 81

The way it happened then was thi s

, ,

I was looking o u t of my window one day when I

saw a ve r y q u eer little man getting out of a very
’

q ueer little chaise

, at Mrs Shreve s doo
. r .

The m an was short and thin the chaise was tall

and th i n ; and the hor se w as a ro an chunky and ,

low so low that he made me think of a little

spot ted dog tr ai ned to run between the wheels
, ,

and that the real horse must be somewhere i n vi s ,

i bly beyond or round the corner

, ,
.

The man had wi ry l i ttle legs and a round ball ,

of a he ad and he wore the roundest of brown felt

,

hats ; and his thi ck short sack coat also brown

,
-
, ,

set out round hi s body so as to complete another

r i diculous notion that came into my head that he ,

w as like an u n fin i shed piece of knitting wo r k ; the -

needles st uck into the b all at one end an d the piece ,

of w eb rounding out between And his name w as .

according to my fancy and bore it out curiously as

, ,

I learned afterwards It was M r ! nott Webb er

. .
,

the keen little Boston lawyer A certain client of

.

h i s — Aaron E ac hfiel d — had just di ed .

Some years ago thi s Aaron E ac hfiel d a master

, ,

mechanic c ame i nto his o ffic e for the fir st tim e i n

, , ,

company wi th Ri chard Shreve whose wi dow as, ,

he said at thi s poi nt of the intervi ew wh i ch M rs .

1 82 P A TI E N CE S TR ON G S O U TI NG S
’
.

Shr eve mostly repeated to me word fo r word here , ,

and there from time to time afterward quite i n

, ,

the appr oved constr uctive style I was just speaking

oi,
and which I with the due cleverness patched
, ,

and pieced together till I have got the whole in ,

eiden t very clearly and prett ily i n my head ,

whose widow he said he beli eved he had now the

, ,

pleasure of addressing .

M r Shreve had been in a large w ay of bus iness

.
,

and h ad gone into many building speculations .

These it was that ruined him as to money s worth ,

’
,

fin all y ; but meanwhile he had put wo r k and ,

money in others w ay and had built up many a

’
,

modest little fort une although failing at last of , , ,

his own I believe there are books somewhere on

.
,

which there w i ll be found records that m ake hi m a

heavy stockholder i n a kind of Mutual C ompany
i

whose d ividends pay largest and best after all

earthly accounts are closed .

I ve b r ought you a man M r Webber said

’
, .
,

M r Shreve to his lawyer

. who wants somebody ,

to dr aw up hi s will My friend M r Aaron E ach

.
, .

field my friend M r ! nott Webber ,

And n o w . .
,

as I have an i mportant appoi ntment in a quarter

of an hour I l l leave you to get better acquai nted
’

w ithout me .
1 84 P A TI E N CE S TE ON G S ’
O U TI NG S .

And the l ittle lawyer havi ng unraveled hi mself

of this held o ut his hand and shook M rs Shreve s
, , .
’

warmly and told her he was gl ad in his so ul to

,

have to come and tell her of i t .

For Aaron E ac hfield w as a grand good fell ow ;

and R ichard Shreve well you know ma am
, , ,
’

wha t he was ; and it s good money that comes ’

’
through such men s fin gers ; and I wish you well
of i t ; w el l of i t ma am i n my soul I do l
,
’

After that I saw the rest of i t ; the little knit

,

t ing work man stickin g h i s b r own ball (apparently)

-

on its pins again and rolling himself up as if he

,

had done his stent for that time and gett ing i nto ,

hi s tal l chaise again and rattling away with the

,

little roan horse t rott in g u nderneath .

And so that night happening i n I saw that Mrs

, , .

Shr eve w as rather nervous ; and lightin g her lamp ,

and putting the globe o u she let it slip and broke, ,

i t into fifty pieces against the sto ve foot upo n -

which while I picked up the scraps of glass she

, ,

sat down and burst out cryi ng .

I knew she could n t well spare the dollar i t

’

would take to buy another ; but I was afra id for ,

her givi ng way like this which was n t usual to

’

her that the knitting work man must have brought

,
-

some botch or other to worry her ; and I began to

 IN TO O THER PEOPLE S B USINE SS ’
1 85

b e quite angry with him i n my heart and to feel ,

as if I sho uld like to pull out all his sti tches .

And then when she got over i t a little she told

, ,

me not to mind ; what made her cry was that i t ,

w a s no kind of matter that she could get as many

lampshades as she l i ked ; an d t hat nobody had ever
had su ch a hu sband ; and that it would be an ache
i n her h eart all her life that she d never seen ’

Aar on E ac hfiel d to tell hi m what she thought of

,

him and to say G od bless him !

,

A nd if that was n t beginning i n the right mod

’

ern style to tell a story I should like to know what

,

would have been I

So fir st and last be t ween u s it s all the same
’
.
, ,

If any one likes it bett er so they can begi n at this

,

’
end and read it again bac kward Anyhow there s
,
.
,

a new chamber fir el i ghted and warm in my heart

a new place to go into and be glad i n ; eve ry t i me
I think of M r s Shreve and her lampshades and
.
,

her bonnets and her table cloths and her night

,
-
,

gow ns and all the li ttle things that used to fret

,

and t r ouble her and that now she can b e so easy

,

about .

A n d as E mery Ann says — W e can all wai t

, ,

our turn things ar e never done happening ; every

body can be patient but children and chi ckens .
 CHAPTE R XVI I I .

I NT O TH E M I D NI GH T .

W EE! S ago I wr bte those last words

, .

H ow can I bear to put it down here that ,

which came after

The pleasant heart cha mbers are all shut up
- .

G od has called me out — into the darkness I .

grope and gro pe reaching after my l ife that i s

,

taken aw ay fr om me and set so far onward

,
.

I know that it i s the even i n g and the morning

that are the day ; I know the morn ing i s b eyond
but the midnight i s heavy upon me .

0 mother ! my dear dear l i ttle mother !

,
1 88 P A TI E N C E S TR ONG S O U TI NG S
’
.

i nto the breadth and glo ry of the many mansions ,

has the G ood Father called my soul .

When I think how it has been bet ween u s ,

how the blue of the mor ning and the sweetness of ,

the summer and the little pleasantness of home

, ,

and the thought that fr om anywher e came to touch

u s both were the th i ngs that held u s reall y close
, ,

and that our hearts met i n — I know that the ,

bodily presence was not much was not our liv ,

ing A nd that our re al life can n o t be broken

. .

I set her pl ace straight and put the little things

,

about there i n the wi ndow and make up the dear

, ,

look of the pleasant day we are to have together

and the same love is i n i t that was in it then and
so the soul is i n i t and so the pleasant day m u st
be an d i s
, .

D o es not she know ? H ow di d she know i t then ?

It was not in the table nor the chair nor the , ,

book nor the basket ; only that our thought met

,

i n the se in that which w as wi thin them rather

, , ,

and behind the signs .

It is only that — that she has gone behi n d the

,

si ns
g .

Into the very peace of the blue morn ing into ,

the very r est of the tender twilight into the very ,

joy of the new springing thou ght that wants and

-
 IN TO THE D A Y— GL EA M . 1 89

wa i ts not words ; in to the continual prom i se and

forel o o ki n g of the pleasant d ay that is always just

When these things to uch me through the types , ,

she is in them w i th me wi thout the types J ust , .

as she w as before She has entered the within

. .

The wi thi n that i s al so the b eyond and the nu ,

b ound .

O ut i nto the wi der l i fe

, into the spi ri tual ,

pl aces Is thi s whi ther H e would lead me now

.
,

by her dear drawing and guidance ? Then ought

I to be gl ad ; gladd er than in any other l eading H e
has ever gi ven .

O nly the pain and the str ai n ! The reachin g

,

forth one s hands with the clog of the flesh upon

’
,

them to lay hold of things in that world the

,

things of which may neither be to uched nor han

dl ed I
Thi s bli nd w alfingi i th glory ! I
w
know that i t i s here an d lo se ; and to her i t i s
,

manifest But I am as the beggar cry ing b y the

.

wayside among the crowds that looked upon the

,

fac e of the Lord —f eel i n g only that he is here an d

, ,

that the great m ul tit ude i s about him — cryi ng ,

onl y H ave mercy o n me that I m ay receive m y

, ,

sight I
1 90 PA TI ENCE S TRON G S O U TING S ’
.

Yet when my heart is warm I know as the

, , ,

blind know that I am in the sunshine that I can

,

not see .

I had a dr e
w
W m me that I had work in my hand ;
l arge work sewi ng ; and that I went down the
,

garden with it alone I came to a wall a wall .

freshly built that stopped me I wondered

, .
,

and then I remembered The sepulch r e I In .

m y garden also there i s a new tomb now I

, , ,

When behold in the seeming sepulchre a door ;

, , ,

which when I opened showed me a fair room

, , ,

full of sunshine and in the s1 m shi n e as if ,

she were the heart of i t she sat And she had , .

work in her hand like min e only it was fin i shed

, .

And she spoke in the dear old tone and the light ,

wa s all around her and in her look , .

C hi ldi e I C ome to sit and wo rk w ith me ?

That is good Sit here where it is warm and
.
,

pleasant ; sew your seam while I pick out the bast ,

i n g—
”
threads from this of mine .

A nd I never felt her company so dear and sweet ,

in all my waking life as I felt i t in that moment ,

o f my dream .

Words woke me that were spoken in the spiri t,

“ I am the D o or
; by Me ye shall go in and out .
1 92 PA TI ENCE S TRON G S O U TI N G S ’
.

sigh of H ow could you ? through the dear old , ,

forsaken rooms .

A t fir st I was afrai d that I shoul d not have

E mery A nn She too had made u p her mind
.
, ,

for me that I must n eeds go ; and her brother had

,
'

written to her again and again from away down

, ,
'

E ast at Skowhegan tha t he wanted her there to

, ,

keep his house .

S o there came to be so much sai d and thought

about i t before she real i zed that I woul d still cer

t ai n l y want her he r e tha t it divi ded her mind She

, .

felt she said as i f she had actually moved and

, , ,

”
the th ing was n o w to come back again I want ed .

her to take her free choice and I to ld her to thi nk ,

i t over as long as she liked .

“
That means keep moving Why I shal l b e
, .
,

all wore out going back and forrard in my min d ;

,

and good for nothing for e i ther of you by then I

sto p . I tell you Miss Pati ence you don t know
, ,
’

what an awful waggle a sett led k ind of a mi nd gets

i nto when once it i s u p so t I
,

S o poo r E mery A n n lay awake n ights and came ,

down with her eyes all dropped i n i n the morning , ,

an d brought i n br eakf ast li ke an Affery Flin twi n c h

i n a dream .

She l ooked somet imes as i f she wanted m e to

 IN TO TH E D A Y— G L EA M . 1 93

question her to get a decision out of her that she

,

w as quite beyond p r o d u c i n g fo r herself ,

Well ? said I one morn ing more as an answer

, ,

to her own eyes than as an inqu iry .

”
Well she replied ; as if the forced decision
,

were coming and glad too

,
and then suddenly ,

caught herself back into the debatable ground

again She set dow n the tray and lifted up her
.
,

hand mo ving her thumb to and fro as the ch ildr en

, ,

”
do in the game of Simon .

Well ma am
,
’
S i m o n says W igwag I
,

And every morning after that for about a week , ,

she woul d set down the tray without a word and ,

li ft up her hand and make the sign

, .

But at last she came in with a brighter face than

she had wor n since since the change and shado w
fell ; and when she had emptied her hands of their
b urden she made a great sweep i n the ai r and
,

brought her right thumb downward upon the table ,

planting i t there as i f she stamped some solemn

and i rrevocable seal .

Simon says — D O WN m a am I ,
’

And I believe i t i s down now for as l ong as we , ,

both shall live .

I asked her how i t had come a bo ut .

W ell ma am I ve b een to s sed b y the winds

,
’
,
’
,
 1 94 P A TI E N CE S TR ONG S O U TI NG S
’
.

and in jeopar dy But the Lor d has kept me in

.

one mind now — for I just left it al l to him when

,

I found I coul d n t stay there a minute myself

’

for twenty four hours together ; and so he s brought

-
’

me to l and I can tell a sign when i t does come

.
,

”
besides its being a thankful deliverance .

I believe n othing lifts u s s o far forward as pain

an d h a rdness .

I do not think as I sometimes have thought and

,

b een afr aid that they in the heaven peac e an d fre e

, ,
-

dom will go on so fast beyond u s as to go aw ay

, .

I think that w e who stay and bea r are climbing by

W steps to as beautiful a height And .

that they mu st see it so g as we see hard lives and

great anguishes here and behold them wi th a rever
,

ence .

I believe the ear th life i s grand almost grander

tha n the fir st heaven of r est it reaches to I think .

the Fa ther s angels must have looked with a more

’

wor shiping awe on the Son of Man in the glory

of his su fte ri n g than in the glory of his power .

M It can only be that it is one same world where ,

o n e s ame work of love and faith is done under d i f

fer en t conditions And I can think somehow of

.
, ,

how it may be and of things i t is like

,
.

u The man for instance grapples nu mbers i n hi s

, ,
1 96 PA TI EN CE S TR ONG S O U TI NG S
’
.

growing together — their very stones interlocked

,

and cemented yet in the un seen knowing each ,

other not Divided by the great gulf which i s not

m
.
'

f el ati h n ; as there
'

depth or di
'

ar e powe r s and properties i n nature tha t coexist ,

yet never touch or recognize or invad e each other ,

because they have no common end or tending .

I think of it in the simplest things of eve ry day

an d of our doing ; as our tastes develop and our

life expresses i tself as we make about u s the look

that we love best ; that w e are build i ng so the , ,

very home in the heavens that i s now and shall be

, , .

Perhaps I cannot so much as put a flower i n a

vase or hang a p i cture on the wall or make any
, ,

thi ng sweet and clean and let the sunshine in upon

i t wi thout p utti ng what the flower and the picture
,

and the sun lighted purity m ea n into the unseen

-

mansi on that i s here and is waiti ng

, .

It always seems as i f one did more than the

mere thing If I move about a little furn iture
.
,

and make some room tha t I had not before the ,

range and spaci o usness are not just exactly the feet
that I have gained but a grand i n d efin i t e open
, ,

i ng It is an idea of latitude that i s as good to

.

me and si gn ifies as much as any breadth of em pti

, ,

ness that could be bu i lt around with wal ls .

 I N TO TH E D A Y- GL EA M . 1 97

C hildren see this po etry of th ings — whi ch i s ,

the ir spirit — al ways The hi gh broad s teps o r

, .
,

sta irs they always like to play on ar e more to them

than a mere w ay of gett ing up The l ittle cricket .

i n the corner the nice corner i tself the seat i n the

, ,

apple tr ee
-
,
these things to the child have life and
importance because the ch ild does always be
,

”
hold the inward of th ings G ro wing older we .
,

forget or greater thin gs di splace these little ones

w e can sit anywhere ; yet we do like o ur corner

still E nough lingers with u s to keep the soul of

.

the home idea ; and we go on gatheri ng roun d i t

-

the body which fits and sets forth the sp i ri t We .

are bu ilding better than we know .

I think I am sure
,
m o ther di e I tha t w e
,

have built together That you are in i t wi th me

.
,

still ; the home that thi s is the s i gn a n d the out

”
showing of the home tha t i s no t very far off .
 CHAPTE R XX .

I NT O TH E M OR N I N G .

TH E sunshine among my flo wers to day made ,

-
,

me so gl ad I It came in among them from away

through the far heaven and touched every li t tle
,

stem and leaf with a thread a pul se of the glory

, ,

that i s al so at the same moment unbroken i n the , ,

deep heart of the Sun !

It tells so much E verythi ng is such a showing
. .

Wh en we begi n to look at it so all l ife i s such a ,

di vine parable And the thi ngs of this world ar e

.

what w e cannot possibly stop in ; but ways out ;

every way into the eve r lasti ng li fe
,
.

Ways out ! That w as what I began i n my ,

sim pleness to wr ite about not knowi ng how far i t

, ,

woul d take me or how much I was meaning in the

,

little thi n gs that I w as t ryi ng to say

I found out what my outings were that ,

reached by insight or i maginati on or sympathy or

, , , ,

li t tle doings of some sort of kin dness into life and ,

range beyond my o wn li ttle quietness and ab idi ng .

200 P A TI E N C E STR ONG S O U TI NG S ’
.

Th e wi nter is gone ; and in the winter t ime I -

foun d new ways of making pleasantness for you ,

an d me ! For you are in i t all and i t i s fo r your ,

sake I l earn so the deep sweetness C hrist meant

.

fo r u s when he bade u s do for hi s sake !

,

We are not lonely here Y o u neve r were lonely ; .

and I wou ld not let any dr eari ness come down

about your home .

When E mery Ann made up her m i nd her -

good kind faithf ul mind — to stay by me

, , by ,
-

u s m other ! she had a hard i n d ecision to wi n

,

through .

Fo r you see she sai d the main thing is , , ,

that now Matilda i s going to be marr ied ma was ,

tal k i n some of break in up an d going t o P en u el s

’ ’ ’

’
to live And she and little R ho do ry would ki nd 0
.

want somebod y along with em thi s wi nter because ’

,

”
Penuel t hinks of going i n .

In ? Where ? I asked her .

C amp Lumbe r ing They would n t hear from

. .
’

hi m m ay b e for six months ; and then there d be

’
, . , ,

no tellin what first It s a pr ecious anxious time

’
.
’

i n the spring you may believe amongst the lumber

, ,

men s folks up and dow n the ! ennebec When

’
,

’
the river comes t eari n and ragin by their door s ’

and w indows day long and night l ong strai ght , ,

 IN TO THE M OR NI N G . 201

from where the boys are as if i t d i d bring news ; ,

and they can think of nothing else W hen they .

kn o w the big rafts are making and the log dr i vi n ,

-
’

begi nn i n and the freshets and the jams ; and

’

, ,

them that co m es home safe ll be most sure to bri ng ’

some n ews of trouble for somebody out of the six ,

’
months winter and the silence and the danger
, , .

I did think I d ought to be with her

’
.

It was the same love m o ther di e I Yours and ,

m i ne . What coul d I say then ? ,

I feel so tender for everybody s mother now ; ’

and for all women who are beginning to gro w old .

That i s what mother and daughter and s i ster , ,

hood and all ar e given for Little bits of what

, , .

holds all together The heart work and the heart

.
-

l ife of the world So tha t all motherliness is ou r

.

mother s and all ch ild s love and brother s love or

’

,
’ ’
,

even what mi ght be is ours As i t was H is who , .

Of these who do the Fat her s wi ll each i s

’
said, ,

min e in every ti e ; each i s my brother and sister

, , ,

”
and mother .

I sa w it the other day I wanted to come home

and tell you i n a plai n common man this beau ,

tiful recogn iti on and i t warmed my heart for

many days .

I was co m ing out i n the car The conducto r .

202 P A TI E N CE S TR ONG S O U TI N G S
’
.

w as a young blu ff fr esh faced fellow ; and among

, ,
-

the passengers was a tidy comfo rtable old Scotch ,

woman She wanted to stop at Mrs M I l

. .
’

very s ; a little low brown house with a lattice

’
, ,

work p orc hw ay and steps through i t up to the doo r

, .

”
Did he kn ow J ust past G rover s C orner ’
.

All right mother I says the young conductor

, .

That touched me to begi n with and made me ,

watch .

B y and by the woman and I and a little boy

, ,

who jum ped on to the platform and call ed the con ,

”
ductor G eorge with a gre a t ai r of pride in the
,

familiari ty were the o nl y people left And then

, .

it came out that she had bu t ten cents change to ’

pay her fare which shoul d be twelve

, .

”
I ve got she said looking in t he you n g man s
’
, ,
~
’

honest blue eyes and put ting her hand towar d the
,

bosom of her gown a bi ll ; it s twenty dollar s ;

,
’

but I took te n cents for my f are for that was all ,

Sus annah said it would be

N ever mind mother says G eorge agai n
, ,
.

”
All right And took the ten cents
.

”
I beli eve says the Scotchwoman you m u st
, ,

”
be from the old country yourself .

N o I m a Yankee We a i n t all lean ki ne

,
’
.
’
,

mother I
204
‘
PA TI
EN CE STR ON G S O U TI NG S
’
.

Wh en the i r sakes are his sake and al l t he

,

m others an d sisters are hi s ?

See how I write to you and tell and ask as i f

, , ,

someho w the very words were to o !

, g
My outings are all to ward you .

Why not ? I think that all p ro vi di n gs for thi s

l ife show the pro vi di n gs for the uns een D i d men
.

p i ece out G od s work wi th their cunning devic e of

’

l ett ers and messengers i nventing something new

,

u nder the sun the pattern o f which w as not i n all

,

the heavens O r did H e put i t carefull y among

the po ssibil i ti es an d i nte nts and the things to be ,

as H e di d the oak seed and the mustard seed ?

- -

I was th i nking of i t so the other day when word

,

had just come again from E l iphalet and G ertrude .

Of the wonderful thing i t i s that there should have

b een a thought and a w ay put by against the need
,

o f far separated people to commun i cate and under

-

stand upon the earth ; of the stran ge possible signs

,

that men were sure to fin d and put to gether as they

were to S peak ; of the great system that gro ws out
o f them ; of ho w the whole world is busy send i ng ,

c ar ryin g and rece i vi ng and the very air is al i ve

, ,

Wi th the ru sh of i ts wr i tten messages to and fro

,
.

’
H ow i t wa s trul y meant and a part of G od s
plan an d suppl ement fo r u s ; as t rul y so as that we
,
 IN TO THE M ORNI N G . 205

shoul d wal k about or speak to each o ther A n d .

everythi ng b e ing but a showi ng and a parab l e it ,

c ame to me so surely that H e w ill take care of

our hearts and of the spirit ual di stances ; and by

,

h i s dear provi di ng messages do go to and fro ; that

the heavenly ai r i s full of lovi ng and helpful and
remembering words ; and that each get
som se That
whi ch is spoken in the ear i n cl osets i s heard upo n
”
the housetops O ut of G od s ma ils no letter i s
’
.

lost.

That i s what I th ink about what they call sp i r

i tual i sm i n these days That it only cumbers
.

i tself That the tho u ght i s so real and so su re

.
,

that each sou l has its own so certain and direct com
mun i ng , that th i s dealin g in signs and second
-

hand i s as i f in a land and a time when everybody

,

knows or may know how to w ri te his own lette rs ,

the public scri veners sho uld set up the i r stands as ,

they did i n the old untaught pl aces and genera

,

t i ons I am afrai d men m ay ask for s i gns and

.

cl ing to them and be sati sfied ; not see ing the m i r

,

a cl e not perce i vi ng the inner splendor the real ,

spi ri t working ; the kingdom of G od com i ng n igh

-
,

an d already at the doors .

I wish I c oul d p ut i nto wo rd s some i nward per

206 PA TI ENCE S TR ONG S O U TI N G S
’
.

c ep ti on of this life i n wh ich w e li ve Thi s that we .

do touch and breathe and see ; only as with our

, ,

soul s But they are the things i n heaven above

.

that we may make no graven i mage of They are .

only spiritually di scerned .

I fin d a word in the N ew Testament a word , ,

indeed of the New Testament has found me

, , ,

newly , a word burn ing with its own light and ,

shedding i ts blaze over all the gospel from every ,

sen tence i n whi ch i t i s put A word the letter of .

,

which is radi antly one with its spirit ; and taken

simply i n i ts l etter translates to as perfect an image
as things can gi ve the deep unspeakable truth
, ,
.

”
The word i s glory .

A shining Presence .

A l ightening forth of th at whi ch i s al ways here ,

the coming of which is as the flash fro m the

”
one part to the other part under heaven The .

electri c fact abides ; so does the sp i ritual It en .

v el o s u s always
p W hen
. the fi ne subtle condi ,

tions are met then all at once heaven and eart h

, , ,

are full of its brightness The b egi nning of mira

.

cles done in C ana of G alilee manifested it forth

and every act and word of the Son of Man reveals
i t to th a t appearing of H i m wh i ch i s a n d shall be
,

i n the glory of the F ather and wi th his angels .

208 PA TIENCE S TR ONG S O U TI N G S
’
.

had not fully ascended H e touched that realm

.

as we touch i t ; i t was close and warm about him

he knew that at any moment he might ask of the
Father and have twelve legions of angels yet only
n ow and then they appeared out of the gl ory ,

strengthening him visibly ; or out of the excel

l ent glory came the l o ving au di ble vo i ce of G od
, .

C an w e not wai t as he wa ited ?

O h I b el i eve that there i s no a w a y that no
,

l o ve no life goes ever from u s it goes as H e

, ,

went that i t may come agai n deeper and closer

, ,

an d surer ; and b e wi th us al ways eve n to the end ,

o f the world .

O ut of the b ody to G od , That shall be the

.

l ast o utgo ing the everl asting enter ing i n .

That i s what we wait for — the adoption ; the

,

redemption of our b ody ; the full manifestation of

the sons of G od .

That i s what shal l cert ai nly come i n m y turn ,

ev en to me also : the outgo i ng of the mor ning ;

the i nstant flo weri n g of thi s l i fe i nto the la rger ;

the new birthday ; and as w e found each other
here when this l ife was to b e for u s so surely your
, ,

face wai ting for m e there ,

M otherdi e I