CHAPTER XIV.
The wedding had been on Wednesday. On Thursday all gathered, byinvitation, at the Oaks, where Mr. and Mrs. Dinsmore gave them a royalentertainment. On Friday the same thing was repeated at The Laurels, onSaturday at Fairview, and on the following Monday all were to assembleat Woodburn.
Being a Christian, Sabbath keeping connection, no one thought for amoment of profaning the Lord's day by frivolity and merry making. Thosewho were able attended church in the morning; in the afternoon the Ionand Woodburn people taught their Sunday-school classes as usual, andafterward held a Bible class among themselves at Woodburn, that beingthe point nearest to the schoolhouse on the Woodburn place, at whichthey had just concluded the exercises for the day.
Dr. and Mrs. Landreth and her brother, the Rev. Cyril Keith were, justat that time, among the guests of Captain and Mrs. Raymond, and, by therequest of the little company, the minister led the exercises.
Turning over the leaves of his Bible, "The thought strikes me," he said,"that perhaps godliness would be as good a subject for to-day'sconsideration as we could find. 'Godliness with contentment is greatgain,' the apostle tells us. It is a duty and the part of wisdom to becontented with what God our heavenly Father has seen fit to give us ofthe good things of this life; for there is no happiness to be found indiscontent, murmuring, and repining; envying those who seem to us tohave a larger share than ours of the riches and pleasures of earth. 'Webrought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothingout. And, having food and raiment, let us be therewith content.'Happiness does not depend upon the amount of our earthly possessions.'Trust in the Lord and do good, so shalt thou dwell in the land, andverily thou shalt be fed.' That promise alone should be enough to makeone contented and happy, even though possessed of but very little ofthis world's goods. Indeed, why should we care to have much of thatwhich may at any moment fall from our grasp? Let us rather seek the trueriches which endure unto eternal life. Let us follow after righteousness,godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. May ours be 'the path of thejust which is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto theperfect day.'
"But I consented, not to the preaching of a sermon, but only to theleading of the exercises in which all are privileged and desired to takea part. Let us have the reading or quoting of texts bearing upon thesubject of godliness."
Then, from their open Bibles they read in turn, the older peopleselecting for themselves, the younger searching out references giventhem by their leader.
"Papa," asked Neddie, when there was a pause in the reading, "what isgodliness? Does it mean the same as being a Christian?"
"Yes, my son."
"And to be a Christian is to love Jesus and try to be like him andserve him everywhere and all the time?"
"Yes; a real, true Christian is one who follows Christ, striving to belike him in every way and to keep all his commands."
"I think I do want to, papa. Please tell me more about it."
"We must study the Bible to learn all about Christ Jesus--how he livedin this world, what he did, and what he did not do, what sort of spirithe showed--and strive to have the same spirit ourselves; for the Bibletells us 'If any man have not the spirit of Christ he is none of his.'Jesus said, 'I must be about my Father's business,' and if God is ourFather we too will be about his business."
"But how, papa? I don't understand it."
"Jesus came to save souls; and we must try to save them by leading themto him; first by serving him ourselves, then by persuading others to dothe same--telling them of all his great goodness and mercy, his lovingkindness, and how he suffered and bled and died that sinners might besaved--even those who hated and persecuted him. How strange it is thatwe do not love him more and serve him better!"
"And how enduring is that love--the love of Christ," added GrandmaElsie. "His own word is, 'Yea, I have loved thee with an everlastinglove: therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee.'"
"And he laid down his life for us," said Mrs. Landreth. "And he himselfsaid, 'Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his lifefor his friends. Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you.'"
"Yes, that is the test," said Mr. Dinsmore; "we have no right toconsider ourselves his disciples unless we are striving earnestly tokeep all his commandments. He himself said, 'Either make the tree goodand his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruitcorrupt: for a tree is known by his fruit.'"
"Yes; if we love our Father we will strive earnestly to keep hiscommandments and not feel them to be grievous. A loving child is anobedient one," said Mr. Keith. "'For this is the love of God, that wekeep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.'"
"'God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners,Christ died for us,'" quoted his son Donald. "In his love and in hispity he redeemed us."
Then there was a moment's pause, presently broken by Mr. Dinsmorestarting the hymn "Love divine, all love excelling," in which the othervoices promptly joined.
That closed the exercises for that time, and those who had come merelyto take part in them bade good-bye for that day with the expectation ofreturning on the following one. And those who remained behind scatteredto their rooms until the summons of the tea bell brought them togetheragain about the table, to partake of their evening meal; after whichthey repaired to the veranda and spent in conversation and music, suitedto its sacredness, the closing hours of that Lord's day.
Captain Raymond and his wife lingered for a little upon the verandaafter their guests had gone to their rooms. They sat side by side--hewith his arm about her waist, her hand fast clasped in his, while herhead rested upon his shoulder and her eyes looked up lovingly into hisface.
"My dear," she said softly and with a beautiful smile, "I am so happy. Ilove you so, so devotedly, and am so sure that your love for me isequally strong."
"I think it is, my darling--light of my eyes and core of my heart," heresponded low and feelingly. "You are to me the dearest, sweetest,loveliest of earthly creatures. I can never cease wondering at my greatgood fortune in securing such a treasure for my own. I am rich, rich inlove. My children are all very near and dear to me, and I know and feelthat I am to them, but you--ah, I think you are dearer than all five ofthem put together!"
"Ah," she said with a joyous smile, "those are sweet, sweet words to me!And yet they make me feel almost as if I had robbed them--your children.They all love you so dearly, as you have said, and set so high a valueupon your love to them."
"And it is very great: none the less because my love for you is stillgreater. You, my dear wife, are my second self--'bone of my bone andflesh of my flesh.' It is right that our mutual love should exceed allother earthly loves."
"Yes; and yet I fear it would make Lu--perhaps Gracie also--unhappy toknow that you have greater love for anyone else than for them."
"I think they do know it, and also that it is right that it should beso. And I presume they will both some day love someone else better thantheir father. I cannot blame them if they do."
"Perhaps the love differs more in kind than degree," Violet saidpresently.
"Yes; there is something in that," he returned; "yet it is notaltogether that which satisfies me. We are all bidden to love oneanother. 'Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved theChurch, and gave himself for it.... So ought men to love their wives astheir own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.... Let everyone of you in particular so love his wife even as himself.'"
He paused and Violet finished the quotation.
"'And the wife see that she reverence her husband.' Ah, it is easy forme to do that with such a husband as mine," she added. "Also, I rememberthat in Paul's epistle to Titus there is a passage, where the aged womenare bidden to teach the younger ones to be sober, to love theirhusbands, to love their children. And in the next verse to be obedientto their husbands. I think I have kept that command as far as I couldwithout getting any orders from mine," she concluded
, smiling up intohis eyes.
"Yes, indeed, dearest," he said, returning the smile and drawing hercloser to his side with a fond gesture, "where one's slightest wish ispromptly and eagerly complied with a command would be altogethersuperfluous. And though I consider it wise and right--yes, anunquestionable duty to exact prompt, cheerful obedience from mychildren, I do not think I should ask it of my wife. The women of theapostle's day were not the educated, self-reliant ones of the presenttime; therefore our wives are hardly to be expected to conformthemselves strictly to the rules he lays down for them. But if husbandand wife love each other as they ought,--as you and I do, forinstance,--any friction between them will be a thing of rareoccurrence."
"And when, if ever, there is any," said Violet, "I think the wife shouldbe the one to give way--unless she feels that to yield to the wishes ofher husband would be a breach of the moral law; but in that case shemust remember the answer of Peter to the high priest, 'We ought to obeyGod rather than men.'"
"Yes," he said; "and when a parent commands something which is plainlycontrary to God's command,--lying or stealing for instance,--it is thechild's duty to refuse to obey. There are parents, alas! who do traintheir children to vice and crime, and when that is the case they, thechildren, must remember and act upon the teaching of the apostle, 'Weought to obey God rather than men.'"
"How I pity children who are placed in such circumstances," sighedViolet. "Oh, I often think what a cause for gratitude I have in the factthat my parents were earnest Christians, and brought me and all theirchildren up in the fear of God; also that my children have an earnest,devoted Christian for their father."
"And for their mother, my sweet wife," he added with emotion.
Neither spoke again for some moments. It was Violet who broke thesilence.
"My dear," she said, "I wonder if you have noticed, as I have, that mycousin Donald greatly admires our Lu."
"Ah! has he told you so, my love?" queried the captain, a touch ofregret and anxiety in his tone.
"Oh, no!" laughed Violet; "but he looks at her with evidently admiringeyes, listens eagerly to anything and everything she says, andespecially to her playing and singing; which are certainly worthhearing. He greatly admires her drawings and paintings, too, some ofwhich I was showing him the other day; also her evident devotion to herfather, and readiness to assist and make herself useful to him in everypossible way."
"Yes," sighed the captain, "her father would hardly know what to dowithout her. Yet, of course, I should be far from willing to stand inthe way of my child's happiness. However, I hope and believe that herfather is still nearer and dearer to her than any other human creature.She has often assured me that such was the fact; not waiting to bequestioned, but telling the story of her love as something in which wecould both rejoice, and which she was sure was reciprocal. As itcertainly is. I love her very dearly; though not more than I do each ofthe others. Indeed, it gives me a heartache to think I shall ever becalled to part with any one of them."
"Not very soon, I hope," said Violet. "You have frequently told me youdid not intend to let either of your daughters marry for years to come."
"No, I do not; and as I dread the pain, for both them and myself, whichwould be caused by the necessity for refusing to let them follow theirinclinations in such a matter, I sincerely hope no one will succeed inwinning their affections for years to come."
"Then if I am right about Donald and he asks your permission to make anoffer to Lu, you will forbid him to do so?"
At first the captain's only reply was an amused sort of smile. Then hesaid: "I must tell you of a talk Donald and I had, some years ago, atWest Point. You perhaps remember that I took Max and Lulu there, andfound Donald already at the hotel, and we spent a few days together, thechildren with us nearly all the time. One night I sent them early tobed, and, afterward, spent an hour or more talking with my friend aloneon the piazza. In that talk he expressed a great admiration for mylittle girl, and--half in jest, half in earnest--asked leave to try towin her when she should reach a proper age. I told him certainly not forat least six years. It is five now."
"Then he ought to wait at least another year," remarked Violet, who hadlistened with keen interest to her husband's little story.
"Yes; and I hope he will feel that obligation and refrain, for thepresent at least, from courting her. And, though I should be sorry formy friend's disappointment, I cannot help hoping that he has not won,and will not win, my daughter's heart. I want to become neither hisfather, nor my daughter's cousin," he added with a slight laugh.
"Why, yes, to be sure! I had not thought about those relationships,"exclaimed Violet, joining in his mirth. "But," she added, "Donald is sodistant a relative of mine that, if that were the only objection, itneed not, I think, stand in the way."
"No, perhaps not. A greater objection to me, so far as I am concerned,would be the fact that, if married to an army officer, my daughter wouldbe kept at a distance from me nearly all the time."
"And to me, as well as to you, that would be an almost insurmountableobjection; for Lu and I are now the closest and dearest offriends--bosom companions. I should hardly know what to do withouther--the dear, sweet girl!"
"Ah! it makes me very happy to hear and know that," he said with a gladsmile, adding, "it is hardly news; for I have seen for a good while thatyou were very fond of each other."
"Yes; we are like sisters. I should miss Lu almost more than I shallRosie, as we are together so much more constantly. Oh, I don't like tothink of it! and I sincerely hope it may be years before she learns tolove any other man well enough to be willing to leave her sweet homeunder her father's roof."
"A hope in which I join with all my heart," said her husband; "and onethat I trust Donald is not going to ask me to resign."
"If he does, just remind him of the exact terms of the answer you gavehim at West Point," returned Violet in playful tones. "But now I thinkit is time for us to retire; do not you?" releasing herself from hisembrace and rising to her feet as she spoke.
"Yes," he said, "I would not have my wife miss her beauty sleep."