"Yes, of course," said Paula; "What can we do for you?"
"Just one thing. Pray for me! That"s what I need more than anything else. I want to be faithful to Him and serve Him, but I don"t know how to begin, and when one has served the devil as many years as I have it"s hard to change masters."
"The Lord Jesus will help you," answered Paula.
"He"s already done it, Mademoiselle," said the Breton. "If not, how could I have endured these last days. At first I had a raging thirst for more drink until I nearly went crazy. Then my old companions called me out and urged me to go and drink with them, and I had almost yielded when suddenly I cried to the Lord Jesus to help me, and then a wonderful thing happened!
All desire for the drink went away, and I"ve been free ever since! Then too, I had no work, and my wife taunted me with that, and I wandered up and down looking everywhere for something to do. Unfortunately everybody knew me and knew too much about me, so there was no work for such as me." Then suddenly the poor, thin face was illuminated with a smile as the Breton triumphantly said, "I came to this door tonight as the very last resort, never dreaming that my old master really would employ me, but just see the goodness of G.o.d! I can face the world again, for I"m going back to my old bench at the master"s factory!"
"My! How glad I am!" exclaimed Paula.
"Yes, Mademoiselle, but I have you to thank for your great kindness to me."
"I," said Paula surprised; "why what have I done?"
"You, Mademoiselle! You made me feel that you really loved me. Also, you persuaded me that G.o.d loved me, miserable sinner that I am. But if tonight in this district you find one more honorable man and one criminal less, let us first thank G.o.d, and then you, Mademoiselle!"
"Do you own a New Testament?" said Paula as the Breton started to leave.
"A New Testament; what"s that?"
"It"s a book--a part of the Bible--that tells us about the Lord Jesus, and how He saves us from the guilt and power of sin, and how we can serve Him."
"Well, Mademoiselle," replied the Breton, "if it"s a book, it"s of no use to me. I don"t know how to read!"
Paula looked at him with a mixture of surprise and pity.
"I might have been able to read," continued the poor fellow. "My mother sent me to school, but I scarcely ever actually appeared in the school-room. The streets in those days were too attractive a playground."
"But you could begin to learn even now!"
"No, Mademoiselle," and the Breton shook his head sadly, "It"s too late now to get anything of that sort in this dull head."
Paula said nothing more at the time, but I could see that she had something in her mind relative to this new problem.
CHAPTER FOUR
THE YOUNG SCHOOL-MISTRESS
The following day Paula had a word with my father regarding the matter.
"Now don"t worry any more about the Breton, Paula," he answered. "He knows enough to do what"s necessary to gain his living, and if he wants to work faithfully and not spend all his money on drink, he can do that without knowing how to read. However, if it bothers you because he cannot read, why don"t you advise him to go to night-school? I can"t imagine what could have happened to him, but he"s changed mightily, and for the better. I only hope the change in him will last!"
The days grew longer, the snow disappeared and the trees and fields began to put on their spring clothes. Week by week the Breton"s home also began to show a marvelous transformation. The pigs who formerly found the garden a sort of happy rooting-ground now found themselves confronted with a neat fence that resisted all their attacks, and the garden itself with its well-raked beds, showed substantial promise of a harvest of onions, potatoes and cabbage in the near future. Spotless white curtains and shiny panes of window-gla.s.s began to show in place of the dirty rags and paper which used to stop part of the winter winds from entering, and the rain which formerly kept merry company with the wind in that unhappy dwelling now found itself completely shut out by shingles on the roof and sidewalk; and a certain air of neatness and order so pervaded the whole place that it became the talk of the little town.
"That"s all very well, but it"s not going to last long," said some.
"Well, we shall soon see," said others.
The Breton had to stand a good many jests and taunts from his former companions but he took it all without either complaint or abatement of his courage.
"I don"t blame you one bit," he said to one of his tormentors, "for I was once exactly the same--only I hope some day you"ll be different too. In the meantime, comrade, I"ll be praying for you."
"You must admit I"m a changed man, anyway," he said one day to a group who made sport of him.
"That"s true, right enough," said one of them.
"Well, who changed me?"
Various opinions were offered to this question.
"Well, I"ll tell you!" he thundered, and that stentorian voice which always used to dominate every a.s.sembly in which he mingled, held them spellbound!
"It was the Lord Jesus Christ. He died for me--yes, and He died for every one of you. He shed His blood on Calvary"s cross to keep every man from h.e.l.l who surrenders to Him in true repentance. Then He does another thing!
His Holy Spirit takes away the bad habits of every man who surrenders to Him. He said once, "If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed!" Now you look well at me! You know what a terrible temper I had.
You"ve tried your best in these past weeks to make me angry but you haven"t succeeded. That"s a miracle in itself. You can say what you like to me now but you won"t make me lose my temper. That"s not to my credit, let me tell you! It"s G.o.d Himself who"s done something that I don"t yet clearly understand. The money I earn, I dump it all in the wife"s lap, for I know she can handle it better than I can! Then there"s another thing! When I get up in the morning now, I ask G.o.d to help, and He does it. When I go to bed at night, I pray again. Let me tell you, if I should die I"ll go to heaven, and there I"ll meet my dear old mother, for it"s not what I"ve done, it"s what _He"s_ done! It isn"t that I"m any better than any of you. No! There isn"t one of you as bad as I was," he continued, "but if G.o.d was able to change and pardon a beast like me, He can surely do the same with all of you. So what I say is, why don"t you all do just the same as I"ve done?
Surrender yourselves into Christ"s hands!"
Little by little, seeing it was useless to try to bring the Breton back into his old ways, his tormentors were silenced at least, and a life of new activities commenced for the former drunkard.
"You certainly appear to be quite happy," said Paula, as we pa.s.sed the Breton"s garden one evening where he was whistling merrily at his work.
"I certainly am that," said he, raising his head. "There"s just one weight on my heart yet, however."
"And what"s that?" Paula"s voice was sympathetic.
"It"s that I cannot read."
"But I didn"t think that that fact interested you very much."
"Yes, I know, Mademoiselle, but I didn"t comprehend what I had lost, but now I"d give my left hand if I could only read."
"Poor Breton," I said. It seemed to me we were a bit helpless before such a problem.
"It isn"t that I want to become a fine gentleman, and all that"; and the Breton turned to address me also--"It"s simply that I want to be able to read the Great Book that tells about G.o.d and His Son Jesus Christ. Also I would like to help my children that they might have a better chance than hitherto I have given them. But there you are! I"m just a poor ignorant man, and I suppose I always shall be."
"Well," said Paula, "why don"t you attend the night school?"
"No, Mademoiselle," and the Breton shook his head; "that"s all very well for the young fellows who have learned a little something and wish to learn a bit more. But me!--at my age!--and I don"t even know the letter A from B, and I have such a dull head that I would soon tire out the best of teachers."
"Well, supposing I tried teaching you?" said Paula timidly.
"You, Mademoiselle!" cried the Breton stupefied, "you to try such a thing as to teach me!"
"And why not, if my uncle should let me?"