Here the sentence always ended mysteriously, and the neighbors finished it as they liked.
The calamity affected Polly, on the other hand, very much like a tonic.
She felt the necessity of "bracing" to meet the fresh responsibilities that seemed waiting for her in the near future; and night and day, in sleeping and waking, resting and working, a plan was formulating itself in the brain just roused from its six months" apathy,--a novel, astonishing, enchanting, revolutionary plan, which she bided her time to disclose.
The opportunity came one evening after dinner, when Mrs. Bird, and her brother, Edgar and herself, were gathered in the library.
The library was a good place in which to disclose plans, or ask advice, or whisper confidences. The great carved oak mantel held on the broad s.p.a.ce above the blazing logs the graven motto, "Esse Quod Opto." The walls were lined with books from floor half-way to ceiling, and from the tops of the cases Plato, Socrates, Marcus Aurelius, and the Sage of Concord looked down with benignant wisdom. The table in the centre was covered with a methodical litter of pamphlets and magazines, and a soft light came from the fire and from two tall, shaded lamps.
Mr. Bird, as was his wont, leaned back in his leather chair, puffing delicate rings of smoke into the air. Edgar sat by the centre table, idly playing with a paper-knife. Mrs. Bird sat in her low rocking-chair with a bit of fancy-work, and Polly, on the hearth rug, leaned cosily back against her Fairy G.o.dmother"s knees.
The clinging tendrils in Polly"s nature, left hanging so helplessly when her mother was torn away, reached out more and more to wind themselves about lovely Mrs. Bird, who, notwithstanding her three manly sons, had a place in her heart left sadly vacant by the loss of her only daughter.
Polly broke one of the pleasant silences. An open fire makes such delightful silences, if you ever noticed. When you sit in a room without it, the gaps in the conversation make everybody seem dull; the last comer rises with embarra.s.sment and thinks he must be going, and you wish that some one would say the next thing and keep the ball rolling. The open fire arranges all these little matters with a perfect tact and grace all its own. It is acknowledged to be the centre of attraction, and the people gathered about it are only supernumeraries. It blazes and crackles and snaps cheerily, the logs break and fall, the coals glow and fade and glow again, and the dull man can always poke the fire if his wit desert him. Who ever feels like telling a precious secret over a steam-heater?
Polly looked away from everybody and gazed straight into the blaze.
"I have been thinking over a plan for my future work," she said, "and I want to tell it to you and see if you all approve and think me equal to it. It used to come to me in flashes, after this Fairy G.o.dmother of mine opened an avenue for my surplus energy by sending me out as a story-teller; but lately I have n"t had any heart for it. Work grew monotonous and disagreeable and hopeless, and I "m afraid I had no wish to be useful or helpful to myself or to anybody else. But now everything is different. I am not so rich as I was (I wish, Mr. Bird, you would not smile so provokingly when I mention my riches!), and I must not be idle any longer; so this is my plan, I want to be a story-teller by profession. Perhaps you will say that n.o.body has ever done it; but surely that is an advantage; I should have the field to myself for a while, at least. I have dear Mrs. Bird"s little poor children as a foundation. Now, I would like to get groups of other children together in somebody"s parlor twice a week and tell them stories,--the older children one day in the week and the younger ones another. Of course I have n"t thought out all the details, because I hoped my Fairy G.o.dmother would help me there, if she approved of my plan; but I have ever so many afternoons all arranged, and enough stories and songs at my tongue"s end for three months. Do you think it impossible or nonsensical, Mr. Bird?"
"No," said he thoughtfully, after a moment"s pause. "It seems on the first hearing to be perfectly feasible. In fact, in one sense it will not be an experiment at all. You have tried your powers, gained self-possession and command of your natural resources; developed your ingenuity, learned the technicalities of your art, so to speak, already. You propose now, as I understand, to extend your usefulness, widen your sphere of action, address yourself to a larger public, and make a profession out of what was before only a side issue in your life. It"s a new field, and it "s a n.o.ble one, taken in its highest aspect, as you have always taken it. My motto for you, Polly, is Goethe"s couplet:--
""What you can do, or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.""
"Make way for the story-teller!" cried Edgar. "I will buy season tickets for both your groups, if you will only make your limit of age include me. I am only five feet ten, and I "ll sit very low if you "ll admit me to the charmed circle. Shall you have a stage name? I would suggest "The Seraphic Sapphira.""
"Now, don"t tease," said Polly, with dignity; "this is in sober earnest. What do you think, Fairy G.o.dmother? I "ve written to my dear Miss Mary Denison in Santa Barbara, and she likes the idea."
"I think it is charming. In fact, I can hardly wait to begin. I will be your business manager, my Pollykins, and we "ll make it a success, if it is possible. If you "ll take me into your confidence and tell me what you mean to do, I will plan the hows and whens and wheres."
"You see, dear people," continued Polly, "it is really the only thing that I know how to do; and I have had several months" experience, so that I "m not entirely untrained. I "m not afraid any more, so long as it is only children; though the presence of one grown person makes me tongue-tied. Grown-up people never know how to listen, somehow, and they make you more conscious of yourself. But when the children gaze up at you with their shining eyes and their parted lips,--the smiles just longing to be smiled and the tear-drops just waiting to glisten,--I don"t know what there is about it, but it makes you wish you could go on forever and never break the spell. And it makes you tremble, too, for fear you should say anything wrong. You seem so close to children when you are telling them stories; just as if a little, little silken thread spun itself out from one side of your heart through each of theirs, until it came back to be fastened in your own again; and it holds so tight, so tight, when you have done your best and the children are pleased and grateful."
For days after this discussion Polly felt as if she were dwelling on a mysterious height from which she could see all the kingdoms of the earth. She said little and thought much (oh, that this should come to be written of Polly Oliver!). The past which she had regretted with such pa.s.sionate fervor still fought for a place among present plans and future hopes. But she was almost convinced in these days that a benevolent Power might after all be helping her to work out her own salvation in an appointed way, with occasional weariness and tears, like the rest of the world.
It was in such a softened mood that she sat alone in church one Sunday afternoon at vespers. She had chosen a place where she was sure of sitting quietly by herself, and where the rumble of the organ and the words of the service would come to her soothingly. The late afternoon sun shone through the stained-gla.s.s windows, bringing out the tender blue on the Madonna"s gown, the white on the wings of angels and robes of newborn innocents, the glow of rose and carmine, with here and there a glorious gleam of Tyrian purple. Then her eyes fell on a memorial window opposite her. A mother bowed with grief was seated on some steps of rough-hewn stones. The glory of her hair swept about her knees. Her arms were empty; her hands locked; her head bent. Above stood a little child, with hand just extended to open a great door, which was about to unclose and admit him. He reached up his hand fearlessly ("and that is faith," thought Polly), and at the same time he glanced down at his weeping mother, as if to say, "Look up, mother dear! I am safely in."
Just then the choir burst into a grand hymn which was new to Polly, and which came to her with the force of a personal message:--
"The Son of G.o.d goes forth to war, A kingly crown to gain; His blood-red banner streams afar-- Who follows in His train?
Who best can drink his cup of woe, Triumphant over pain, Who patient bears his cross below, He follows in His train."
Verse after verse rang in splendid strength through the solemn aisles of the church, ending with the lines:--
"O G.o.d, to us may strength be given To follow in His train!"
Dr. George"s voice came to Polly as it sounded that gray October afternoon beside the sea; "When the sun of one"s happiness is set, one lights a candle called "Patience," and guides one"s footsteps by that."
She leaned her head on the pew in front of her, and breathed a prayer.
The minister was praying for the rest of the people, but she needed to utter her own thought just then.
"Father in heaven, I will try to follow; I have lighted my little candle, help me to keep it burning! I shall stumble often in the darkness, I know, for it was all so clear when I could walk by my darling mother"s light, which was like the sun, so bright, so pure, so strong! Help me to keep the little candle steady, so that it may throw its beams farther and farther into the pathway that now looks so dim."
Polly sank to sleep that night in her white bed in the Pilgrim Chamber; and the name of the chamber was Peace indeed, for she had a smile on her lips,--a smile that looked as if the little candle had in truth been lighted in her soul, and was shining through her face as though it were a window.
CHAPTER XVII.
POLLY LAUNCHES HER SHIPS.
There were great doings in the Birds Nest.
A hundred dainty circulars, printed in black and scarlet on Irish linen paper, had been sent to those ladies on Mrs. Bird"s calling-list who had children between the ages of five and twelve, that being Polly"s chosen limit of age.
These notes of invitation read as follows:--
"Come, tell us a story!"
THE CHILDREN"S HOUR.
Mrs. Donald Bird requests the pleasure of your company from 4.30 to 5.30 o"clock on Mondays or Thursdays from November to March inclusive.
FIRST GROUP: Mondays. Children from 5 to 8 years.
SECOND GROUP: Thursdays. " " 8 " 12 years.
Each group limited in number to twenty-four.
Miss Pauline Oliver will tell stories suitable to the ages of the children, adapted to their prevailing interests, and appropriate to the special months of the year.
These stories will be chosen with the greatest care, and will embrace representative tales of all cla.s.ses,--narrative, realistic, scientific, imaginative, and historical. They will be ill.u.s.trated by songs and black-board sketches. Terms for the Series (Twenty Hours), Five Dollars.
R.S.V.P.
Polly felt an absolute sense of suffocation as she saw Mrs. Bird seal and address the last square envelope.
"If anybody does come," she said, somewhat sadly, "I am afraid it will be only that the story hour is at your lovely house."
"Don"t be so foolishly independent, my child. If I gather the groups, it is only you who will be able to hold them together. I am your manager, and it is my duty to make the accessories as perfect as possible. When the scenery and costumes and stage-settings are complete, you enter and do the real work, I retire, and the sole responsibility for success or failure rests upon your shoulders; I should think that would be enough to satisfy the most energetic young woman. I had decided on the library as the scene of action; an open fire is indispensable, and that room is delightfully large when the centre-table is lifted out: but I am afraid it is hardly secluded enough, and that people might trouble you by coming in; so what do you think of the music-room upstairs? You will have your fire, your piano, plenty of s.p.a.ce, and a private entrance for the chicks, who can lay their wraps in the hall as they pa.s.s up. I will take the large Turkish rug from the red guest-chamber,--that will make the room look warmer,--and I have a dozen other charming devices which I will give you later as surprises."
"If I were half as sure of my part as I am of yours, dear Fairy G.o.dmother, we should have nothing to fear. I have a general plan mapped out for the stories, but a great deal of the work will have to be done from week to week, as I go on. I shall use the same programme in the main for both groups, but I shall simplify everything and ill.u.s.trate more freely for the little ones, telling the historical and scientific stories with much more detail to the older group. This is what Mr. Bird calls my "basic idea," which will be filled out from week to week according to inspiration. For November, I shall make autumn, the harvest, and Thanksgiving the starting-point. I am all ready with my historical story of "The First Thanksgiving," for I told it at the Children"s Hospital last year, and it went beautifully.
"I have one doll dressed in Dutch costume, to show how the children looked that the little Pilgrims played with in Holland; and another dressed like a Puritan maiden, to show them the simple old New England gown. Then I have two fine pictures of Miles Standish and the Indian chief Ma.s.sasoit.
"For December and January I shall have Christmas and winter, and frost and ice and snow, with the contrasts of eastern and Californian climates."