This was quite beyond Prudence"s depth. She knew little of Christian Science save that it was a widely accepted creed of recent origin. So she brought the twins back to Miss Allen again. "But, twins, do you think it was kind, and Christian, and--and like parsonage girls, to accept all this against Miss Allen without giving her a chance to defend herself?"
"As I told you, Prue, we have watched her very close since then. She has never come right out in the open,--she wouldn"t dare,--but she has given herself away several times. Nothing can get by us when we"re on the watch, you know!"
Prudence knew. "What did Miss Allen say?"
The twins thought seriously for a while.
"Oh, yes, Lark," suggested Carol finally, "don"t you remember she said the Bible was an allegory?"
"What?"
"Yes, she did. She was explaining to the English cla.s.s what was meant by allegory, and she said the purpose of using allegory was to teach an important truth in a homely impressive way that could be remembered.
She mentioned several prominent allegories, and said the Bible was one.
And you know yourself Prue, that the Bible is Gospel truth, and--I mean, it is so! I mean----"
"What she means," said Lark helpfully, "is that the Bible is not just a pretty way of teaching people to be good, but it"s solid fact clear through."
"That"s very well expressed, Lark,"--Prudence herself could not have expressed it half so well! "But how do you twins understand all these things so thoroughly?"
"Oh, you know Mrs. Sears is our Sunday-school teacher, and she"s always hot on the trail of the higher critics and heretics. She explained all about the--the nefarious system to us one Sunday. She says the higher critics try to explain away the Bible by calling it allegory. So we were ready for Miss Allen there. And whenever anything came up at school, we would ask Mrs. Sears about it on Sunday,--without mentioning names of course. She"s very much gratified that we are so much interested in such things. She thinks we"re sure to be deaconesses, at the very least. But Carol said she wouldn"t be a deaconess,--she was going to be a Red Cross nurse and go to war. That stumped Mrs. Sears for a while, and then she said we could be Red Cross Deaconess nurses."
"I won"t," said Carol, "because the deaconess uniforms aren"t as stylish as the Red Cross nurses". I think I"ll look pretty fine in a white uniform with a stiff little cap and a red cross on my arm. Red crosses make a very pretty decoration, don"t you think they do, Lark?"
"What else did Miss Allen say at school?" Prudence demanded, leading the twins back to the subject.
"Well, one day she said,--you know she gives uplifting little moral talks quite often, Prue. Sometimes she tells us stories with inspiring points. She"s really a moral person, I believe."
"And I"m honestly sorry she"s a heretic," said Carol, "for I do want to be friendly enough with her to ask if she uses anything on her complexion to keep it so rose-leafy. If she does, I"ll have some of it, if it takes all my next year"s clothes!"
Lark laughed. "A rose-leaf complexion will be a poor subst.i.tute for----"
"Oh, for goodness" sake, twins, come back to Miss Allen. I am going right up to her house this minute, to ask her about it, and explain----"
"She"s the one to do the explaining, seems to me," said Carol belligerently. "We"ve got to stick up for the Bible, Prue,--it"s our business."
"And I don"t think you should tell her,--it may hurt her feelings,"
urged Lark.
"Have heretics feelings?" queried Carol. "I suppose it"s a feeling of----"
"Carol! Will you quit talking for a minute! This is a serious matter.
If she believes all that nonsense, she"s no proper teacher and--and she"ll have to be put out of the high school. And if she doesn"t believe it, she"s a martyr! I"m going to find out about it at once.
Do you want to come with me?"
"I should say not," said the twins promptly.
"I think you"re very foolish to go at all," added Lark.
"I wouldn"t go for a dollar," declared Carol. "It"d be very interesting to see how a heretic feels, but I don"t care to know how ordinary Christians feel when they fall into their hands. I"m not aching to see Miss Allen to-night."
So Prudence set forth, conscientiously, in the darkness. A brave and heroic thing for Prudence to do, for she was a cowardly creature at heart.
Miss Allen heard her voice in the lower hall, and came running down-stairs to meet her. "Come up," she cried eagerly, "come on up."
And before Prudence was fairly inside the door, she demanded, "What is it? Did you find out? Is it my fault?"
Then Prudence blushed and stammered, "Why--it sounds--silly but--they think you are a--heretic."
Miss Allen gasped. Then she laughed. Then she walked to her dressing-table and picked up a long hatpin. "Will you kindly jab this into me?" she said. "I"m having a nightmare."
Prudence explained in detail. At first Miss Allen laughed, it must be confessed. Then she grew very sober. "It is really my fault," she said, "for I should have remembered that young people read a ton of meaning into a pound of words. Of course, I am not guilty, Miss Starr.
Professor Duke and Miss Adams can swear to that. They call me Goody-goody. They say I am an old-fashioned apostle, and they accuse me of wanting to burn them both at the stake! Now, sit down and let me explain."
Prudence sat down. She was glad, so glad, that this sweet-faced, bright-eyed woman was an "ordinary Christian," and not a "priest and a Levite!"
"About the allegory business, it is very simple. What I said was this,--"The Bible is full of allegory." I did not say, "The Bible is allegory." I said the Bible is full of allegory, and so it is. The parables, for instance,--what are they? Do you see the difference?--But it is really more serious about poor little Hattie Simpson. As the twins told you, her parents are atheists. Her father is a loud-voiced, bragging, boastful, coa.r.s.e-hearted fellow. Hattie herself does not know what her parents believe, and what they do not.
She simply follows blindly after them. She thinks she is an eyesore in Mount Mark because of it. She resents it bitterly, but she feels the only decent thing for her to do is to stand by her folks. Let me tell you about our conversation. I tried to make friends with her, for I truly pity her. She has no friends, she slinks about as though constantly ashamed of herself. She trusts no one, herself least of all. I tried to draw her out, and with partial success. She told me how she feels about it all. I said, "Hattie, won"t you let some one--some minister, who knows how--tell you about Christianity, and explain to you what Christians really believe?" "No," she said pa.s.sionately, "I"ll stand by my folks." Then I saw she was not ready yet. I said, "Well, perhaps it is just as well for the present, for you are too young now to take any definite stand for yourself. It is true," I told her, "that many church members are not Christians, and are bad immoral people,--as your father says. They are not Christians.
And it is true that many outside of the church are good moral people,--but they are not Christians, either." And then I said, "Don"t worry your head just now about whether people are Catholics or Jews or Protestants, or what they are. Just try to love everybody, and try to grow up to be such a sweet, kind, loving woman that you will be a blessing to the world. And what is more," I said, "do not puzzle your head now about why some believe the Bible, and some do not. Just wait.
When you are older, you shall go into things for yourself, and make your own decision.""
Prudence nodded. "I think you were very sweet about it," she said.
"I wanted to win her confidence in the hope that some time, a little later, I myself may show her what Christ is to us, and why we love the Bible. But I did fight shy of the real point, for fear I might anger her and put a barrier between us. I just tried to win her confidence and her love, to pave the way for what I may be able to do later on.
Do you see? I have had several talks with her, but she is not ready.
She is just a child, stubbornly determined to stand with her folks, right or wrong. I am trying now to cultivate the ground, I say nothing to make her dislike or distrust me. I did not think of her telling it to others,--and telling it wrong! Surely no one but the twins could have read so much into it!"
"Well," and Prudence smiled, "you know we are parsonage people! We have to stick up for the Bible, as Carol says."
"Oh, and about the Bible reading," said Miss Allen suddenly, "I have nothing to do with that. As you know, there are Jews and Catholics and Christian Scientists and every branch of Protestant represented in our little school. The Jews and Christian Scientists are in a minority.
The Jews, have always objected to Bible reading, but they were too few to be influential. With a Catholic teacher, the Catholics were quite willing to have it. With a Protestant teacher, the Protestants were strong for it. But there was always friction--one side objecting--so the school board ruled it out entirely. I did not explain this to the scholars. I did not want our young people to know of the petty bickering and sc.r.a.pping going on among the elders in the town. So I simply said that hereafter we would dispense with the Bible reading.
But it was the direct order of the board. I argued against it, so did Professor Duke, so did Miss Adams. But as it happens, we are all three Presbyterians! It did no good."
Then as Prudence rose to go home, she asked eagerly, "Do you think the twins will like me now?"
"I don"t see how in the world they can help it," declared Prudence, smiling; "indeed, they admitted they were only too anxious to love you, but couldn"t honestly do so because they had to stick up for the Bible!
I am so glad and relieved! This is the first time I have gone heresy-hunting, and I was quite bowed down with the weight of it. And if ever I can help with poor little Hattie, will you let me know? I must have the twins invite her to spend some Sat.u.r.day with us. That"s the way I make the girls like people,--by being with them a great, great deal."
Just before she said good night, Prudence murmured hopefully, "I am sorry it happened, but it will be a good lesson for the twins. I am sure that after this, they will be less ready to listen to gossip, and more ready to give one the benefit of a doubt. It"s a great responsibility, this raising a family, Miss Allen--and especially twins!"
CHAPTER VI
AN ADMIRER
It must be remembered that Prudence did not live in a sheltered and exclusive city home, where girls are rigidly withheld from all unchaperoned intercourse with young men and old. We know how things are managed in the "best homes" of the big cities,--girls are sheltered from innocent open things, and, too often, indulge in really serious amus.e.m.e.nts on the quiet. But this was the Middle West, where girls are to be trusted. Not all girls, of course, but as a matter of fact, the girls who need watching, seldom get enough of it to keep them out of mischief. Out in Iowa, girls and boys are allowed to like each other, and revel in each other"s company. And it is good for both.
Prudence was not a sentimental girl. Perhaps this was partly due to the fact that at the age when most girls are head-full of boy, Prudence was hands-full of younger sisters! And when hands are full to overflowing, there is small likelihood of heads being full of nonsense.