Then when he went down stairs he marched directly to headquarters, and made known his desires.
"Mr. Roberts, I want this forenoon to myself. Can I have it?"
"You do," answered Mr. Roberts, eyeing him thoughtfully. "Well, as such requests are rare from you, and as Jim"s brother is here to help, I think I may say yes."
"A queer, bright, capable boy," Mr. Roberts thought, looking after Tode as he dashed off down town. "Going to make just the man for our business. I must begin to promote him soon."
As for Tode he was in high glee.
"What brought that Jim"s brother over to help to-day?" he asked himself.
"I"d like to know _that_ now. I believe I do, as sure as I"m alive, that _he_ heard every word, and has been and fixed it all out. I most know he has, "cause things didn"t ever happen around like this for me before."
The p.r.o.noun "he" did not refer to Jim"s brother, and was spoken with that touch of awe and reverence which had so lately come to Tode. And I think that the words were recorded up in heaven, as having a meaning not unlike the acknowledgment of those less ignorant disciples, "Lord, I believe."
CHAPTER X.
HABAKKUK.
The church toward which Tode bent his eager steps was quite filled when he reached it, but the s.e.xton made a way for him, and he settled into a seat with a queer, awkward sense of having slipped into a spot that was not intended for such as he; but the organ tones took up his attention, and then in a moment a burst of music from the congregation, among the words of which he could catch ever and anon that magic name Jesus. So at least they were going to sing about him. Yes, and talk to him also, for Mr. Birge"s prayer, though couched in language quite beyond Tode"s reaching, yet closed with the to him wonderful sentence, "We ask in the name and for the sake of Jesus our Redeemer." When he opened the great book which Tode knew was the Bible, the boy was all attention; something more from the Bible he was anxious to hear. He got out his bit of pencil and a crumpled twist of paper, and when Mr. Birge announced that he would read the fourth Psalm, Tode bent forward and carefully and laboriously made a figure four and the letters S A M in his very best style, and believed that he had it just right. Then he listened to the reading as sometimes those do not who can glibly spell the words. Yet you can hardly conceive how like a strange language it sounded to him, so utterly unfamiliar was he with the style, so utterly ignorant of its meaning. Only over the last verse he had almost laughed.
"I will both lay me down in peace and sleep; for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety."
_Didn"t_ he know about that? The awful night, those dreadful eyes, and the peace in which he laid down and slept at last.
"Oh, ho," he said to himself, "some other fellow has had a time of it, too, I guess, and put it in the Bible. I"m glad I"ve found out about it just as I did."
Tode didn"t mean to be irreverent. You must continually bear in mind the fact that he didn"t know the meaning of the word; that he knew nothing about the Bible, nor dreamed that the words which so delighted him were those of inspiration, sounding down through the ages for the peace and comfort of such as he.
Presently Mr. Birge announced his text, reading it from that same great book, and Tode"s heart fluttered with delighted expectation as he heard the words, "Jesus of Nazareth pa.s.seth by." The _very_ name! and of all news this, that he pa.s.ses by. Oh, Tode _wanted_ so to see him, to hear about him. He sat erect, and his dark cheek flushed with excitement as he listened eagerly to every word. And the Spirit of the Master had surely helped to indite that sermon, for it told in its opening sentences the simple story, entirely new to Tode.
"A little more than eighteen hundred years ago, very near a certain city, might have been seen a large concourse of people, differently circ.u.mstanced in life, many of them such as had been healed of the various diseases with which they had long been afflicted. This throng were following a person upon whose words they hung, and by whose power many of them had been healed. As they pa.s.sed by the roadside sat a blind man begging. He, hearing the crowd, asks what it is. They answer, "Jesus of Nazareth pa.s.seth by.""
Thus, through the beautiful and touching story, he dwelt on each detail, giving it vivid coloring, bringing it almost before the very eyes of the eager boy, who drank in every word.
The truth grew plain to his mind, that this Jesus of Nazareth once on earth had now gone back to heaven, and yet, oh beautiful mystery, still was here; and he heard for the first time that old, old story of the scoffed and spit upon, and bleeding and dying Savior; heard of his prayer even in dying for the cruel ones who took his life. So simply and so tenderly was the story told, that when the minister exclaimed: "Oh what a loving, sympathizing, forgiving Savior is ours!" Tode, with his eyes blinded by tears, repeated the words in his heart, and felt "amen."
Then came the explanation of his pa.s.sing by us now, daily, hourly, calling us in a hundred ways, and then--a few sentences written, it would seem, expressly for Tode"s own need:
"Sometimes," said the minister, "he pa.s.ses by, speaking to the soul with some pa.s.sage from the Word. Did you never wonder that some portion, some little sentence from the Bible, should so forcibly impress your mind, and so cling to you? Perhaps you tried to drive it away so much did it trouble you, but still it hovered around, and seemed to keep repeating itself over and over to your heart. Be not deceived. This was Jesus of Nazareth pa.s.sing by, waiting for you to say, "Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.""
Was ever anything so wonderful! How could Mr. Birge have found out about it--that dreadful night--and the one verse saying itself over and over again! Then to think that it was Jesus himself calling and waiting.
Could it be possible--was he really calling _him_? And the tears which had been gathering in Tode"s eyes dropped one by one on his hand.
Presently, as he listened, the minister"s tones grew very solemn.
"There are none before me to-day who can say, "He never came to me."
Sinner, he is near you now, near enough to hear your voice, near enough to answer your call. Will you call upon him? Will you let him help you?
Will you take him for your Savior? Will you serve him while you live on earth that you may live in heaven to serve him forever?"
From Tode"s inmost soul there came answers to these solemn questions: "I will, I will, I will."
And there went out from the church that Sabbath day one young heart who felt himself cured of his blindness by that same Jesus of Nazareth; who felt himself given up utterly to Jesus, body and soul and life; and without a great insight as to what that solemn consecration meant, he yet took in enough of it to feel a great peace in his heart.
"There goes a Christian man, if ever there was one." This said a gentleman to his companion, speaking of another who had pa.s.sed them.
Tode overheard it, and stood still on the street.
"A Christian," said he to himself, quoting from a sentence in Mr.
Birge"s sermon. "A Christian is one who loves and serves the Lord Jesus Christ with his whole heart." Then aloud. "I wonder, I do wonder now, if I am a Christian? Oh, what if I was!" A moment of earnest thought, then Tode held up his head and walked firmly on. "I _mean_ to be," he said, with a ring in his voice that meant decision.
Tode was dusting and putting in order a lately vacated room one morning.
He was whistling, too; he whistled a great deal these days, and felt very bright and happy. He picked up three leaves which had evidently been torn from an old book; reading matter was rather scarce with him, and he stopped the dusting to discover what new treasure might be awaiting him here. He spelled out, slowly and carefully, the name at the top: "H-a-b-a-k-k-u-k."
"Queerest name for a book ever I heard of," he muttered. "Words must have been scarce, I reckon. Let"s see what it reads about. School book, like enough; if "tis I"ll get it all by heart."
And Tode sat down upon the edge of a chair to investigate. The story, if story it were, commenced abruptly to him.
"Scorn unto them," being the first words on the page. He read on: "They shall deride every stronghold; for they shall heap dust and take it."
"My! what curious talk," said Tode. "What ever is it coming at? I can"t make nothing out of it."
Nevertheless he read on; only a few lines more and then this sentence: "Art thou not from everlasting, O Lord my G.o.d, mine Holy One?"
A sudden look of intelligence and delight flushed over Tode"s face; and springing up he rushed into the hall and down the stairs, nearly tumbling over Mr. Ryan in his haste.
Mr. Ryan was a good-natured boarder, and on very friendly terms with Tode.
"Oh, Mr. Ryan!" burst forth Tode. "What is this reading on these leaves?"
"Why, Tode, what"s up now; forgot how to read?"
"Oh bother, no; but I mean where did it come from. It"s tore out of a book, don"t you see?"
"Piece of a Bible," answered Mr. Ryan, giving the leaves a careless and the boy a searching glance. "What is there so interesting about it?"
"What"s it got such a queer name for? What does H-a-b-a-k-k-u-k spell, and what does it mean?"
"That"s a man"s name, I believe."
"Who was he, and what about him?"
"More than I know, my boy. Never heard of him before that I know of.
What do you care?"
It was Tode"s turn to bestow a searching glance.