Tode"s cheeks were all aglow. He had awakened lately to the fact that there was a great deal in this world that he didn"t understand, that he wanted to know about; and without a doubt but that this wise-eyed girl knew it all, and that he should learn it all, and that he should learn it from her in a little while. He went to work with alacrity.
Examination came first--that is, it came after the dishes were washed.
Then Tode displayed his reading powers, which really _were_ remarkable when one considered that he could hardly tell himself how he happened to learn, but which sank into insignificance by the side of Winny"s clear-toned, correct, careful reading. Tode listened in amazement and delight.
"That sounds just like mine," he said at last, drawing in his breath as she finished.
In return for which graceful compliment, which had the merit of being an unconscious one, Winny condescended to compliment him on the manner in which his letters, large and small, were gotten up.
"They ought to be nice," Tode explained, "the way I worked at "em! It took me a week off and on, to make that K crook in and out, and up and down, as it ought to. Dora Hastings, she told me about "em, and made the patterns. You don"t know Dora Hastings, do you?"
"No, I never heard of her; but these are not patterns, they are copies; and there is no such word as ""em," which you keep using so much. Our teachers told us so to-day."
"What"s the reason there isn"t?"
"Well, because there _isn"t_; it"s "_them_" and not ""em" at all. And you use a great many words that they wouldn"t allow you to if you went to school."
"Well then," said Tode, with unfailing good nature, "don"t _you_ let me say "em then--no, I mean "_them_." You"re the school misses, and I"m your school. Go on about the other things."
It was a busy evening. Arithmetic, except so much as had been required to count his small income, proved to be a sealed book to Tode; but the energy with which he began at the beginning, and tried to learn every word in it, was quite soothing to the heart of the young teacher.
The little mother sat at the end of the table, and sewed industriously on the clothes that she had washed and ironed during the day; but when a queer little old clock in the corner struck nine, she bit off her thread and fastened her needle on the yellow cushion, and interrupted the students.
"Now, deary, let"s put away our work. You"ve made a first-rate beginning, but it"s time now to read your piece of a chapter, and then we"ll have a word of prayer and get to our beds, so we can all be up bright and early in the morning."
Tode closed his book promptly, and looked on with eager satisfaction while Winny produced an old worn, much-used Bible--a whole Bible! and composedly turned over its pages with the air of one who was quite accustomed to handle the wonderful book.
"Where shall I read to-night, mother?" she asked.
"Well, deary, suppose you read what John says about the many mansions that they"re getting ready for us."
"John didn"t say it, mother," answered Winny, gravely. "Jesus said it himself."
"Yes, deary, but John heard him say it, and wrote it down for us."
So Tode listened, and heard for the first time in his life these blessed words:
"Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in G.o.d, believe also in me.
In my Father"s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also."
Thus on, through the beautiful verses, until this:
"And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do."
"There, deary," said Winny"s mother, "that will do. I want to stop there and think about it. Whenever I get more than usual trouble in my heart about Rick and Jim, I want to hear this chapter down to there, "_Whatsoever_ ye shall ask," and it gives me a lift, like, and then I pray away."
Could you imagine how you should feel if you had learned to love the Lord, and were as old as Tode was, and then should hear those words for the first time?
The tears were following each other down his cheeks, and dropping on his hand.
"Who does he mean?" he asked, eagerly. "Whose mansions be they that he"s getting ready?"
"Why, bless you, one of them is mine, and there"ll be one ready for everybody who loves _him_."
Tode"s voice sank to a husky whisper.
"Do you think there"s one getting ready for me?"
"There"s no kind of doubt about it, not if you love the Lord Jesus. I suppose as soon as ever you made up your mind to love him the Lord said, "Now I must get a place ready for Tode, for he"s decided that he wants to come up here with me.""
Wiser brains than Tode"s would doubtless have smiled at the old lady"s original and perhaps untheological way of interpreting the truth; but he drank it in, and drew nearer to the true meaning of it than perhaps he would had it been learnedly explained.
"I never thought about it before in my life," he said, gravely. "And so that"s heaven? And there ain"t any trouble there I heard Mr. Birge say once in his preaching."
"Not a speck of trouble of any shape nor kind, nor n.o.body"s wicked nor cross, and no bottles there, Tode, not a bottle."
"How do you know?"
""Cause it says so right out, sharp and plain. "No drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of heaven." That"s Bible words, and you and I know that where there"s bottles, and folks give them to their neighbors, why there"ll be drunkards."
Tode nodded his head in solemn a.s.sent. Yes, he knew that better perhaps than his teacher. Then he asked:
"And what more about heaven?"
"Oh deary me! there"s verses and verses about streets of gold, and harps, and thrones, and singing. Oh my! _such_ singing as you never dreamed about, and we to be the singers, you know; and I couldn"t begin to tell you about it all; and _you_ never heard any of them verses? Well now, I _am_ beat. Well I always pick "em all out and read "em Sunday. I like to make Sunday a kind of a holiday, you know, so I read "em and study "em, and try to picture it all out; but then you see I can"t, because the Bible says that eyes haven"t seen nor ears heard, and we can"t _begin_ to guess at the fine things prepared for us."
"Well now," broke in Tode, his lips hurrying to tell the thought that had been filling his mind for some minutes, "why don"t everybody go there? I heard about that awful place where some folks go. Mr. Birge told about it in some of his preaching. Now what"s that for? Why don"t they all go to heaven?"
The little old lady heaved a deep sigh.
"Sure enough, why don"t they?" she said at last. "And the curious part of it is, that it"s just because they _won"t_. They don"t have to pay for it; they don"t have to go away off after it; they don"t have to die for it, because they"ve got to die anyhow; and they know it"s dreadful to die all alone; and they know that every single thing that the Lord Jesus wants of them is to love him, and give him a chance to help them--and the long and short of it is, they _won"t do it_."
"That"s _awful_ silly," e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Tode.
"Silly! Why, there ain"t anything else in all this big world that anywhere near comes up to it for silliness. Why, don"t you think," and here her voice took a lower and more solemn tone, and the wide cap frill trembled with earnestness. "_Don"t_ you think, there"s men and women who believe that every word in that Bible over there is true, and they know there"s such a verse as that we just heard, "Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that _will_ I do;" and there"s tired folks who know the Bible says, "Come unto me all ye that are weary, and I _will_ give you rest;"
and there"s folks full of trouble who know it says, "Cast thy burden on the Lord, and he _will_ sustain thee;" and there"s folks chasing up and down the world after a good time who know it says, "In thy presence is fullness of joy," and "At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore;" and there"s folks working night and day to be rich who know it says, "I am the true riches," and, "The silver and the gold are his,"
and just as true as you live they won"t kneel down and _ask_ him for any of these things! Now _ain"t_ that curious?"
"I should think he"d get kind of out of patience with them all," Tode answered, earnestly, "and say, "Let "em go, then, if they"re determined to.""
The old lady shook her head emphatically.
"No, he loves them you see. Do you suppose if my Winny and my boys should go wrong, and not mind a word I say, I could give "em up and say, "Let them go then?" No indeed! I"d stick to "em till the very last minute, and I"d coax "em, and pray over "em day and night--and _my love_, why it"s _just_ nothing by the side of his. Why he says himself that his love is greater than the love of a woman; so you see he sticks to "em all, and wants every one of them."
Tode resolved this thought in his mind for a little, then gave vent to his new idea.
"Then I should think folks ought to be coaxing "em, folks that love _him_, I mean. If he loves all the people and wants them, and is trying to get them, why then I should think all his folks ought to be trying, too."
"That"s it!" said the old lady, eagerly. "That"s it exactly. He tells us so in the Bible time and time again. "Let him that heareth say come."
Now you and me have heard, and according to that it"s our business to go right to work, and say "come" the very first time we get a chance.