And they did not. There was only a little company gathered, of various ages. Some quite grown people; many who were younger. They had drawn towards the upper end of the room, and cl.u.s.tered near the platform.
"There is Mr. Richmond," Maria whispered presently; "do you see him? he is up there near the desk talking to Mr. Barker,--Mr. Barker is one of our teachers, but he has got nothing to do with the Band. That is Mrs.
Trembleton, isn"t she pretty?--sitting down there in front; she always sits just there, if she can, and I have seen her ever so put out if she couldn"t when somebody else had got it, you know. And there"----
"But, Maria," whispered Clarissa, gravely, "do you think it is quite proper to whisper so in church?"
"This isn"t church!" Maria replied, with great readiness.
"What then?"
"Why, it is only our Sunday-Schoolroom; and this is a Band meeting."
"It looks very like church to me," said Clarissa. "Hush! don"t whisper any more."
For the minister now took his stand at the little desk before mentioned; and even Maria was quiet enough during the prayer with which he began the proceedings. But then Mr. Richmond came in front of the desk, and began to speak seriously indeed, but with an easy simplicity which Clarissa thought was "not like church."
"It may not be known to everybody present," Mr. Richmond began, "exactly what was done at our last meeting here Thursday night. I wish it to be very well understood, that every one may join with us in the action we took, intelligently;--or keep away from it, intelligently. I wish it to be thoroughly understood. We simply pledged ourselves, some of us who were here Thursday night, to live and work for Christ to the best and the utmost of our ability, as He would give us grace to do. We pledged ourselves to each other and to our Master; to the end that we might the better help each other, being so pledged; and that we might enter into some system and plan of work by which we might accomplish much more than we could hope to do without plan or system. I have a list in my hand of various kinds of work which it may be well for us to attempt; some kinds will suit some people, and other kinds will suit other people; but before we go into a consideration of these, I will read something else to you. We must do this thing--we must enter into this pledge to G.o.d and each other, those of us who enter into it,--knowing exactly what we do, and if possible, why we do it. I have drawn up in a few words what we mean, or what we ought to mean, in giving this pledge; and now I am going to read it to you; and after I have read it I shall ask all of you who have heard it and agreed to it, to rise up, without any regard to the question whether you were among those who rose last Thursday or not. I wish no one to stand who does not fully and intelligently agree to every word of this covenant;--but I hope that will be the case with every one of you all. The children can understand it as well as the grown people. This is the covenant:--
""We are the servants of Christ.
""And as He died for all, that they which live should not live unto themselves but unto Him; so we do not count ourselves to belong to ourselves. We are the Lord"s.
""We want to do all we can do, that would please Him and honour Him, whether it be in our own hearts or in the world.
""So we stand ready to do His will; in telling the good news to others; in showing how precious we hold it; in carrying help of every sort to our neighbour, upon every opportunity; walking as children of the Light; if by any means we may advance our Lord"s kingdom and glory.
""And all this we will try to do, by His help,--trusting in His grace and resting in His promises, whose word cannot fail."
"Now," said Mr. Richmond, when he had read this, which he read very slowly and deliberately, as if he wished that every one should weigh every word, "I am going to ask you to rise and so declare your agreement with this covenant--all of you who have heard and understood it, and who are ready to pledge yourselves to its responsibilities.
Every one whose own mind and wish this covenant expresses will please rise."
The little stir which this request occasioned through the room, left few of the a.s.sembly in their seats. Maria, as soon as she was upon her feet, looked to see how it was with her companions. To her great satisfaction, Clarissa was standing beside her; but Anne and Let.i.tia were sitting in their places, and so was Matilda in hers beyond them.
Maria frowned and nodded at her, but Mr. Richmond had desired the people to sit down again before these signs could take any effect.
"It is as I hoped," Mr. Richmond said in a satisfied voice. "I have no alteration to make in my lists, beyond the addition of one or two new names; and that sort of alteration I shall be glad to make whenever people will let me. I will receive new names at any time, of those who wish to join our Band--our Working Band. I do not know what we shall call ourselves; but one thing is certain, we mean to be a working people. Now, suppose we see what kinds of work we are prepared to undertake--each one of us in particular. Of course, we are _all_ to do _all_ we can, and of _all_ kinds; but there are some kinds of work that each one can do better than he can do others; and to those particular lines of effort each one will pledge himself to give special attention.
"The first thing on my list is--
""_Bringing new scholars to the school_. Who will take this as his special work? Observe, it is not meant that you should ask any children to come to our school who are already members of some other school. We do not wish that. But who will undertake to look out and bring in some of the children that go nowhere? All who want to do this, raise your hands."
There was a show of hands.
"We must have a secretary," said Mr. Richmond. "Mr. Van d.y.k.e, here is paper and ink; will you kindly come and write for us? We want to put down all the names that enlist in this department of work. This is Number One. Put down, opposite to Number One, Mattie Van d.y.k.e, Willie Edwards, Mary Edwards, Maria Englefield."
Mr. Richmond went on giving the names until some eight or ten were registered. The children looked delighted. It was great doings.
The next thing on Mr. Richmond"s list was the "_School-singing_." He explained that he wished the special attention of those who could give it to this matter; that they should always stand ready to help the singing in the Sunday-School, and make it just as good as it could be, and keep it good; that they should not wait for others, if there was no one to lead, but start the hymn themselves and carry it through with spirit.
There were not so many that pledged themselves to this work; but, as before, Maria was one.
The third thing, was "_Welcoming strangers and new scholars_" in the church and in the school. Here a breeze sprung up. Mr. Richmond had remarked upon the great importance of this duty and the common neglect of it; nevertheless there seemed to be some prospect that the neglect would continue. Mrs. Trembleton asked, "How were such strangers to be welcomed?"
"What would you like yourself, Mrs. Trembleton? Suppose you were to go to a strange church, where you knew n.o.body. Would it be pleasant to have some one come up and take your hand and say you were welcome? and give you a greeting when you met in the street?--perhaps come to see you?"
"I think," said Mrs. Trembleton, after a pause, "it would depend a good deal on who it was did it!"
"Whether it would be pleasant?" said Mr. Richmond, smiling. "But you do not doubt that it would be pleasant to any stranger to have _you_ come up and speak and shake hands, and do such offices of kindness?"
"It might be pleasant to them," said Mrs. Trembleton. "I don"t think I should like to do it to everybody."
"What do you say, Miss Benyon?" Mr. Richmond asked.
"Oh, I couldn"t, Mr. Richmond!" the young lady answered, shrinking.
"I"ll do it," spoke out one of the boys.
"George Lockwood will welcome strangers, Mr. Van d.y.k.e," said the minister. "And Willie Edwards holds up his hand,--and Ben Barth. But shall we have none but the boys to do the welcoming? The new scholars will not be all boys. Ah! there is Miss Peach; Ellen Peach, Mr. Van d.y.k.e;--and Maria Englefield,--and Sarah Bent."
"Won"t it make confusion in the school?" Mr. Van d.y.k.e suggested.
"Will not what make confusion?"
"Why, if half-a-dozen scholars are jumping up and leaving their cla.s.ses, to receive somebody who is coming in?"
"I did not say that they should choose lesson time--or school time at all--for their kind civilities. After school is over--or when meeting in the street--or going into church. Opportunities will present themselves. It is rather the will that seems to be wanting than the way."
"It seems to me," spoke out another lady, "this welcoming of strangers is everybody"s business."
"Proverbially n.o.body"s business, Miss Fitch," Mr. Richmond answered with a smile. "You will leave it for me to do; and I shall conclude that Mrs. Trembleton will attend to it; Mrs. Trembleton does not like the charge;--and there we are. Esther, what do you say?"
"Oh, I should not like to do it, Mr. Richmond!"
n.o.body seemed to like to do it. Some were shy; some were humble, or thought they were; some fancied themselves of too little consequence; some of too much! Mr. Richmond went on to the next thing, which was "_Temperance Work_." Here there was no want of volunteers. Boys and girls and young ladies, and even men, were ready to pledge themselves to this cause. The names were many. It took some time to get them all down.
Then came what Mr. Richmond"s list called "_Aid and Comfort;_" and which he explained to mean, the giving of all sorts of material and social aid that the cases of sick and poor and distressed might call for. Anybody who would visit such cases, and provide or procure what they needed, or anybody unable to visit who would furnish the necessary supplies if called upon, might be enrolled on this committee. Plenty of people were ready for this.
"_Visiting absent scholars_" found quite a number willing to engage in it. The cause of "_Missionary Collections_" and "_Sunday-School prayer-meetings_" found but few; evidently those were not popular objects. "_Promoting attendance upon church_" did not meet with much favour. The tenth department of work was "_Carrying the Message_". This Mr. Richmond explained to mean, the telling the good news of Christ to all who have not heard or who do not accept it; to everybody we can reach, at home and abroad, wherever we may. There were not a few who were ready to pledge themselves to this; as also to "_Bible Reading_"
in houses where sickness or poverty or ignorance made such work desirable. But "_Tract Distributing_," which one would have thought a very kindred effort with the two last, was much more cautiously undertaken. Some boys were ready for it; a few girls; very few grown up people of either s.e.x.
The young people of Mrs. Englefield"s family walked home more silently than they had come. To be sure, there was a little throng of persons going their way; they could not speak in private. So under the still, bright stars, they went home without telling any of their thoughts to each other. But perhaps the air was chilly after coming out of the heated lecture-room; for they all poured into the parlour to get warm, before going up-stairs to take off their things.
"Well, you are late," Mrs. Englefield said.
"Yes; but we had, oh, such a nice meeting!" Maria answered.
"What was it all about? Now, I hope, we shall get at some light on the subject."
But the light was not in a hurry to come. Anne and Let.i.tia loosened their bonnet strings, and sat down; Maria and Matilda threw off their cloaks and hoods and sought the fire; n.o.body volunteered to be spokesman for the party.