FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154  
155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   179   >>   >|  
rn almost to a thread, and felt the clasp of her hand on his as she guided his finger over the words she was teaching him; and back through the long years they came to him: "Love one another as I have loved you." He remembered, too, and smelled again the sweet-mary leaves that were always kept in his mother's Bible, and saw again the cards with big coloured birds on them that he had got at Sunday-school for regular attendance, and which were always kept between its pages; and while he mused on these things with sudden tenderness, there came back again the same numb feeling of sorrow that he had had when he came home, a heartbroken boy, from his mother's funeral that day so many years ago, and buried his face in the sweet-mary leaves in the old Bible, and blotted its pages with his tears; for it seemed more like her than anything else in the house. He remembered that the undertaker's black mat with its ghastly white border was still in the front window, where the coffin had rested, and that the room smelled of camphor. Pearl saw that memory was busy with him, and said not a word. At last he spoke. "You're right, Pearl," he said. "Some one did read it and pass it on to me, and it would have been better for me if I'd stayed closer to what she taught me." "Ain't it queer how things turn out?" Pearl exclaimed, after a long pause. "Now, I've often wondered why Christ had to die--it seemed a terrible thing to happen to Him, and Him that lovin' and kind--do you mind how gentle and forgivin' He was?" Sandy Braden nodded. "Well, Mr. Donald and I have been talkin' about it quite a bit, and at first we thought it shouldn't have happened, but now it looks as if God had to strike hard to make people listen, and to show them what a terrible thing sin is. Death ain't nothin' to be afraid of, nor sufferin' either. Sin is the only thing to be real scared of. It wasn't the rusty nails through His hands that made the dear Lord cry out in agony--it was the hard hearts of them that done it. Bill Cavers's death has done good already, for it has closed your bar, and no one knows how many men and boys that may save; and you're a different man now, thinking different thoughts, ain't you?" "I'm a mighty unhappy man," he said sadly. "I'm different that way, that's a sure thing." Pearl looked at him closely, as if she would see the inner working of his mind. "Mr. Braden, I know just what you're like," she said. "Did you ever see
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154  
155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   179   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Braden

 

things

 
remembered
 

smelled

 

mother

 
terrible
 

leaves

 
strike
 
Christ
 

happen


listen
 

people

 

Donald

 

gentle

 

nodded

 

forgivin

 

talkin

 

thought

 

shouldn

 
happened

Cavers
 

thinking

 

thoughts

 
closed
 
mighty
 

unhappy

 

working

 
closely
 

looked

 

scared


afraid
 

sufferin

 

hearts

 
nothin
 

tenderness

 

feeling

 

sudden

 

sorrow

 

buried

 
funeral

heartbroken

 
attendance
 

regular

 
finger
 
guided
 

teaching

 
thread
 

Sunday

 

school

 
coloured