Frank Oldfield Part 41

"We shall have a rare family gathering when we all meet, Old Crow, Deborah, and all," said Betty. "There'll be fayther, and our John, and our Sammul, and our Jacob, and our Deborah, and Old Crow, and little Sammul, and the babe. We must get the squire to build us another cottage."

"Ah, Betty, my own sister," said Samuel, "it does my heart good to hear your voice once more. Add now I want fayther to tell his tale. I want to know all about the flitting, and the black and red letters, and all, and how you came to light on this lovely spot."

Johnson raised himself in his chair, and prepared to speak. What a wondrous change Christian total abstinence had made in his whole appearance. The prominent animal features had sunk or softened down, the rational and intellectual had become developed. He looked like a man, G.o.d's thinking and immortal creature now; before, he had looked more like a beast, with all that was savage intensified by the venom of perverted intelligence. Now he sat up with all that was n.o.ble in his character s.h.i.+ning out upon his countenance, specially his quiet iron determination and decision, in which father and son were so much alike.

And there was, hallowing every line and look, that peace which pa.s.seth understanding, and which flows from no earthly fountain.

"Sammul, my lad," he said, "G.o.d has been very good to me, for I can say, 'This my son was lost, and is found.' He's given me a cup brimful of mercies; but the biggest of all is, he's sent us our Sammul back again.

But I will not spin out my tale with needless talk, as you'll be impatient to know all about our flitting. You'll remember Ned Brierley?"

"Ay, well enough," said his son.

"Well, Ned were my best friend on earth, for you must know it were he as got me to sign the pledge. That were arter I got well arter the explosion. Ye heard of the explosion?"

"Yes," replied Samuel; "I heard on it arter I left Langhurst."

"It were a marvellous mercy," continued his father, "as I were spared.

I'd halted rather 'tween two opinions afore, but when I left my sick-bed I came forward, and signed. Then Ned Brierley and all the family flitted, for the mayster'd given him a better shop somewhere in Wales.

That were a bad job for me. I'd a weary life of it then. I thought some of my old mates 'ud a torn me in pieces, or jeered the very life out of me. Then, besides, you were not come back to us; and I were very down about your poor mother, so that I were casting about to see if I couldn't find work somewhere at a distance from Langhurst, where I could make a fresh start. It were in the November arter the explosion that same total abstinence chap as got yourself to sign came to our house, and axed me to tell my experience at a meeting as was to be held in Langhurst on the twenty-third of the month. I'd sooner have had nothing to do wi't, but our Betty said she thought I were bound to speak for the good of the cause, so I told the gentleman as I would. Now, you may just suppose as my old mates at the 'George' were in a fury when they heard of this, and some on 'em were resolved to sarve me out, as they called it, though I'd done 'em no harm. So they meets at Will Jones's house, a lot on them, and makes a plot to get into our house the night afore the meeting, and scratch my face over with a furze bush while I was asleep, and rub lamp-black and gunpowder all over my face, so as I shouldn't be able for shame to show myself at the meeting. But it so happened as Will Jones's lad John were under the couch-chair, hiding away from his fayther, all the time they was arranging their plans, and he heard all as they was saying. So Will Jones's wife Martha sends the lad to tell our Betty when the men was gone. She'd promised not to say anything herself, but that didn't bind the lad, so he came and told.

What were we to do? Why, just the right thing were being ordered for us. Do ye remember old Job Paynter, the bill-sticker?"

"Ay, for sure I do," replied Samuel. "He were a good Christian man, and a thorough total abstainer."

"You're right there, Sammul," said his father; "now old Job's uncle to our John here. I'd seen a good deal of old Job of late. He'd taken to me and our Betty, and used often to call and have a cup of tea with us.

He knowed how I wished to get away from Langhurst; and one night he says to me, 'I've a nephew, John Walters, down at Fairmow, in Shrops.h.i.+re.

He's one of the right sort. I heard from him a while since as his squire wants a steady man to overlook a small colliery as he's got on his estate. The man as is there now's taken to drinking, so the squire's parting with him in December. Would you like me to mention yourself to my nephew?' You may be sure, Sammul, I were very thankful for the chance. But it wasn't chance--the word slipped out of my mouth; but I've done with chance long since--it were the Lord's doing. So old Job wrote to our John about it, and the end were, the squire offered the place to me. I got Job to keep it quite snug, for I didn't want my old mates to know anything about it. This were all settled afore I'd agreed to speak at the meeting. So when we found, from Martha Jones's lad, what my old mates was up to, I talked the matter over with old Job Paynter, and we hit upon a plan as'd just turn the tables on 'em, and might do 'em some good. It were all arranged with our John as we should be at liberty to come to his cottage here till the place were ready for me at the colliery. Then Job and I talked it over, and it were settled as our Betty should go to her aunt's at Rochdale, and take all her things with her, and meet me on the twenty-third of November at Stockport. Job was to come to our house on the twenty-second. So, a little afore nine, he slips in when it were very dark, and brings a lot of old letters with him ready cut out, and some paste. You must know as he'd a large quant.i.ty of old posters by him as had been soiled or torn.

So he cuts what black letters he wants out of these, and some red 'uns too, enough to make the two texts, 'No drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of G.o.d,' and 'Prepare to meet thy G.o.d.' Then Job and me goes quietly up-stairs, and I holds the candle while he pastes the words on the chamber-floor. Then we rolls up some old bits of stuff into a bundle, and lays 'em on my bed, and puts the old coverlid over 'em.

Then Job and me leaves the house, and locks the door; and that, Sammul, is last I've seen of Langhurst."

"And what about the thunder and lightning as scorched out the letters?"

asked Samuel.

"Only an old woman's tale, I'll be bound," said his father. "You may be sure the next tenant scoured 'em off."

"And now," said John Walters, "it comes to my turn. Father and Betty came down to our house on the twenty-third of November. My dear mother was living then. I was her only son. I was bailiff then, as I am now, to Squire Collington of the Hall up yonder. Father worked about at any odd jobs I could find him till his place were ready for him, and Betty took to being a good daughter at once to my dear mother. She took to it so natural, and seemed so pleased to help mother, and forget all about herself, that I soon began to think, 'If she takes so natural to being a good daughter, she'll not find it hard maybe to learn to be a good wife.' And mother thought so too; and as Betty didn't say, 'No,' we were married in the following spring."

"Yes, Sammul," said Betty, laughing and crying at the same time; "but I made a bargain with John, when we swopped hearts, as I were to leave a little bit of mine left me still for fayther and our Sammul."

Thomas Johnson looked at the whole group with a face radiant with happiness, and then said,--

"The Lord bless them. They've been all good childer to me."

"We've always gotten the news of Langhurst from Uncle Job," said Betty.

"He settled with the landlord about our rent, and our few odd bits of things; and he was to send us any letter as came from yourself."

"And so you've been here ever since?"

"Yes. Our John's mother died two years since come Christmas; and then fayther came to live with us. He'd had a cottage of his own afore, with a housekeeper to look arter him."

"And is your squire, Mr Collington, a total abstainer?"

"Ay, he is, for sure, and a gradely 'un too. He's owner of most of the land and houses here. The whole village belongs to him; and he'll not have a drop of intoxicating drinks sold in it. You pa.s.sed the public.

You heard no swearing nor rowing, I'll warrant. You'll find church, and chapel too, both full of Sundays; and there's scarce a house where the Bible isn't read every night. Ah! the drink's the great curse as robs the heart of its love, the head of its sense, and the soul of its glory!"

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.

CONCLUSION.

There just remain a few creases to be smoothed out, and our story is done.

The morning after Samuel's arrival Betty made her way to the Hall, taking her brother with her. She knew that the squire and his lady, and indeed the whole family, would rejoice to hear that the wanderer was returned, for all loved the simple-hearted Lancas.h.i.+re girl, and had long sympathised with her and her father in their sorrow about Samuel.

Mr Collington and his lady having heard Betty's statement with the deepest interest, sent for Samuel, and had a long conversation with him.

"And what do you say to entering my service?" asked the squire. "We have learned to prize your father and sister so highly, that I shall feel perfect confidence in taking you with no other recommendation than your story and your relations.h.i.+p to them."

"Well, sir," replied Samuel, "you're very good. I'm tired of roving, and shall be glad to settle, if you can find me a place as'll suit me; only I mustn't forget as there's others I owe a duty to."

"You mean the friends you have left behind in Bolton?"

"Yes, sir," said Betty; "he's bound to be looking arter them. And there's Deborah, as he'll be bringing to share his home with him."

"And Old Crow too?" asked Mrs Collington.

"I cannot say, ma'am," replied Samuel; "but I must either take his cart back to him, or bring him over this side to his cart."

"Well, we'll see what can be done," said the squire.

Let us leave them for a while, and pa.s.s to Greymoor Park. Sir Thomas and Lady Oldfield have left it for an absence of several years; indeed, many doubts are expressed in the neighbourhood whether they will ever come back to reside there again. There is the stamp of neglect and sorrow upon the place. Sir Thomas has become a more thoughtful man--he is breaking up, so people say. His wife has found a measure of comfort at the only true Fountain, for her religion is now the substance--it was once only the shadow. But the past cannot be recalled, and a sorrow lies heavy on her heart which must go with her to her grave; and oh, there is a peculiar bitterness in that sorrow when she reflects what her poor boy might have been had she never herself broken down his resolve to renounce entirely that drink which proved his after-ruin. And what of the Oliphants at the Rectory? Bernard Oliphant still keeps on his holy course, receiving and scattering light. Hubert is abroad and prospers, beloved by all who know him.

And Mary, poor Mary, she carries a sorrow which medicine can never heal.

Yet she sorrows not altogether without hope; for, according to her promise, she never ceased to pray for the erring object of her love; and she still therefore clings to the trust that there may have been light enough in his soul at the last for him to see and grasp the outstretched hand of Jesus. And sorrow has not made her selfish. She has learned to take a deepening interest in the happiness of others; and thus, in her self-denying works of faith and labours of love, she finds the throbbings of her wounded spirit to beat less fiercely. She has gained all she hopes for in this life, peace--not in gloomy seclusion, but in holy activity--and she knows that there is joy for her laid up in that bright, eternal land where the sorrows of the past can cast no shadows on present glory.

And now let us pa.s.s from those who mourn to those who rejoice. It is a lovely day in early September, and there is evidently something more than ordinary going on at Fairmow Park. In the village itself there is abundance of bustle and excitement, but all of the most innocent kind, for alcohol has nothing to do with it. Old and young are on the move, but the young seem to be specially interested. In fact, it is the "Annual Meeting of the Fairmow Band of Hope," which is to gather for dinner and recreation, as it always does, in the Park. So banners are flying, and children hurrying to and fro, and parents looking proud, and all looking happy. But to-day there is to be a double festivity, for Samuel Johnson and Deborah Cartwright are to be married. Deborah is staying at John Walters', and Samuel has got a snug little cottage no great way on the other side of the brook; and not far-off, and a little nearer to the Hall, is still another cottage, where Old Crow is just settled with Deborah's mother for housekeeper, for the old man could not rest content to be so far away from his adopted son Jacob, for he "means to call him Jacob and nothing else as long as he lives." The old man is not without money of his own, and he still means to do a little in the knife-grinding line. So his cart is to be wheeled up for him to the Park this afternoon, and he is to sharpen just as many or just as few knives for the squire, and scissors for the ladies, as he pleases. And now--for it is almost half-past ten o'clock--there is a straggling of various groups up to the neat little ivy-covered church. Oh, what a joyful day it is for Thomas Johnson and Betty! They hardly know how to hold all the love that swells in their hearts, and every one is so kind to them. Then the bells ring out joyfully, and the churchyard is filled with expectant faces of old and young. The squire, his wife, and daughters are to be there, and after the wedding there is to be a short service and an address from the clergyman. And now the little wedding- party winds up the hill, two and two, from John Walters' cottage, all supremely happy down to little Samuel and the babe, who are to share in the festivities of the day. All enter the church; the squire and his party being already seated. Old Crow is there, of course, for he is to give Deborah away. He has a Sunday suit on now, the garments of various eras being only for working days. Who so full of joy as Samuel, as he pa.s.ses through the gazing throng with Deborah on his arm. They are to drive at once after the wedding to the Park in the squire's dog-cart.

The marriage-ceremony is duly performed, and the address delivered.

Then comes the band, with its brazen roar strangely jangling with the merry bells. The road is all alive with labourers in clean smocks, and lads with polished faces. The children in their holiday attire and Band of Hope ribbons run in and out everywhere. Fathers and mothers look glad, and old men and women benevolent. Flowers are to be seen in profusion, for total abstinence and flowers go everywhere together: there are flowers in the churchyard, flowers in the church, flowers in b.u.t.ton-holes, belts, and bonnets, flowers in huge fragrant nosegays, flowers in choice little bouquets. And so, laughing, smiling, running, walking, hastening, sauntering, chatting, greeting, on go young and middle-aged and old, and the sloping sward of the Park is gained, and the Hall comes into close view. And there, under a wide expanse of canvas, is spread the healthful, bountiful repast--plenty of meat, plenty of drink of the right sort, and nothing to stimulate appet.i.te but those odours which never tempt any but the gluttonous to excess. All are now gathered and take their places; young and old sit side by side.

The squire, his lady, his daughters, and the clergyman are there. Every one is a.s.sured of a hearty welcome, and falls to in earnest when the grace has been sung. At length the vehement clas.h.i.+ng of knives and forks and clattering of plates has subsided to a solitary click or two; all have been satisfied, and the squire rises. He has a word of kindness, love, and encouragement for each. They know how he loves them, and they listen with the deepest attention. And thus he speaks:--

"Our kind and beloved pastor has addressed us all in church this morning, and I trust we shall remember well the words of truth and wisdom which he spoke. And now it falls to myself to speak to you. I can most truthfully declare how it rejoices myself and my dear wife to see so many healthy, happy faces at our yearly 'Band of Hope' festivity.

But to-day we specially rejoice, because we see here a happy couple who have just been joined together as man and wife in our church, with the blessed prospect of being fellow-partakers of the happiness of heaven.

I am very thankful to number them among my tenants and people. You all of you now know something of Samuel Johnson, his trials, temptations, and struggles as a Christian total abstainer. ('Hear, hear,' from Old Crow.) What a truly happy gathering this is! I have no need to look at any with misgiving lest their bright faces should owe their brightness to excess in intoxicating liquors. We have no false stimulants here--we have no clouded brains, no aching consciences here--none will go home needing to rue the gathering and recreations of this day. And now, young people of the 'Band of Hope,' my dear boys and girls, I have just a parting word for you. Never let any one persuade you, go where you may, to forsake your pledged total abstinence. Never care for a laugh or a frown, they can do you no harm while G.o.d is on your side. Oh, remember what an insidious, what a crafty tempter the drink is! I have a short story to tell you that will ill.u.s.trate this. Many years ago, when the English and French were at war with one another in North America, a portion of the English army was encamped near a dense and trackless forest. The French were on friendly terms with a tribe of Red Indians who lived thereabouts, and our men were therefore obliged to be specially on their guard against these crafty savage foes. A sentinel was placed just on the border of the forest, and he was told to be very watchful against a surprise from the Indians. But one day, when the sergeant went to relieve guard, he found the sentinel dead, his scalp, (that is, the hair with the skin and all), torn from his head, and his musket gone. This was plainly the work of an Indian. Strict charge was given to the new sentinel to fire his musket on the first approach of an enemy. Again they went to relieve guard, and again they found the sentinel dead and scalped as the one before him. They left another soldier in his place, and after a while, hearing the discharge of a musket, they hurried to the spot. There stood the sentinel uninjured, and close at his feet lay a Red Indian dead. The sentinel's account was this. While he was keeping his eyes on the forest, he saw coming from it a sort of large hog common in those parts, which rolls itself about in a peculiarly amusing manner. In its gambols it kept getting nearer and nearer to him, when all of a sudden it darted into his mind, 'Perhaps this creature is only an Indian in disguise.' He fired at it, and found it was even so. The crafty savage had thus approached the other sentinels, who had been thrown off their guard by his skilful imitation of the animal's movements, so that the Indian had sprung up and overpowered them before they could fire or call for help. Now it is just so, dear boys and girls, with the drink. It comes, as it were, all innocence and playfulness: it raises the spirits, unchains the tongue, makes the eyes bright, and persuades a man that the last thing he will do will be to exceed; and then it gets closer and closer, and springs upon him, and gets the mastery over him, before he is at all aware. But don't you trifle with it, for it comes from the enemy's country--it is in league with the enemy--repel it at the outset--have nothing to do with it--it has surprised and slain millions of immortal beings--never taste, and then you will never crave. Oh, how happy to show that you can live without it! Then you may win others to follow your example.

Ay, the young total abstainer who will not touch the drink because he loves his Saviour, does indeed stand on a rock that cannot be moved, and he can stretch out the helping hand to others, and cry, 'Come up here and be safe.' And now away to your games and your sports, and may G.o.d bless you all!"