Flip's "Islands of Providence"Johnston, Annie F. (Annie Fellows)
General
Flip's "Islands of Providence"
Johnston, Annie F. (Annie Fellows)
City and town life -- Fiction; Siblings -- Fiction; Villages -- Fiction
Weak, yet thrilled with a delightful sense of comfort and freedom
from pain, Alec obeyed unquestioningly. True, a thought did trail
teasingly across his mind for a moment, a dim wonder as to where the
money was to come from to pay for the expensive luxuries of nurse and
doctor and medicines and fire, but it faded presently, and instead
his Aunt Eunice's old song took its place:
"I know not where His islands lift
Their fronded palms in air;
I only know I cannot drift
Beyond--beyond--beyond--"
He groped languidly for the final words, but could not recall them.
"Never mind," he thought, drowsily; "I've got as far as old Jimmy
Scott, and that's a big enough island for this trip."
A most comfortable stopping-place old Jimmy proved to be.
Considerate as a woman of his patient's comfort, cheerful, tireless,
and prompt as a minute-gun in carrying out the doctor's instructions,
it was not long before he had Alec sitting up for a little while each
day. With such an old philosopher to keep him company, and
entertained by the old veteran's endless fund of anecdote, Alec
enjoyed those few days of convalescence more than he could have
believed possible.
"It isn't such a bad sort of world, after all," he remarked one
morning, the day after the minister had called. "It is strange what a
difference knowing persons makes in the way you feel toward them. The
minister was as cordial and friendly as Doctor Meldrum used to be in
Ridgeville. Wonder how he found out about me? I didn't know he'd ever
heard of me or noticed me in the congregation."
Old Jimmy made no reply, although he longed to say: "He came because
I sent for him, buddy, as people ought to do. They are quick enough
to send for a doctor when their bodies are sick, but when they are
out of sorts either physically or mentally they never think of
letting their minister know. They hang back and feel hurt if he
doesn't come, just as if he could tell by intuition or a sort of
sixth sense that he's needed. How can a D. D. be expected to know
when you want him, any more than an M. D.?"
That afternoon as Alec sat propped up by the window for a little
while, looking down on the snowy street, there was a knock at the
door. Old Jimmy, answering it, came back with a florist's box
addressed, "Mr. Alec Stoker, with best wishes and sympathy of the
Grace Church Christian Endeavour Society." Inside was a fragrant
bunch of hothouse roses.
Alec held them up in amazement. "Why should they have sent them to
me?" he cried. There was no Endeavour society in Ridgeville, and he
did not understand its methods.
"The flower committee sends 'em to all the sick people in the
congregation," explained Jimmy. "Posies and piety always sorter go
together, seems like. Pretty, ain't they? But they ain't half so
pretty as the young ladies that brought 'em."
"Young ladies!" gasped Alec, looking toward the door.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account