Christian life -- Fiction; Conduct of life -- Fiction; Domestic fiction
And the face of my Louis, transfigured by his thought, shone with a
light that seemed to come from afar. I loved so well to hear him preach,
that when Mr. Davis' health became too precarious for him to occupy the
pulpit longer, I was glad to hear Louis say he would accept the place
tendered by Mr. Davis and by all the people of our town. I say all the
people, although perhaps there were a few who, liking to be busy and
failing to look for anything better, occupied themselves with the small
talk which made sometimes great noise without really touching anybody;
but we did not count this in life's cost, and were not affected by it.
Louis treated all with uniform kindness, and taught them the lessons
they could not fail to appreciate, though, as he had said, some of the
seed must fall on barren ground. It is not to be supposed that the
mill-owners were glad to lose the work of the children, for it was
worth much and cost little; but since they were not powerful enough to
establish monarchical government, they were forced to submit, and they
submitted gracefully, too, from the policy which, as Louis had said,
whispered "He has money," and they might sometime desire favor at his
hands.
It seemed to me sometimes that Louis' money would not last as long as
his life; but when I said something of the kind, he answered:
"Yes, yes, Emily; we shall not be embarrassed financially, for we
consult needs, and these you know are small compared to wants. A little
ready money will go a long way; we shall not suffer from interest nor
from high rates of taxation here; give yourself no uneasiness."
When the school was started we were surprised, as well as pleased, to
receive calls from some of our good people, who desired to have their
children go to the Home School as pupils. They felt moved to take this
step from two considerations; one, the more thorough education which the
children would receive; and the other, an interest felt in our work, and
a desire to help the school to become one of the best.
They proposed paying a tuition fee, to which we all consented, reserving
to ourselves the right of taking those who might desire to attend and
not be able to pay; and through their really generous contributions in
this way, when Burton Brown came to assume the duties of a schoolmaster,
there was a fund sufficient to pay him well for his services.
We named this the Turner Fund, although Jane insisted it should be
_De_mond.
John desired to donate his gift from Aunt Hildy to the Turner Fund, but
Louis objected, saying:
"John, you have no right to do this; you need to get a house for
yourself before you help others. It would not be right to take your
money, and we cannot accept it."
Matthias says:
"'Pears like I kin tote ober to de 'Plot' an' tinker roun' thar wid de
chilun. John's done boun' I shan't do no moah work, an' I can't stop
still no how, for it 'pears like I'm dead 'fore de time."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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