The Little Schoolmaster Mark: A Spiritual Romance — John Shaqi
The Little Schoolmaster Mark: A Spiritual RomanceShorthouse, J. H. (Joseph Henry)
Religion
The Little Schoolmaster Mark: A Spiritual Romance
Shorthouse, J. H. (Joseph Henry)
Fiction
The Princess ascended slowly towards her own apartment, where she
expected to find some, at least, of her dressers, and in so doing, in a
dimly-lighted corridor, she passed the rooms allotted to her children.
The thought of them was not, indeed, in her mind when, as she passed a
door, she fancied that she heard a suppressed, continued crying, as of
children in distress. Still more moved and troubled by this faint
pathetic sound she opened the door and went in. The room was an
antechamber, and both it and the apartment beyond were dark. The
Princess procured a small lamp from the corridor and entered the suite
of rooms.
In the bedchamber beyond the antechamber she found the children, both
sitting up in one bed, clasped in each other's arms, and crying quietly.
The little boy had evidently come for shelter and comfort to his
sister's bed.
"What is the matter, children?" said the Princess, in a tone which
seemed to the little ones strangely soft and kind. "Why are you not
asleep?"
The children had ceased crying, and were looking at her wonderingly as
she stood in her jewels and ball-dress, a brilliant scarf of Indian work
hanging from her arm, the lamp in her hand. They hardly knew whether it
was their mother, whom they saw so seldom, or some serene ethereal
visitant, who resembled her in face and form.
The little Princess, however, with the self-possession of her class,
apparently left this point undecided, and began in her quiet, stately
little way to explain.
"It was dark," she said, "and we were asleep, Fritz and I, and we both
dreamed the same dream. We thought that we were walking in a beautiful
garden, where there were trees, and flowers, and butterflies, and wide
cascades of water, in which rainbows were shining; and while we were
playing there, and were very happy chasing the butterflies, the Herr
Tutor, who was an angel, and who went to heaven, came and took us by the
hand; and, when we saw his face, we knew that he is an angel now; and he
led us through the garden, and talked to us of many things--of God, and
of angels, and of heaven--just as he used to do. But I saw that, though
he talked so pleasantly, he was leading us out of this pleasant garden,
and the flowers grew dim, and the butterflies flew away, and the sky
became very dark. And he led us quite out of the garden into a
burial-ground, where there were tombs, and open graves, and crosses, and
tall dark trees that bore no flower; and the Herr Tutor told us not to
be afraid, and led us on through the graves without speaking any more.
He led us into the midst of the burial-ground, and in the midst of the
burial-ground there was a Calvary, and at the foot of the Calvary there
was a bier. And on the bier we saw you and papa lying quite straight and
still, and we thought that you were dead. And the Herr Tutor vanished
away; and we were so frightened that we cried. And we knelt side by
side, and prayed to the Christ that He would come down. And the Christ
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