FICKLE JACK;

Otago Witness, Issue 1852, 20 May 1887, Page 32

FICKLE JACK;

OR, FROM WEAKNESS TO STRENGTH.

By Alice. Author of " The Grandmother's Story," " Mother and Daughter," " Chalk," &n.

Chapter VII. Christmas Day..

Soon after day-break on Christmas morning sweet strains of the .violin issued from Uncle John's room. He sat near the open window,, his chin resting lovingly upon hi« instrument, his light brown hair, touched here, and there with grey, and which he wore rather long, shining in the early sunlight, 1 his blue eyes were gazing from under the shaggy brows dreamily into the garden. He played selections from " Creation," and sat for an hour in the same position, when pausing he heard a voice singing in the garden : —

Hark the herald angels sing, Glory to the new born King I

Instrument in hand he bounded into the garden and met Laura coming towards him, her garden hat full of flowers. 1 Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled. Sang on the fresh clear voice. The violin joined in and did its part right heartily. Joyful all'ye nations rise. Join the triumph of the skies ; Wilh the angelic hosr, proclaim, Christ is born in Bethlehem, j Hark! the herald aiigels. sing. Glory to the new born King,

And all the little birds ija. the trees sec up a joyful twittering, and Laura's canaries, just hung under the verandah, sang fit to burst then? delighted little hearts.

The anthem at an end, the two musicians wished one another " a merry Christmas." '" What are we going to do till breakfast time, uncle ?" asked Laura, "it is not much past 6 o'clock, we have three good hours before us. Shall we go for a long walk? Shall we go to the foot of the hills 1 , Mary had a little lamb, It's neece was white as snowj And everywhere that Mary went The lamb was sure to go. answered Uncle John, laughing. So running in and bringing her uncle's hat to him, they started off at a brisk pace. Not a shrub, not a cloud escaped Uncle John's eye, and a very pleasant time they had of it. Reaching the foot of the hills they clambered up for some distance, then sat down on the tussocks to rest. < Some sheep feeding near lifted their heads and looked at them, but apparently satisfied that they were not even distantly related to the butchers, quietly went on with their breakfast. Lark after lark rose from its nest, singing into the blue sky. Be:ovr them nestled the " City of the Plains." Far away to the right, a dim blue line scarcely visible through the morning mists, was the ocean, to the left ranged the mountairio capped with their eternal snow's, and shining like solid silver, while like a yellow sea on every side spread the- broad plains. No* many yards distant the river Heathcote quietly wended its peaceful way.to the ocean. Clumps of green flas were growing here and the-i-e by its side, and here and there a willow, while on its surface floated a colony of docks. Gentle cows were at pasture in the paddocks near, and the blue smoke was curling from

the chimneys of the homesteads nestling among the trees. No souud of living thing the silence broke, Save that which served to soothe.

" This is delightful I " said Laura. " Here* far away from the bustle and din, we can •look through Nature up to Nature's God.'" " How frequently it is, as Cowper says," replied Uncle John,

Full often Our wayward intellect, the more we learn Of Nature, overlooks her author more j From instrumental causes proud t o draw Conclusions, retrograde, and mad mistake. Hub if His Word once teach us, shoot a ray Through all the heart's dark chambers, and reveal Truth's undiscerned, but by that holy light Then all is plain. Philosophy, baptis'd In the pure fountain of eternal love. Has eyes indeed -, and, viewing all she sees As meant to indicate a God to man, Gives Him the praisu, and forfeits not her own.

With a quiet smile Laura answered him in Mrs Heman's words : When the young eagle, with exulting eye. Has learned to dare the splendour of the sky, And leaves the Alps beneath him in his course, To bathe his crest in man's em oy real source : Will his free wing, from that majestic light, Descend to follow some wild meteor's light, Which far below, with evanescent fire, Shines to delude, and dazzles to expire ? No! Still through clou is he wings his upward way i And proudly claims his heritage- of day! And shall the spirit on whose ardent gaze The day spring from on high hath poured its blaze Turn from that pure effulgence to the beam Of earth-born light, that sheds a treacherous gleam ?

" Yet," replied Uncle John, "it does happen that man withdraws his gaze from his guiding star to fix it upon the glow-worm, that he turns his back to the sun to look at his own shadow."

Both sat silently for a few moments, when Laura said, abruptly, " I wonder if long life is gain or loss 1 I have wondered about it a deal of late. I notice that those who have Been most of the world seem to doubt most. It is such a pity to see generous impulses die, and faith wither up. Who was it prayed for their heart to be kept green 1 I echo that prayer. , I don't dread care, I don't fear privation, I could suffer loss, but I hope my faith in God and man will never die. I wonder if long life," she repeated, "is gain or loss ? "

" Neither all gain nor all loss, dear child. Something we had we lose, and much we had not we gain. Our own pleasure ought not to be the chief aim of our existence. Dissappointment and trial are excellent tonics, and do a man good — give him a keen relish for all after dainties. No man is hale and healthful fed on rich food all the days Of his life. It whets his appetite, he becomes gluttonous and fastidious, his digestion becomes impaired as his epicurean tendencies develop, and he dies of dyspepsia."

" I had rather die of starvation."

" God forbid, Laura ! .Hunger is a dreadful thing ; it gnaws and gnaws with a slow cruel torture — No ! no ! May it never be your lot —like Longfellow's Evangeline— to feel ' the thirst and hunger of the soul we cannot still.' "

"Wherein think you lies happiness, uncle 1 "

" Not so much I take it, in what we have, as the being content with what we have. Depend upon it, although life may not yield us all we desire, 4t gives us all we need, or almost all."

She leaned forward, her hands clasped in her lap, her eyes looking straight before her, thinking it out, presently she said : —

"I see, contentment is the philosophers' stone, turning all to gold. Are you satisfied, uncle?"

" Satisfied is a big word, Laura ; contentment pauses some distance off."

" After all it seems to me it does not so much matter what life gives, as how we live through what it gives."

" That's it, my dear ; keep the light burning in your own heart, and it will send a gleam into all awkward darkness." v

"If I were to ask you, dear uncle, for a watchword after all you have seen and learned in life's school — what would it be?"

" One that has been given before — 'patience and hope, and trust in God, my child.' " " I have hope— strong hope. " " It is the inheritance of youth ! " "My father has taught me trust in God." " Never let it go ! " " But patience— l have not patience."

" Experience teacheth it."

The girl's eyes wandered wistfully over the sunlit scene before her ; she thought of what Bret Huntley had said the previous evening, that patience was often but a quiet kind of dispair. After awhile Uncle John spoke again : —

"We need resolution and sustained selfcontrol. It is easy to lose our individuality and live according to the world's opinion. Then, again, it is easy to follow the dictates of our own opinion. In one case we lose our truth and honesty, in the other we are apt to become egotistical, but bless my heart ! " he exclaimed, suddenly jumping to his feet, " if we don't make tracks off home we shall lose our breakfast, and that will be a terrible to do, Christmas morning too I and I'll be bound that good soul has got something that Would tempt the appetites of less hungry folk than we."

An hour later a merry party were gathered tound the breakfast-table, one of the number oeing Jack, in most extravagant spirits. Christmas boxes had been given and received —nobody had been forgotten. Mr Howard, ?fid Uncle John insisted upon wearing the flippers Laura bad worked and presented to and Jack sported a watchguard made of her hair. Mrs Viney was richer by a black ?dk dress, and a £10 note from Uncle John, yho well knew that there were two little toys in the orphanage, who called her mother, OH whom she would spend a large portion o£ *»• These little boys were to ' take tea with her to-day in the* kitchen, and two books were waiting for them on the dresser. Later on, Uncle John and Mr Howard to church, but Laura, declaring there Wa^ " a terrible lot to do," remained at home, 80 aid Jack ; and Laura set him to decanter g9 wine and make himself generally useful. fa flenfc little Mrs Viney nearly into convuj.

sions laughing at his jokes, and, like lone qi Ingoldsby's heroes, went about " poking his ; nose into this and to that," until, receiving -k sound box on the ear from L^ura/. he , was 1 dismissed in disgrace, and tools himself .cffiinto the garden, where he sprawled full length on the grass under , a willow tUI dinner was announced) and* with ,"it Brgt Huntley. „.'•'" '..■< The dinner was perfect, and everyone well pleased. Uncle John had a fund of interesting stories to tell, but never did/ tie' Vela^e anything wonderful; but Jack had' a Ctale still more wonderful, ' which everybpdy "but the believing gentleman knew to be the 'mbst perfect romance, and he, trusting- fellow, hands on' his knees, drank in every word' eagerly, and when anything' startling occurred in Jack's story his "Bless my heart ! the most astounding ' I heard of in my life 1 " sent the others into peals of laughter. At length thd dining-room was deserted, and Bret proposed a .drive ''tb Suraner. Everyone hailing the proposition' with pleasure, the two young men went awa^r for a buggy, and presently returning,, the party took their seats, Jack driving, and were soon bowling along the •'•Ferry road towards Stunner. Mrs Viney remained'. at home, happy in the prospect .'of an uninterrupted afternoon with her children.^ ' ' '- Many vehicles were on the road, arid Uncle John, who had never been that' way before, was very curious to get all the information he could. The old Ferry wharf was, pointed out to him, where the early immigrants were landed before the time of the Lyttelton railway ; and the Bridle Path hill, which- earlier immigrants still were obliged to toil over, and then be ferried across the-Heathcote in the punt. When they crossed the Ferry bridge, and had the hills on one, side of them, and what at low tide would have been mud flats on the other, he put on his spectacle's and began to rub his hands together. Further on still, nearing the Shag' rock, and getting a good view of 'the ocean before them, and the dark overhanging rocks'on one side, he stood up in the carriage, , his hands under his coat tails, exclaiming " Beautiful 1 " and when at last they stood upon the' sands, the blue, white-crested waves tumbling in at their very feet, his delight knew no' bounds. " My dear brother)" said he, giving the blind man his arm, " this is indeed a pleasant scene. Stretching out before us, as" far as the eye can reach, is the mighty ocean; with the blue waves and silver spray dancing in- .the sunbeams. To the right, and circling down' to the sea, are the green hills, with cottages nestling at their base, and the cottage gardens blazing with scarlet geraniums. "On the broad, smooth beach some hundreds of people are desporting themselves ; little children dabbling about' barefooted in the water; boys sitting on the rocks fishing;' lovers strolling along side by side; old folks taking their ease in the shade, and billies, bless my heart ! billies boiling for tea' in all directions — dear me ! dear me I to see mankind at its very .best, ;see it taking, a holiday. Hark at those girls laughing! How happy everyone' seems, to be sure ! There is a little pale-faced boy up there on the top of the cave, shouting at the pitch of his voice."

So there was — none other than little Tom — a flush came into into Jack's face as he recognised him, and Laura's brightened. The boy did not observe them, so intent was he on his own pleasure, and, as they passed on, Jack glanced at his cousin, half fearful that she might have found him 'Out, but she hadn't.

They walked the whole lengthr'of the beach till they reached the hills, then Mr Howard and Uncle John sat down in the shade together, and Jack, espying a group of friends at a short distance, joined them, and was soon flirting with a young lady in pink. Bret gave his hand to Laura, and assisting her over the stones they sat down on a boulder just out of the reach of the water. Looking down at her uncle, Laura said, softly :

" Dear Uncle John ! he is one of a thousand."

" Hero worship," answered her companion. " You will continue the perilous practice, after all the pains I have taken with you for weeks past to dissuade you from the belief that heroes still exist out of Utopia." " Your labour is utterly lost," she replied. "They do exist,' and out of Utopia, in this world of ours, in our own little world:"

" G'we me your idea o£ a hero." He was half smiling, half in earnest, leaning in a careless attitude on his arm, looking up into her face.

She thought for a moment,' then answered him, " One who lives through the common lot of man, ennobling it; walking,, so 'to speak, above himself." • . " " A difficult feat, We are the oreatures.ofcircumstances. We all more or less start out in life intending to carve out for 6ur-. selves a great name, and how many failj and why?" v

•-• Through want of perseverance, perhaps."

"Because in many instances we do not have an opportunity, or entering the field get beaten back, and lie wounded by our broken sword "

" But what can prevent a man rising again to his feet, pushing to the fore, and ultimately riding back, shouting victory 1 " •

"Fate."

" But don't you see what I mean 1 Don't you believe with Tennyson; that 'man- is man, and master of his fate ?"* • i >";-,,

"I understand you.v You would have a man not simply go quietly to the stake;, but walk tranquilly over • smouldering . ashes all the days of his life, not braving the storm' only without fear, but patiently paddling knee deep in water all down the stream.'' \ !

" You are laughing at me."

So he was, in his own quiet musical laugh,

11 1 can't help it ; you make me laugh. ' I have seen a good deal of the world, but 1 1 never met a woman like you."

"I don't want to be a woman of -the world," she answered, .picking up v little pieces of rock and throwing them; into, the sea. „ ;. '" .„'•- 1 " Calm, clever, unscrupulous, calculating ; ruled when ruled by caprice ; toot heart completely within your control,'. . tfcv-^ scarcely cpnsider that thVr<?& you coqld play

to perfection, girl i" he added, Apparently unconscious he called her so. "You give me, new thoughts, and yet, there is an insuperable barrier between me and faith, lasting faith in anything— experience in the world."

She looked into his eyes, which for the .moment Were clouded _ and unhappy. She could not doubt his sincerity. "It is- such a pity — such a pity," she answered sadly. " Qouldn't you overcome your doubts 1 I read once ' Believe in goodness wherever it is found, but believe in all rather than none.' I know you have a brave, true 'heart "

."There!" he interrupted; "at your old trick again. Don't raise me on a pedestal, and blame me one day for tumbling off." "" lam not doing so. I believe the best of you. I believe if you once saw need' of action you would work with a will." ! , " And is what you would call doing our duty worth all our concentrated skill, power, energy, time, thought, to perform our little part in this great, busy world ? Who suffers if we lie down and sleep ?" «

" Ourselves and others ; we dream instead of live."

" Better to dream than lie awake in pain." ' " Some dreams are worse than any waking pain."

" True, true."

They sat awhile in silence ; then Laura, stooping forward, placed, one hand upon his arm, and pointing forward said : " Watch those great waves how they gather all their strength, and, sweeping all before, roll proudly on and leap above the rock; then turn to these, and mark how weakly they fall sobbing on the shore, and say which you would rather be?" " Little enthusiast 1" he answered, with a smile.

(To ie continued.)