“If Lotty were only here, I think I would be happy again.”
“You must try and extract some grains of comfort even from the present,” replied the kind-hearted visitor. “Consider me your friend, and look to me for whatever is needed. I have brought you over some tea and sugar, a loaf of bread, and some nice pieces of ham. Here are half a dozen fresh eggs besides, and a glass of jelly. In the morning I will send one of my girls to put everything in order for you, and clear your rooms up nicely. Let Betsy lay out all your soiled clothing, and I will have it washed and ironed. So, cheer up; if the day opened with clouds in the sky, there is light in the west at its close.”
Mrs. Markland spoke in a buoyant tone; and something of the spirit she wished to transfer, animated the heart of Mrs. Elder.
As the mother and her gentle child went back, through the deepening twilight, to their home of luxury and taste, both were, for much of the way, silent; the former musing on what she had seen and heard, and, like the wise bee, seeking to gather whatever honey could be found: the latter, happy-hearted, from causes the reader has seen.
CHAPTER III.
“WALKING here yet, Edward?” said Mrs. Markland, as she joined her husband in the spacious portico, after her return from the sick woman’s cottage; and drawing her arm within his, she moved along by his side. He did not respond to her remark, and she continued:—
“Italy never saw a sunset sky more brilliant. Painter never threw on canvas colours so full of a living beauty. Deep purple and lucent azure,—crimson and burnished gold! And that far-off island-cloud—
‘A Delos in the airy ocean—’
seems it not a floating elysium for happy souls?”
“All lovely as Nature herself,” answered Mr. Markland, abstractedly, as his eyes sought the western horizon, and for the first time since the sun went down, he noticed the golden glories of the occident.
“Ah! Edward! Edward!” said Mrs. Markland, chidingly, “You are not only in the world, but of the world.”
“Of the earth, earthy, did you mean to say, my gentle monitor?” returned the husband, leaning towards his wife.
“Oh, no, no! I did not mean grovelling or sordid; and you know I did not.” She spoke quickly and with mock resentment.
“Am I very worldly-minded?”
“I did not use the term.”
“You said I was not only in the world, but of it.”
“Well, and so you are; at least in a degree. It is the habit of the world to close its eyes to the real it possesses, and aspire after an ideal good.”
“And do you find that defect in me, Agnes?”
“Where was thought just now, that your eyes were not able to bring intelligence to your mind of this glorious sunset?”
“Thought would soon become a jaded beast of burden, Agnes, if always full laden with the present, and the actually existent. Happily, like Pegasus, it has broad and strong pinions—can rise free from the prisoner’s cell and the rich man’s dainty palace. Free! free! How the heart swells, elated and with a sense of power, at this noble word—Freedom! It has a trumpet-tone.”
“Softly, softly, my good husband,” said Mrs. Markland. “This is all enthusiasm.”
“And but for enthusiasm, where would the world be now, my sweet philosopher?”
“I am no philosopher, and have but little enthusiasm. So we are not on equal ground for an argument. I I don’t know where the world would be under the circumstances you allege, and so won’t pretend to say. But I’ll tell you what I do know.”
“I am all attention.”
“That if people would gather up each day the blessings that are scattered like unseen pearls about their feet, the world would be rich in contentment.”
“I don’t know about that, Agnes; I’ve been studying for the last half hour over this very proposition.”
“Indeed! and what is the conclusion at which you have arrived?”
“Why, that discontent with the present, is a law of our being, impressed by the Creator, that we may ever aspire after the more perfect.”
“I am far from believing, Edward,” said his wife, “that a discontented present is any preparation for a happy future. Rather, in the wooing of sweet Content to-day, are we making a home for her in our hearts, where she may dwell for all time to come—yea, forever and forever.”
“Beautifully said, Agnes; but is that man living whose heart asks not something more than it possesses—who does not look to a coming time with vague anticipations of a higher good than he has yet received?”
“It may be all so, Edward—doubtless is so—but what then? Is the higher good we pine for of this world? Nay, my husband. We should not call a spirit of discontent with our mere natural surroundings a law of the Creator, established as a spur to advancement; for this disquietude is but the effect of a deeper cause. It is not change of place, but change of state that we need. Not a going from one point in space to another, but a progression of the spirit in the way of life eternal.”
“You said just now, Agnes, that you were no philosopher.” Mr. Markland’s voice had lost much of its firmness. “But what would I not give to possess some of your philosophy. Doubtless your words are true; for there must be a growth and progression of the spirit as well as of the body; for all physical laws have their origin in the world of mind, and bear thereto exact relations. Yet, for all this, when there is a deep dissatisfaction with what exists around us, should we not seek for change? Will not a removal from one locality to another, and an entire change of pursuits, give the mind a new basis in natural things, and thus furnish ground upon which it may stand and move forward?”
“Perhaps, if the ground given us to stand upon were rightly tilled, it would yield a richer harvest than any we
