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WHAT MAN IS THERE OF YOU?
The homely words, how often read!
How seldom fully known!
"Which father of you, asked for bread,
Would give his son a stone?"
How oft has bitter tear been shed,
And heaved how many a groan,
Because Thou wouldst not give for bread
The thing that was a stone!
How oft the child Thou wouldst have fed,
Thy gift away has thrown!
He prayed, Thou heardst, and gav'st the bread:
He cried, it is a stone!
Lord, if I ask in doubt or dread
Lest I be left to moan--
- I
- am the man who, asked for bread,
Would give his son a stone.
As Dorothy returned from the rectory, where Helen had made her happier
than all the money by the kind words she said to her, she stopped at Mr.
Jones' shop, and bought of him a bit of loin of mutton.
"Shan't I put it down, miss?" he suggested, seeing her take out her
purse.--Helen had just given her the purse: they had had great fun, with
both tears and laughter over it.
"I would rather not--thank you very much," she replied with a smile.
He gave her a kind, searching glance, and took the money.
That day Juliet dined with them. When the joint appeared, Amanda, who
had been in the kitchen the greater part of the morning, clapped her
hands as at sight of an old acquaintance.
"Dere it comes! dere it comes!" she cried.
But the minister's grace was a little longer than she liked, for he was
trying hard to feel grateful. I think some people mistake pleasure and
satisfaction for thankfulness: Mr. Drake was not so to be taken in. Ere
long, however, he found them a good soil for thankfulness to grow
in.--So Amanda fidgeted not a little, and the moment the grace was
over--
"Now 'en! now 'en!" she almost screamed, her eyes sparkling with
delight. "'Iss is dinner!--'Ou don't have dinner every day, Miss
Mellidif!"
"Be quiet, Ducky," said her aunt, as she called her. "You mustn't make
any remarks."
"Ducky ain't makin' no marks," returned the child, looking anxiously at
the table-cloth, and was quiet but not for long.
"Lisbef say surely papa's sip come home wif 'e nice dinner!" she said
next.
"No, my ducky," said Mr. Drake: "it was God's ship that came with it."
"Dood sip!" said the child.
"It will come one day and another, and carry us all home," said the
minister.
"Where Ducky's yeal own papa and mamma yive in a big house, papa?" asked
Amanda, more seriously.
"I will tell you more about it when you are older," said Mr. Drake. "Now
let us eat the dinner God has sent us." He was evidently far happier
already, though his daughter could see that every now and then his
thoughts were away; she hoped they were thanking God. Before dinner was
over, he was talking quite cheerfully, drawing largely from his stores
both of reading and experience. After the child was gone, they told
Juliet of their good fortune. She congratulated them heartily, then
looked a little grave, and said--
"Perhaps you would like me to go?"
"What!" said Mr. Drake; "does your friendship go no further than that?
Having helped us so much in adversity, will you forsake us the moment
prosperity looks in at the window?"
Juliet gave one glance at Dorothy, smiled, and said no more. For
Dorothy, she was already building a castle for Juliet--busily.
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