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THE DEA EX.
"And you think Marion likes him?" asked Lady Bernard, when she had in
silence heard my story.
"I am sure she likes him. But you know he is so far inferior to her,--in
every way."
"How do you know that? Questions are involved there which no one but God
can determine. You must remember that both are growing. What matter if any
two are unequal at a given moment, seeing their relative positions may be
reversed twenty times in a thousand years? Besides, I doubt very much if
any one who brought his favors with him would have the least chance with
Marion. Poverty, to turn into wealth, is the one irresistible attraction
for her; and, however duty may compel her to act, my impression is that she
will not escape loving Roger."
I need not say I was gratified to find Lady Bernard's conclusion from
Marion's character run parallel with my own.
"But what can come of it?" I said.
"Why, marriage, I hope."
"But Marion would as soon think of falling down and worshipping Baal and
Ashtoreth as of forsaking her grandchildren."
"Doubtless. But there would be no occasion for that. Where two things are
both of God, it is not likely they will be found mutually obstructive."
"Roger does declare himself quite ready to go and live amongst her friends,
and do his best to help her."
"That is all as it should be, so far as he--as both of them are concerned;
but there are contingencies; and the question naturally arises, How would
that do in regard of their children?"
"If I could imagine Marion consenting." I said, "I know what she would
answer to that question. She would say, Why should her children be better
off than the children about them? She would say that the children must
share the life and work of their parents."
"And I think she would be right, though the obvious rejoinder would be,
'You may waive your own social privileges, and sacrifice yourselves to the
good of others; but have you a right to sacrifice your children, and heap
disadvantages on their future?'"
"Now give us the answer on the other side, seeing you think Marion would be
right after all."
"Marion's answer would, I think, be, that their children would be God's
children; and he couldn't desire better for them than to be born in lowly
conditions, and trained from the first to give themselves to the service of
their fellows, seeing that in so far their history would resemble that of
his own Son, our Saviour. In sacrificing their earthly future, as men would
call it, their parents would but be furthering their eternal good."
"That would be enough in regard of such objections. But there would be a
previous one on Marion's own part. How would her new position affect her
ministrations?"
"There can be no doubt, I think," Lady Bernard replied, "that what
her friends would lose thereby--I mean, what amount of her personal
ministrations would be turned aside from them by the necessities of her
new position--would be far more than made up to them by the presence among
them of a whole well-ordered and growing family, instead of a single woman
only. But all this jet leaves something for her more personal friends to
consider,--as regards their duty in the matter. It naturally sets them on
the track of finding out what could be done to secure for the children of
such parents the possession of early advantages as little lower than those
their parents had as may be; for the breed of good people ought, as much as
possible, to be kept up. I will turn the thing over in my mind, and let you
know what comes of it."
The result of Lady Bernard's cogitations is, in so far, to be seen in the
rapid rise of a block of houses at no great distance from London, on the
North-western Railway, planned under the instructions of Marion Clare. The
design of them is to provide accommodation for all Marion's friends, with
room to add largely to their number. Lady Bernard has also secured ground
sufficient for great extension of the present building, should it prove
desirable. Each family is to have the same amount of accommodation it has
now, only far better, at the same rent it pays now, with the privilege
of taking an additional room or rooms at a much lower rate. Marion has
undertaken to collect the rents, and believes that she will thus in time
gain an additional hold of the people for their good, although the plan
may at first expose her to misunderstanding. From thorough calculation she
is satisfied she can pay Lady Bernard five per cent for her money, lay out
all that is necessary for keeping the property in thorough repair, and
accumulate a fund besides to be spent on building more houses, should her
expectations of these be answered. The removal of so many will also make
a little room for the accommodation of the multitudes constantly driven
from their homes by the wickedness of those, who, either for the sake of
railways or fine streets, pull down crowded houses, and drive into other
courts and alleys their poor inhabitants, to double the wretchedness
already there from overcrowding.
In the centre of the building is a house for herself, where she will have
her own private advantage in the inclusion of large space primarily for the
entertainment of her friends. I believe Lady Bernard intends to give her
a hint that a married couple would, in her opinion, be far more useful in
such a position than a single woman. But although I rejoice in the prospect
of greater happiness for two dear friends, I must in honesty say that I
doubt this.
If the scheme should answer, what a strange reversion it will be to
something like a right reading of the feudal system!
Of course it will be objected, that, should it succeed ever so well, it
will all go to pieces at Marion's death. To this the answer lies in the
hope that her influence may extend laterally, as well as downwards; moving
others to be what she has been; and, in the conviction that such a work as
hers can never be lost, for the world can never be the same as if she had
not lived; while in any case there will be more room for her brothers and
sisters who are now being crowded out of the world by the stronger and
richer. It would be sufficient answer, however, that the work is worth
doing for its own sake and its immediate result. Surely it will receive a
well-done from the Judge of us all; and while his idea of right remains
above hers, high as the heavens are above the earth, his approbation will
be all that either Lady Bernard or Marion will seek.
If but a small proportion of those who love the right and have means to
spare would, like Lady Bernard, use their wealth to make up to the poor for
the wrongs they receive at the hands of the rich,--let me say, to defend
the Saviour in their persons from the tyranny of Mammon, how many of the
poor might they not lead with them into the joy of their Lord!
Should the plan succeed, I say once more, I intend to urge on Marion the
duty of writing a history of its rise and progress from the first of her
own attempts. Then there would at least remain a book for all future
reformers and philanthropists to study, and her influence might renew
itself in other ages after she was gone.
I have no more to say about myself or my people. We live in hope of the
glory of God.
Here I was going to write, THE END; but was arrested by the following
conversation between two of my children,--Ernest, eight, and Freddy, five
years of age.
Ernest.--I'd do it for mamma, of course.
Freddy.--Wouldn't you do it for Harry?
Ernest.--No: Harry's nobody.
Freddy.--Yes, he is somebody.
Ernest.--You're nobody; I'm nobody; we are all nobody, compared to mamma.
Freddy. (stolidly).--Yes, I am somebody.
Ernest.--You're nothing; I'm nothing; we are all nothing in mamma's
presence.
Freddy.--But, Ernest, every thing is something; so I must be
something.
Ernest.--Yes, Freddy, but you're no thing; so you're nothing. You're
nothing to mamma.
Freddy.--But I'm mamma's.
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