The doctor nodded. Aunt Hulda was right. The sudden shock, upon the long and weary straining for the ever-distant ship, had snapped the cords of action, and left her powerless.
CHAPTER VII.
MRS. THOMPSON DISOBEYS ORDERS.
“When that grim smith, Adversity, stalks unannounced and unwelcome into the abode, erects his forge, bares his strong arm, and sets himself to work among our affections, feeding his fire with earthly treasures, perhaps too fondly prized; or poisoning the air with unhealthy vapors, that blight with disease; or shaping upon his anvil the arrows of death, for instant use among the loved ones,—it is a hard task to meet him hospitably; to be patient under the agony of his blows; to realize, in his presence, that in his forge is the soul whitened and made pliable, that under the heavy hammer he relentlessly wields it is shaped to nearness of perfection.
“But when time has cooled the beaten soul, then it realizes how much stronger it has grown through that dread experience; how much better fitted it is to meet the ever-returning guest; then it recognizes in this hard-hitting smith, Adversity, an earnest worker for the universal good.”
Thus preached Parson Arnold, the salaried fountain from which the good people of Cleverly drew the living waters for their spiritual needs. His auditors were Captain Thompson and his good wife, to whom the parson had just communicated the misfortunes of the Sleeper family, on the day of their occurrence, he having picked up the intelligence at the blacksmith’s shop, while awaiting the setting of a tooth into an iron rake, upon which he was now leaning in the sitting-room at Captain Thompson’s. Perhaps the skill of the agricultural dentist had suggested the illustration with which he seasoned his short discourse upon the uses of adversity, for he was an earnest worker both in his Master’s vineyard and his own, and used both logical and local arguments to drive home to the hearts of his people the great truth which he honestly believed.
“Poor soul! struck down in an instant! what will become of the children?” said Mrs. Thompson.
“The town will have to take care of ’em. After this caper I’ve done with ’em. I wash my hands of all responsibility,” growled the captain. “That young tomboy of theirn has kicked about until she’s broke her mother’s heart; and I hope she’ll have to suffer for it.”