Mr. Hayden had frequently come home with neuralgia in his face, but after one or two attacks the unwelcome intruder vanished. The family medicine case, which had recently been replenished for the winter, was left to its own devices, and dust gathered on the necks and shoulders of the cough remedies, paregoric and hive syrup bottles, until they would have looked quite pitiful in their desertion, if anybody had seen them. Jamie's one attack of croup yielded more readily to his mother's silent treatments than it ever had to hive syrup, and it was with a deep thankfulness, not unmixed with awe, that Mr. and Mrs. Hayden felt their little one at last free from his old, dreaded enemy. Never before had the children been so free from colds or ailments common to childhood, as this winter. Never before had there been such a seemingly reckless carelessness in wrapping them up, keeping them out of the draughts, or letting them eat just what was on the table.
"Why, it is like living in another world altogether," said Mr. Hayden, enthusiastically to one of the neighbors. "The children are so much happier, quieter, more peaceable. I tell you, it is like getting free from prison to come into this way of living, and my wife is getting stronger all the time. Of course you want it," he continued. "Come over some time, and we'll tell you more about it." Saying good night he walked away, leaving his friend to wonder if the entire family had not turned lunatics.
Enwrapped in the seamless robe of Truth, the sharp winds of worldly criticism seldom reach us, because we are no longer susceptible to their sharpness. A gentle mildness beams from every face, for beyond the veil of outward appearances we learn to discern the pure, perfect holiness of God's child—the divinity behind the bars. Not, however, till we know how to put on this wondrous robe are we invulnerable.
Although Mrs. Hayden had learned much and lived much in these last few months, there came a time, as the summer drew near, when it seemed that everything was slipping away from her. Not her health, except that her old headache occasionally threatened her, but things did not seem as clear to her. Many problems were only in a partial state of solution, and a vague dissatisfaction, a helpless discouragement took possession of her at times, very hard to bear, especially when contrasted with the light she felt had so long guided her. Of late even her treatments seemed almost fruitless. Her old-time impatience had manifested itself on several occasions, and one warm June morning she went about her work in a decidedly old-fashioned mood.
It was Monday, and in addition to the washing to be seen to, the little extra help to be rendered the girl, her husband had sent her a large case of strawberries to be put up, manlike, forgetting that this day at least was full. She was hastening to get them ready before the dinner hour, and the "picking up" of the sitting-room, so essential Monday mornings, had been left till a more convenient season.
Mabel had gone to school, while Jamie and Fred were playing in the sand in the back yard.
With her hands in the berries, and her thoughts busily engaged, she was suddenly roused from her reverie by the noisy entrance of Fred, who just came in for a drink of water. As he turned to go out, he threw his arms around his mother's neck and gave her a boy's impetuous hug, and a kiss that ought to have rejoiced any mother's heart, but this morning it annoyed her. "Run away, now; mamma hasn't time this morning," and she pushed him impatiently away. Just then the door bell rang, and Fred sprang to answer it. In another moment he ushered into her presence a shabbily dressed, poor, miserable looking woman, who immediately asked for a drink of water. "I can get it," said the ready Fred. While he was gone, the woman began her request:
"Plaze, Ma'am, would you be wantin' some garters to-day? They are warranted by the very man as made 'em. My boy is layin' sick, and his father is dead, and all my health has been took away carin' for him, and a friend of mine, she has been in this business a long time, and says it's very good some days, and she let me take her place to-day, so if you could take a pair or two to-day it would be very thankful I'd be, and I'm sure this boy would need a pair; they are only 25 cents, and will just fit; ain't they nice, my boy?" She poured her story out, as though there were no end to it, as she held up some brilliant red and blue elastics that quite dazzled Fred, who claimed them at once.
"I have not time to examine and choose this morning, and Fred, you do not need them now," said Mrs. Hayden, with some annoyance in her tone.
"Now, mamma, you didn't see my old ones, they ain't red and blue, nor stretchy, an' my stockin's come down all the time. See how wrinkly they are," and he held up a dusty little shoe with a sadly demoralized stocking above it, rich in holes as well as wrinkles. The stocking had been torn on a nail, he volubly explained. In his excitement Fred raised his voice, thus summoning Jamie to the scene with a rush that upset the dish of berries just picked over.