[CHAPTER VII]
THE RESCUED LIFE
“JOSEPH, you must not think of your brother Derrick’s life as spoiled; it was far from that. No outward trouble could spoil the life of such a man as he became. The work he accomplished out there among the miners is building a monument for him that will never crumble. He was a Christian who in a remarkable manner lived up to his beliefs.
“Sometime, when you feel like hearing them, I should like to read you extracts from some of his letters; they will tell you about his work better than I can. And then I have letters from a few of the men whom he helped, that I know you will like to read. They will bring the tears, but they will be tears of joy. Doesn’t it comfort you, Joseph, to find that, after all, it was of God? I mean that he overruled everything and made the dear boy’s short life a success in the truest sense?”
She knew that her brother was listening, although he said no word in response; something about him gave her the feeling that every nerve was strained to hear; she talked on.
“He wrote a great deal about your boy Derrick; the name pleased him very much; I don’t know how many times he referred to it. He said that, of course, the name was chosen for father’s sake, but he was in it, too; and he said he had decided to have that other Derrick live his life for him, the life that he had meant to live; and he believed he would manage it a great deal better than Derrick the second could have done it.”
A groan from the listener made her hasten to add:
“He didn’t say such things in a gloomy way at all; in fact, he didn’t seem ever to be gloomy. He was very happy over his daydreams. Once he asked me if I knew that Derrick third was going to be a grand, everyday Christian; he said the Commander had told him so. He had a way of speaking about the Lord Jesus that was different from any that I had ever heard. One of his choice names for him was ‘The Commander,’ and he always spoke exactly as though he were there beside him; in person, I mean. He used to begin in the middle of things. One Sunday evening he wrote like this: ‘We were out on the hills together all the morning, my Commander and I, and the visit we had refreshed my soul.’ You see he was, a great deal of the time, far away from church services of any kind except such as he conducted himself, and this particular Sabbath he afterward called his ‘ordination day.’ He said he was set apart that day by his Commander for a special work. It was on that Sabbath afternoon that he held his first service. This is the way he began telling about it: ‘“Let’s go back,” said the Commander, “and gather the boys and talk with them and sing with them and pray with them; of course they will let you; I’ll take care of that part; don’t you be afraid.” So we went back, and sure enough the boys were more than willing to listen. I told them about the Commander, and how I followed his lead, every time, and I read some words that he said to them out of “The Book.”’ He always spoke of the Bible as ‘The Book,’ beginning both words with capitals. Then he told about singing for them. Do you remember what a singer he was, Joseph, even when he was a little boy? He said the air out there among the mountains was grand to sing in. After a while they sang with him, and the joy that it gave him when they began to sing from the heart was wonderful to hear about. Oh, you must read some of his letters! I never had anything come into my life that I enjoyed so much; and it was more than enjoyment; they helped me to live; seems as though I could hardly have got through with some of the things I had to, without them.”
Her voice broke a little, and it was several minutes before she spoke again, this time in a changed tone:
“I believe I will tell you about the book he wrote; a whole volume in manuscript; nicely bound it is, too, and inscribed:”
“‘For Derrick Douglass Forman, With his Uncle Derrick’s love.’”