Maggie did not trouble herself to wait for any comment from Adam, but bustled off to begin her preparations for the "tubbing process," which would take some time. Her husband's thoughts were, however, busy enough, though they did not find vent in words.
Adam had often heard his wife rail against Sarah Jackson, who was to be found, as a rule, anywhere but by her own fireside. He had heard her speak of other women too, who went from meeting to meeting, "for the sake of what they could get." Maggie believed they had no better motive than to meet with neighbours in the class-rooms, to pass an idle hour or two, to gossip on the road, to be brought into company with ladies, and be made pets of by them. There were many attractions in connection with such gatherings, and Mrs. Livesey's firm conviction was, that some of her neighbours put up with the Bible readings and lecturings, because of sundry substantial helps, and the annual trips and tea-meetings.
No doubt she was right in her judgment in a few cases. She saw some who never seemed to be the better for what they were taught, and who made attendance at various religious ordinances an excuse for the neglect of their homes and families. Her standing sample of the class was her near neighbour, Sarah Jackson, and she regarded her with unmeasured contempt.
"If that woman was worth her salt, she'd have her house like a little palace, and save a fortune out of what he gives her! It's a wonder the man's alive, the way he has to scramble for his meals," Maggie would say, as she looked with pardonable pride on her own surroundings.
These sayings were, however, all reserved for Adam's ear, not proclaimed from the threshold or to her neighbours.
"They can see for themselves, without me telling them. Besides, there's George to think about. He has enough on his mind without any dinning from outside."
It was Maggie's misfortune that she should have been brought into contact with a sham Christian instead of a real one, an idle, who had learned the letter of the gospel message, but whose heart and life had not been reached by it. Maggie knew, for others had told her, that Sarah Jackson had been heard to express regrets at Mrs. Livesey's darkness and hardness of heart. As in duty bound, she had invited her to many "means of grace," and offered to be her companion, but always in vain.
No wonder Maggie regarded Mrs. Jackson's invitations as uncalled-for meddling, and an insult to her own common sense. At each renewal she would say to Adam, "That hypocrite's been at me again, but I think I've settled her for a bit. I was cleaning my windows when she began at me, and I looked straight at hers, that you can't see through for dirt, and said I didn't know how she found time. I had to be on the go all the while, to keep straight. I shouldn't like my windows to be made up so that if I wanted to see who was passing, I must come outside. Then I came in and shut the door."
In spite, however, of all this talk on Maggie's part, and the fact that Mrs. Jackson's example had done both husband and wife harm, Adam was not satisfied that it was fair to judge by one only.
Every person, whether man or woman, who talks glibly about religion, the soul's need, and the Saviour's all-sufficiency, without showing a life influenced and purified by the spiritual experience spoken of, must cause the enemies of the gospel to triumph, and the doubter or indifferent to remain so. But, while Adam listened to Maggie, it was only in a half-hearted way.