Chapter XII: Brighter Days

FOR more than six weeks old Jasper had been lying at rest up on a sunny slope in the Helmstone Cemetery; and in the meantime his shed was pulled down, and men busily at work were digging out the foundations for a new and improved block of buildings, to stretch right away from Preece's Place to the adjoining street beyond. Forbes, acting on the instructions given him by Jasper, had arranged everything; and after paying two or three little debts and all funeral expenses, found a nice balance of nearly £30 in hand for the boys. Consulting with Mr. Armstrong, he decided to put it by for the present in the Post Office Savings Bank, after buying a little clothing for the lads—an absolute necessity, for Rob's feet were almost through to the ground, and his trousers persistently refused to hang together any longer.

Of course any pressing needs must be met, for such surely would have been Jasper's wish; but it would be nice to have a little money in hand, to give the lads a start one day. Though indeed Phil seemed to have made his start at Mr. Cross's, and was already raised a shilling per week. Mrs. Mellor, too, had obtained two or three days' regular work every week, so that altogether their prospect was brightening.

Time, the great healer, had already done wonders in soothing the sorrow caused by Jasper's death, and Rob would stand watching with keen interest all that was going on in the new building, forgetting for the time the happy memories of the past associated with the spot. But when he went to the cemetery, the old grief would wake up again; and many a time had he been found lying on Jasper's grave, and sobbing as though his little heart would break. But this was only sometimes; and when at day or Sunday School he was the same bright, happy lad as before.

To him and Phil had come one great joy. Ever since Jasper's death their mother had gone with them every Sunday evening to their much-loved Mission Hall; she was getting quite known there now, and some of the folk had been to see her.

But one day who should come but Mr. Armstrong himself! Neither Phil nor Rob was at home—much to their grief, when they heard he had been; but it was Mrs. Mellor he wanted, and after a few words of kindly inquiry he made known the purport of his visit.

"Mrs. Forbes is finding the work up at the Hall too much," he said. "It's a large place altogether to keep clean, and it is so much used that it needs constant scrubbing; so I came to see if you could give her regular help, I mean in the way of the cleaning. Of course you wouldn't be wanted every day; but I daresay altogether it might come to nearly three days a week. At all events, I can offer you seven shillings a week to do what is required in the time that will suit you best."

Mrs. Mellor was delighted. "It's the very thing I want," she said; "and I'll be only too thankful to do it; and then I think, perhaps, I might move into a better place than this, and get things a little bit more comfortable round me for my boys; for I was never used to being like this."

"I thought as much," said Mr. Armstrong; and then gently and kindly he drew from her the story of her life, and the burden of its sin, that now lay so heavily upon her. "It is a burden," he said, when she had finished; "but one that you needn't bear another moment, for Jesus offers to take it from you now."

"That's what Phil says," she replied; "but I don't seem to see how."

"Look here, my friend," and taking from his pocket a Bible, Mr. Armstrong opened it at Isaiah liii. 6, and read, "'All we like sheep have gone astray.' Is that true of you?"

"Yes, indeed, sir."

"'We have turned every one to his own way;' and is that true too?"

"Ah, that it is, and no mistake."

"Very well, then you admit so far that God's Word is true. You don't doubt it?"

"No, sir; it's perfectly true."

"Now then, listen to the end of the same verse: 'and the Lord hath laid on Him (Jesus) the iniquity of us all.' Now is that true also, or must we cut the verse in two, and take only the first part of it for ourselves?"

The woman paused.

"God laid upon Jesus the burden of your sin—its guilt, its punishment—and Jesus accepted it, and undertook to be responsible for it all; so can't you trust it to Him? For, you see, a burden can't be in two places at once, and if God has put it upon Jesus, He has taken it away from you, and now, at this moment, He tells you that by His blood He has paid the debt of your sin, and lifted from you its burden. Will you believe Him or not? See for yourself what He says;" and putting his finger on the verse, he pointed her to it.

For a moment she sat, as if hardly able to take it in, and then lifting her eyes, which were filled with tears, to Mr. Armstrong, she said tremblingly, "Yes, sir, if any of it is true, it is all true. I see it now. I am still a sinner, but Jesus has had to suffer for it instead of me!"

And so a twofold joy came into the dreary attic that day, and the burden of sin and the burden of poverty were alike lifted from Mrs. Mellor's life.

A few days more, and she with the boys had moved into small but clean rooms, not far from the Mission Hall. Friends had provided some additional furniture, and so amid brighter surroundings the winter passed away, and spring filled the earth with gladness—a gladness that found its way into the Mellors' home, and stayed there too. For it was God Himself who put the gladness into their hearts—a joy that no man could take from them—even His own presence and peace.

And so the years rolled on, and Phil's dream of being Mr. Cross's shopman was realized. Step by step he rose, until by-and-by he stood second only to the "master" himself; and folk did say that as Mr. Cross had no son, there was no knowing but what Phil might have the business one day.

Rob, whilst at school, showed such an ability for learning that his master wanted him to go in for teaching and be his pupil teacher. And it was then old Jasper's money came so handy to pay for books and fees; and when the years of training and study were over, Rob obtained an excellent appointment at a school only a few miles from Helmstone, so that he could come over for his Sundays in the comfortable home which he and Phil together kept for their mother; and could still attend the much-loved Mission Hall, where he and his brother were teachers now, instead of scholars, trying to tell others that old, old story which had been such a power in their own lives.

Jasper's memory was still sweet and sacred to both, and his grave (marked now by a tombstone which they had erected) often attracted their steps thither; for now in happy prosperity they could never forget the days of their childhood, when, amid so much that was hard and dreary, they always found the sunshine of love and sympathy in Jasper's old shed.

THE END.

Butler & Tanner, The Selwood Printing Works, Frome, and London.