Chapter VI: Heroes in Books and in Real Life

"We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths;
In feelings, not in figures on a dial.
We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives
Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best."
BAILEY.

ONE thing that materially assisted Joseph in recovering from his annoyance was the perusal of Mr. Girling's book.

It had lain neglected for nearly a week, for the first dip into it had not proclaimed the contents to be of a very attractive nature, and he had other more amusing books on hand. When they were finished, however, he returned to it, and set to work patiently to read from the beginning. He had not proceeded far when he became deeply interested. It proved to be the life-story of a man who, by sheer force of will and superiority of intellect, raised himself from the ranks to be a light among his fellows; and who, amid all his labours,—for the needful gold as well as in pursuit of knowledge,—found leisure to go about "doing good," spreading among the poor and neglected the gospel of good news which had filled his own heart.

Joseph became intensely fascinated, all the more so from the fact that, like himself, the hero had been despised by those whom accident of birth and social position had placed above him. He eagerly devoured page after page, until at the end, he asked himself the question, "Why should not I, too, by my own exertions, raise myself to an equality with my cousins, or even outstrip them?" And a great ambition awoke within him to rise from his low estate, and, though "a carpenter's son," to ascend the hill of greatness.

But this was at bedtime, and the light of day shows up many a detail of which candle-light takes no note. With the morning, came two or three sober facts which made his "mountain" look more rugged and steep.

His work must be continued all the same. He must choose some particular branch of knowledge in which to excel; for to flounder about the entire field of learning would be, in colloquial phrase, to strive after becoming Jack-of-all-trades and master of none. The chief difficulty here was that Joseph felt no particular aptitude or inclination for any one subject. He was a sensible lad, capable of appropriating a fair amount of information, but, like many others, with no special genius for anything.

However, the book was finished, and must be returned. Accordingly, selecting Saturday evening, as Mr. Girling's most leisure time, he sallied forth with the volume under his arm, and made his way to the house where the schoolmaster lodged. He found him, as before, deep in his studies; but Mr. Girling looked up with a smile as he entered, and at once laying down his pen, gave him a hearty welcome.

"I hope I'm not disturbing you, sir," Joseph began; "but you made me promise—"

"To come as soon as the book was finished," rejoined Mr. Girling; "and you've kept your word. I'm glad to see you. Human beings are better than books, sometimes."

"I should think they are, sir," said Joseph. "You must get awfully fagged, night after night."

"And day after day. School is more tiring, by far, although I have human material to operate on there."

"That is your work, you see, sir," said Joseph. "I don't know that I get fagged over my carpentering, though. It may make my limbs ache, but a night's rest sets them to rights."

"Ah!" returned Mr. Girling, with a smile. "I am not at liberty to whistle over my work; and therein lies a difference. On the other hand, you have no particular reason for wanting to be at something else; and therein lies a second difference. When a man longs to be doing something more congenial to his taste, he feels tied down by his ordinary work. Still, 'being what I am, I am resolved to be it nobly,' as Joanna Baillie says, and to make the best of my spare time for my own ends."

"You remind me of the hero of that book, sir," said Joseph.

"Do I? He was a bit of a hero, wasn't he?"

"He was, sir."

"His was the first 'life' that stirred my ambition."

"Was it?" Joseph was surprised, and yet not altogether so.

It seemed scarcely possible that any one could read it without being moved to higher aspirations; yet he had never thought of Mr. Girling, the schoolmaster,—the man of grave demeanour and furrowed brow,—as having been influenced by the reading of a book. It brought him nearer to his own level.

"The thing is," he continued; "it doesn't seem possible for ordinary people to do as he did. He had a genius, and I have none. I'm fond of reading, and anxious to cultivate my mind—in short, to raise myself; but I've no special wish to study anything in particular."

Mr. Girling gazed at him for a few minutes with an expression of peculiar interest. He could plainly see, although the lad had not said it in so many words, that his ambition had been stirred.

"You are like a great many others," he said; "you have not yet found out which way your ambition is leading you. Don't let it give you the slip, and sooner or later it will mark out its own path. It is a sturdy plant if it grows in a healthy soil."

"It's dangerous, according to the copy-books," remarked Joseph.

"Because, like many a good quality, it has two possible scopes for its energies. Fire may destroy property, or drive the industry of a country; electricity may take life—with a wink of its eye, as it were—or burrow under the Atlantic with the news of a life spared. In the same manner, many of the noble qualities which make the world's heroes have their opposite development in its villains."

Joseph looked inquiringly.

"For instance," explained the schoolmaster, seeing that he did not quite understand the application of the examples, "the clear-sightedness and penetration which makes a good statesman, may assume the shape of cunning and sharp dealing. Zeal may take the form of bigotry, prudence that of cowardice, bravery of brutality; and the stronger a man's character, the further he will go in one direction or the other, for only the weak are content with a middle course. That is to say, that just as a stream which has force enough to do the miller good service, may wash away the foot-bridge, so a man who is capable by nature of doing the world good service, is by the same nature capable of being very base."

"But surely all qualities are not like that, sir," said Joseph reflectively. "Truth and integrity, for instance."

"Because they are the result of force of character, which has already found a channel to run in," replied Mr. Girling. "By the bye, what struck you as the noblest part of our hero?"

Joseph considered a moment.

"His courage and steadfastness," he answered.

"You mean," rejoined Mr. Girling, "the steadfastness which enabled him, in spite of all his poverty and fatigue, to go on slowly and surely toiling upwards. That was not what struck me most.

"It showed great perseverance and determination," continued Mr. Girling. "But something further is proved by the fact that in the midst of all his privations, when mind and body must often have been well-nigh worn out, he could still find leisure to gather poor children round him on the Sabbath, or to carry consolation to the sick and hopeless. He must have had that Spirit in his heart who is the best director of all our energies, and never distorts or misapplies our noble qualities. Strength of will, ambition, perseverance, and learning are all good, but the grace of God is better, because it is the mainspring and guide of all true knowledge."

Joseph had not thought much about this aspect of the question. But as Mr. Girling spoke, another point of resemblance between him and the hero occurred to his mind. He recollected now having heard Ruth speak of him as one of the teachers at the Sunday-school. He had never referred that fact to the grace of God in his heart before, simply because Sunday-school teachers had always appeared to him in the light of so many mere machines, and he had never troubled himself to inquire what motive power had set them at work. He now began to reflect, for the first time in his life, that voluntary self-sacrifice such as that entailed by their labours must be prompted by some very powerful incentive. "The grace of God," Mr. Girling called it; what that meant, he only knew at present in a vague theoretical way.

Little more was said on the subject just then, and Mr. Girling went on to talk of other things connected with the place of his birth, which was among the mining districts of Wales, and concerning which he could give many interesting details. From this they passed to other topics, and finally, on learning that Joseph had a liking for history, Mr. Girling lent him a book containing an account of the struggles for religious freedom among the Dutch.

Shortly after this, Joseph left.