CHAPTER XVI.
AN ORDEAL.
THAT was the way it came about that little Sate not only, but Susie andNettie, went to the flower party.
They had not expected to do any such thing. The little girls, who werenot used to going any where, had paid no attention to the announcementson Sunday, and Nettie had heard as one with whom such things hadnothing in common. Her treatment in the Sabbath-school was not such asto make her long for the companionship of the girls of her age, and bythis time she knew that her dress at the flower party would be sureto command more attention than was pleasant; so she had planned as amatter of course to stay away.
But the little old ladies in their caps and spectacles springinginto active life, put a new face on the matter. Certainly no moreastonished young person can be imagined than Nettie Decker was, themorning Miss Sherrill called on her, the one daisy she had begged stillcarefully preserved, and proposed her plan of partnership in the flowerparty.
"It will add ever so much to the fun," she explained, "besides bringingyou a nice little sum for your spending money."
Did Miss Sherrill have any idea how far that argument would reach justnow, Nettie wondered.
"We can dress the little girls in daisies," continued their teacher."Little Sate will look like a flower herself, with daisies wreathedabout her dress and hair."
"Little Sate will be afraid, I think," Nettie objected. "She is verytimid, and not used to seeing many people."
"But with Susie she will not mind, will she? Susie has assurance enoughto take her through anything. Oh, I wonder if little Sate would notrecite a verse about the daisy grandmothers? I have such a cunning onefor her. May I teach her, Mrs. Decker, and see if I can get her tolearn it?"
Mrs. Decker's consent was very easy to gain; indeed it had been freelygiven in Mrs. Decker's heart before it was asked. For Miss Sherrillhad not been in the room five minutes before she had said: "Your son,Norman, I believe his name is, has promised to help my brother withthe church flowers this evening. My brother says he is an excellenthelper; his eye is so true; they had quite a laugh together, last week.It seems one of the wreaths was not hung plumb; your son and my brotherhad an argument about it, and it was finally left as my brother hadplaced it, but was out of line several inches. He was obliged to admitthat if he had followed Norman's direction it would have looked muchbetter." After that, it would have been hard for Miss Sherrill to haveasked a favor which Mrs. Decker would not grant if she could. _She_ sawthrough it all; these people were in league with Nettie, to try to saveher boy. What wasn't she ready to do at their bidding!
There was but one thing about which she was positive. The little girlscould not go without Nettie; they talked it over in the evening, afterMiss Sherrill was gone. Nettie looked distressed. She liked to pleaseMiss Sherrill; she was willing to make many grandmothers; she wouldhelp to put the little girls in as dainty attire as possible, but shedid _not_ want to go to the flower festival. She planned various ways;Jerry would take them down, or Norm; perhaps even _he_ would go withthem; surely mother would be willing to have them go with Norm. MissSherrill would look after them carefully, and they would come home ateight o'clock; before they began to grow very sleepy.
But no, Mrs. Decker was resolved; she could not let them go unlessNettie would go with them and bring them home. "I let one child run thestreets," she said with a heavy sigh, "and I have lived to most wish hehad died when he was a baby, before I did it; and I said then I wouldnever let another one go out of my sight as long as I had control; Ican't go; but I would just as soon they would be with you as with me;and unless you go, they can't stir a step, and that's the whole of it."Mrs. Decker was a very determined woman when she set out to be; andNettie looked the picture of dismay. It did not seem possible to her togo to a flower party; and on the other hand it seemed really dreadfulto thwart Miss Sherrill. Jerry sat listening, saying little, but theword he put in now and then, was on Mrs. Decker's side; he owned tohimself that he never so entirely approved of her as at that moment. Hewanted Nettie to go to the flower party.
"But I have nothing to wear?" said Nettie, blushing, and almost weeping.
"Nothing to wear!" repeated Mrs. Decker in honest astonishment. "Why,what do you wear on Sundays, I should like to know? I'm sure youlook as neat and nice as any girl I ever saw, in your gingham. I waswatching you last Sunday and thinking how pretty it was."
"Yes; but, mother, they all wear white at such places; and I cut up mywhite dress, you know, for the little girls; it was rather short for meanyway; but I should feel queer in any other color."
"O, well," said Mrs. Decker in some irritation, "if they go to suchplaces to show their clothes, why, I suppose you must stay at home, ifyou have none that you want to show. I thought, being it was a church,it didn't matter, so you were neat and clean; but churches are likeeverything else, it seems, places for show."
Jerry looked grave disapproval at Nettie, but she felt injured andcould have cried. Was it fair to accuse her of going to church to showher clothes, or of being over-particular, when she went every Sunday ina blue and white gingham such as no other girl in her class would weareven to school? This was not church, it was a party. It was hard thatshe must be blamed for pride, when she was only too glad to stay athome from it.
"I can't go in my blue dress, and that is the whole of it," she said atlast, a good deal of decision in her voice.
"Very well," said Mrs Decker. "Then we'll say no more about it; as forthe little girls going without you, they sha'n't do it. When I set myfoot down, it's _down_."
Jerry instinctively looked down at her foot as she spoke. It wasa good-sized one, and looked as though it could set firmly on anyquestion on which it was put. His heart began to fail him; the flowerparty and certain things which he hoped to accomplish thereby, werefading. He took refuge with Mrs. Smith to hide his disappointment, andalso to learn wisdom about this matter of dress.
"Do clothes make such a very great difference to girls?" was his firstquestion.
"Difference?" said Mrs. Smith rubbing a little more flour on her hands,and plunging them again into the sticky mass she was kneading.
"Yes'm. They seem to think of clothes the first thing, when there isany place to go to; boys aren't that way. I don't believe a boy knowswhether his coat ought to be brown or green. What makes the difference?"
Mrs. Smith laughed a little. "Well," she said reflectively, "there is adifference, now that's a fact. I noticed it time and again when I wasliving with Mrs. Jennison. Dick would go off with whatever he happenedto have on; and Florence was always in a flutter as to whether shelooked as well as the rest. I've heard folks say that it is the faultof the mothers, because they make such a fuss over the girls' clothes,and keep rigging them up in something bright, just to make 'em lookpretty, till they succeed in making them think there isn't anythingquite so important in life as what they wear on their backs. It's allwrong, I believe. But then, Nettie ain't one of that kind. She hasn'thad any mother to perk her up and make her vain. I shouldn't think shewould be one to care about clothes much."
"She doesn't," said Jerry firmly. "I don't think she would care ifother folks didn't. The girls in her class act hatefully to her; theydon't speak, if they can help it. I suppose it's clothes; I don't knowwhat else; they are always rigged out like hollyhocks or tulips; theymake fun of her, I guess; and that isn't very pleasant."
"Is that the reason she won't go to the flower show next week?"
"Yes'm, that's the reason. All the girls are going to dress in white;I suppose she thinks she will look queerly, and be talked about. ButI don't understand it. Seems to me if all the boys were going to wearblue coats, and I knew it, I'd just as soon wear my gray one if graywas respectable."
"She ought to have a white dress, now that's a fact," said Mrs. Smithwith energy, patting her brown loaf, and tucking it down into the tinin a skilful way. "It isn't much for a girl like her to want; if herfather was the kind of man he ought to be, she might have a white dressfor
best, as well as not; I've no patience with him."
"Her father hasn't drank a drop this week," said Jerry.
"Hasn't; well, I'm glad of it; but I'm thinking of what he has done,and what he will go and do, as likely as not, next week; they might beas forehanded as any folks I know of, if he was what he ought to be;there isn't a better workman in the town. Well, you don't care muchabout the flower party, I suppose?"
"I don't now," said Jerry, wearily. "When I thought the little girlswere going, I had a plan. Sate is such a little thing, she would besure to be half-asleep by eight o'clock; and I was going to coax Normto come for her, and we carry her home between us. Norm won't go to aflower party, out and out; but he is good-natured, and was beginningto think a great deal of Sate; then I thought Mr. Sherrill would speakto him. The more we can get Norm to feeling he belongs in such places,the less he will feel like belonging to the corner groceries, and thestreets."
"I see," said Mrs. Smith admiringly. "Well, I do say I didn't thinkNettie was the kind of girl to put a white dress between her chances ofhelping folks. Sarah Ann thinks she's a real true Christian; but Satandoes seem to be into the clothes business from beginning to end."
"I don't suppose it is any easier for a Christian to be laughed at andslighted, than it is for other people," said Jerry, inclined to resentthe idea that Nettie was not showing the right spirit; although in hisheart he was disappointed in her for caring so much about the color ofher dress.
"Well, I don't know about that," said Mrs. Smith, stopping in the actof tucking her bread under the blankets, to look full at Jerry, "why,they even made fun of the Lord Jesus Christ; dressed him up in purple,like a king, and mocked at him! When it comes to remembering that, itwould seem as if any common Christian might be almost glad of a chanceto be made fun of, just to stand in the same lot with him."
This was a new thought to Jerry. He studied it for awhile in silence.Now it so happened that neither Mrs. Smith nor Jerry remembered certainfacts; one was that Mrs. Smith's kitchen window was in a line withMrs. Decker's bedroom window, where Nettie had gone to sit while shemended Norm's shirt; the other was that a gentle breeze was blowing,which brought their words distinctly to Nettie's ears. At first she hadnot noticed the talk, busy with her own thoughts, then she heard hername, and paused needle in hand, to wonder what was being said abouther. Then, coming to her senses, she determined to leave the room; buther mother, for convenience, had pushed her ironing table against thebedroom door, and then had gone to the yard in search of chips; Nettiewas a prisoner; she tried to push the table by pushing against thedoor, but the floor was uneven, and the table would not move; meantimethe conversation going on across the alleyway, came distinctly to her.No use to cough, they were too much interested to hear her. By and byshe grew so interested as to forget that the words were not intendedfor her to hear. There were more questions involved in this matter ofdress than she had thought about. Her cheeks began to burn a littlewith the thought that her neighbor had been planning help for Norm,which she was blocking because she had no white dress! This was anastonishment! She had not known she was proud. In fact, she had thoughtherself very humble, and worthy of commendation because she wentSabbath after Sabbath to the school in the same blue and white dress,not so fresh now by a great deal as when she first came home.
When Mrs. Smith reached the sentence which told of the Lord Jesus beingrobed in purple, and crowned with thorns, and mocked, two great tearsfell on Norm's shirt sleeve.
It was a very gentle little girl who moved about the kitchen gettingearly tea; Mrs. Decker glanced at her from time to time in a bewilderedway. The sort of girl with whom she was best acquainted would haveslammed things about a little; both because she had not clothes to wearlike other children, and because she had been blamed for not wanting todo what was expected of her. But Nettie's face had no trace of anger,her movements were gentleness itself; her voice when she spoke was lowand sweet: "Mother, I will take the little girls, if you will let themgo."
Mrs. Decker drew a relieved sigh. "I'd like them to go because _she_asked to have them; and I can see plain enough she is trying to gethold of Norm; so is _he_; that's what helping with the flowers means;and there ain't anything I ain't willing to do to help, only I couldn'tlet the little girls go without you; they'd be scared to death, and itwouldn't look right. I'm sorry enough you ain't got suitable clothes;if I could help it, you should have as good as the best of them."
"Never mind," said Nettie, "I don't think I care anything about thedress now." She was thinking of that crown of thorns. So when MissSherrill called the way was plain and little Sate ready to be taughtanything she would teach her.
They went away down to the pond under the clump of trees which formedsuch a pretty shade; and there Sate's slow sweet voice said overthe lines as they were told to her, putting in many questions whichthe words suggested. "He makes the flowers blow," she repeated withthoughtful face, then: "What did He make them for?"
"I think it was because He loved them; and He likes to give you and mesweet and pleasant things to look at."
"Does He love flowers?"
"I think so, darling."
"And birds? See the birds!" For at that moment two beauties standing onthe edge of their nest, looked down into the clear water, and seeingthemselves reflected in its smoothness began to talk in low sweetchirps to their shadows.
"Oh, yes, He loves the birds, I am sure; think how many different kindsHe has made, and how beautiful they are. Then He has given them sweetvoices, and they are thanking Him as well as they know how, for all hisgoodness. Listen."
Sure enough, one of the little birds hopped back a trifle, balancedhimself well on the nest, and, putting up his little throat, trilled alovely song.
"What does he say?" asked Sate, watching him intently.
"Oh, I don't know," said Miss Sherrill, with a little laugh. Sate wastaxing her powers rather too much. "But God understands, you know; andI am sure the words are very sweet to him."
Sate reflected over this for a minute, then went back to the flowers.
"What made Him put the colors on them? Does He like to see prettycolors, do you sink? Which color does He like just the very bestest ofall?"
"O you darling! I don't know that, either. Perhaps, crimson; or, no,I think He must like pure white ones a little the best. But He likeslittle human flowers the best of all. Little white flowers with souls.Do you know what I mean, darling? White hearts are given to the littlechildren who try all the time to do right, because they love Jesus, andwant to please him."
"Sate wants to," said the little girl earnestly. "Sate loves Jesus;and she would like to kiss him."
"I do not know but you shall, some day. Now shall we take another lineof the hymn?" continued her teacher.
"I tried to teach her," explained Miss Sherrill to her brother. "ButI think, after all, she taught me the most. She is the dearest littlething, and asks the strangest questions! When I look at her grave,sweet face, and hear her slow, sweet voice making wise answers, andasking wise questions, a sort of baby wisdom, you know, I can onlyrepeat over and over the words:
"'Of such is the kingdom of heaven.'
"To-day I told her the story of Jesus taking the little children up inhis arms and blessing them. She listened with that thoughtful look inher eyes which is so wonderful, then suddenly she held up her prettyarms and said in the most coaxing tones:
"'Take little Sate to Him, and let Him bless her, yight away.'
"Tremaine, I could hardly keep back the tears. Do you think He can begoing to call her soon?"
"Not necessarily at all. There is no reason why a little child shouldnot live very close to Him on earth. I hope that little girl has agreat work to do for Christ in this world. She has a very sweet face."