CHAPTER NINE.
COME TO THE PREACHING.
"Dorothy Denny, art thou never going to set that kettle on?"
"Oh, deary me! a body never has a bit of peace!"
"That's true enough of me, but it's right false of thee. Thou's noughtbut peace all day long, for thou never puts thyself out. I dare bebounden, if the Queen's Grace and all her noble company were to sup inthis kitchen at five o' the clock, I should come in and find never akettle nor a pan on at the three-quarter past. If thy uncle wasn't asloth, and thine aunt a snail, I'm not hostess of the King's Head atColchester, thou'rt no more worth thy salt--nay, salt, forsooth! thou'rtnot worth the water. Salt's one and fourpence the raser, and that's adeal too much to give for thee. Now set me the kettle on, and then teemout that rubbish in the yard, and run to the nests to see if the henshave laid: don't be all day and night about it! Run, Doll!--Eh dearyme! I might as well have said, Crawl. There she goes with the lead onher heels! If these maids ben't enough to drive an honest woman crazy,my name's not Philippa Wade."
And Mistress Wade began to put things tidy in the kitchen with apromptitude and celerity which Dorothy Denny certainly did not seemlikely to imitate. She swept up the hearth, set a chair before thetable, fresh sanded the floor and arranged the forms in rows, beforeDorothy reappeared, carefully carrying something in her apron.
"Why, thou doesn't mean to say thou'st done already?" inquired hermistress sarcastically. "Thou'st been all across the yard while I'vedone no more than sand the floor and side things for the gathering.What's that in thine apron? one of the Queen's Majesty's jewels?"
"It's an _egg_, Mistress."
"An egg! an _egg_?" demanded Mrs Wade, with a burst of hearty laughter;for she laughed, as she did everything else, with all her might. "Isthat all thou'st got by thy journey? Marry, but I would have tarriedanother day, and fetched two! Poor Father Pulleyne! so he's but to haveone _egg_ to his supper? If them hens have laid no more, I'm aDutchwoman! See thou, take this duster, and dust the table and forms,and I'll go and search for eggs. If ever a mortal woman--"
Mistress Wade was in the yard before she got further, and Dorothy wasleft to imagine the end of the sentence. Before that leisurely youngwoman had finished dusting the first form, the landlady reappeared withan apronful of eggs.
"I marvel whither thou wentest for thy _egg_, Doll. Here be eighteenthou leftest for me to gather. It's no good to bid thee be 'shamed, forthou dost not know how, I should in thy place, I'll warrant thee.Verily, I do marvel whatever the world's a-coming to!"
Before Mrs Wade had done more than empty her apron carefully of theeggs, a soft rap came on the door; and she called out,--
"Come within!"
"Please, I can't reach," said a little voice.
"Open the door, Doll," said Mrs Wade; and in came three children--agirl of nine, a boy of six, and a baby in the arms of the former.
"Well, what are you after? Come for skim milk! I've none this even."
"No, please. Please, we're come to the preaching."
"_You're_ come to the preaching? Why, you're only as big as mice, thelot of you. Whence come you?"
"Please, we've come from Thorpe."
"You've come from Thorpe! you poor little bits of things! All thatway!" cried Mrs Wade, whose heart was as large as her tongue was ready."Why, I do believe you're Cicely Johnson. You are so grown I didn'tknow you at first--and yet you're no bigger than a mouse, as I told you.Have you had any supper?"
"No, Mistress. Please, we don't have supper, only now and then. Weshall do very well, indeed, if we may stay for the preaching."
"You'll sit down there, and eat some bread and milk, before you're anhour older. Poor little white-faced mortals as ever I did see! Butyou've never carried that child all the way from Thorpe?--Doll didstever see such children?"
"They're proper peaked, Mistress," said Dorothy. [See note 1.]
"Oh no!" answered the truth-loving Cissy. "I only carried her from theGate. Neighbour Ursula, she bare her all the way."
"Thou'rt an honest lass," said Mrs Wade, patting Cissy on the head."There, eat that."
And she put a large slice of bread into the hand of both Will and Cissy,setting a goodly bowl of milk on the table between them.
"That's good!" commented Will, attacking the milk-bowl immediately.
Cissy held him back, and looked up into Mrs Wade's kindly and capaciousface.
"But please we haven't got any money," she said anxiously.
"Marry come up! to think I'd take money from such bits of things as you!I want no money, child. The good Lord, He pays such bills as yours.And what set you coming to the preaching? Did your father bid you?"[See Note 2.]
"Father likes us to come," said Cissy, when her thanks had been properlyexpressed; "but he didn't bid us--not to-night. Mother, she said wemust always come if we could. I'm feared Baby won't understand much:but Will and me, we'll try."
"I should think not!" replied Mrs Wade, laughing. "Why, if you andWill can understand aught that'll be as much as need be looked for. Howmuch know you about it?"
"Please, we know about the Lord Jesus," said Cissy, putting her handstogether, as if she were going to say her prayers. "We know that Hedied on the cross for us, so that we should not be punished for oursins, and He sends the Holy Ghost to make us good, and the Bible, whichis God's Word, and we mustn't let anybody take it away from us."
"Well, if you know that much in your little hearts, you'll do," said thelandlady. "There's many a poor heathen doesn't know half as much asthat. Ay, child, you shall 'bide for the preaching if you want, butyou're too soon yet. You've come afore the parson. Eat your bread andmilk up, and 'bide where you are; that's a snug little corner for you,where you'll be warm and safe. Is Father coming too, and NeighbourUrsula?"
"Yes, they're both coming presently," said Cissy.
The next arrival was that of two gentlemen, the preacher and a friend.After this people began to drop in, at first by twos and threes, and asthe time drew near, with more rapidity. The Mounts and Rose Allen cameearly; Elizabeth Foulkes was late, for she had hard work to get away atall. Last of anybody was Margaret Thurston and with her a tall,strong-looking man, who was John Thurston, her husband. John Johnsonfound out the corner where his children were, and made his way to them;but Rose Allen had been before him, and was seated next to Cissy,holding the little hand in hers. On the other side of little Will satan old lady with grey hair, and a very sweet, kind face. She was MrsSilverside, the widow of a priest. By her was Mrs Ewring the miller'swife, who was a little deaf, and wanted to get near the preacher.
When the room was full, Mr Pulleyne, who was to preach that evening,rose and came forward to the table, and gave out the Forty-Second Psalm.
They had no hymn-books, as we have. There were just a few hymns,generally bound up at the end of the Prayer-Book, which had been writtenduring the reign of good King Edward the Sixth; but hardly any Englishhymns existed at all then. They had one collection of metrical Psalms--that of Sternhold and Hopkins, of which we never sing any now except theHundredth--that version known to every one, beginning--
"All people that on earth do dwell."
The Psalms they sang then sound strange to us now but we must rememberthey did not sound at all strange to those who sang them. Here are twoverses of the Forty-Second.
"Like as the hart doth pant and bray, The well-springs to obtain, So doth my soul desire alway With Thee, Lord, to remain. My soul doth thirst, and would draw near The living God of might; Oh, when shall I come and appear In presence of His sight!
"The tears all times are my repast, Which from mine eyes do slide; Whilst wicked men cry out so fast, `Where now is God thy Guide?' Alas! what grief is it to think The freedom once I had! Therefore my soul, as at pit's brink, Most heavy is and sad."
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Note 1. Peaked: Very thin and pin
ched-looking.
Note 2. Come up. An exclamation of surprise, then often used.