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“Now, you see what you let me in for, Cloudy, when you made me go to that little old dull Christian Endeavor! But I won’t do it! That’s all there is to it. You needn’t think I’m going to. The idea! Why, what did we come here to college for? To run an asylum for sick Sunday schools, I’d like to know? As if I had time to monkey with their little old society! It’s rank nonsense, anyhow! What good do they think they can do, a couple of sissies, and two or three kid vamps, setting up to lisp religion? It’s ridiculous!”
He was working himself up into a fine frenzy. Julia Cloud stood and watched him, an amused smile growing on her sweet lips. He caught the amusement, and fired up at it.
“What are you looking like that at me for, Cloudy? You know it is. You know it’s all foolishness. And you know I couldn’t help them, anyhow. Come, now, don’t you?Whatare you looking like that for, Cloudy? I believe you’re laughing at me! You think I’ll go and get into this thing, but I’ll show you. Iwon’t! And that’s an end of it. Cloudy, I insist on knowing what you find to laugh at in this situation.”
“Why, I was just thinking how much you reminded me of Moses,” said Julia Cloud sweetly.
“OfMoses!” screamed Allison half angrily. “Why, he was a meek man, and I’m not meek. I’m mad! Out and outmad, Cloudy. What do you mean?”
“Oh, no, he wasn’t always meek,” said his aunt thoughtfully; “and he talked just as you are doing when God called on him first to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt. He said he couldn’t and he wouldn’t and he shouldn’t, and made every excuse in the calendar; and finally God had to send along Aaron189to help him, although God had saidHewould be with him and make him perfectly able alone to do what He wanted done.”
“I suppose I’m Aaron,” sighed Leslie, settling into a big chair by the fire. “But I don’t like those girls one bit! And I don’t care if they stay in seven Egypts.”
“Now, look here, Cloudy Jewel,” pleaded Allison. “You’re not going to get me into any such corner as that. The idea that God would call me to do any of His work when I never had anything at all to do with the church in my life, and I don’t want to. How should I know what to do? Why should He ever call me, I’d like to know, when I don’t know the first thing about churches? You’re all off, Cloudy. Think again. Why, I’m not even what you’d call a Christian. He surely wouldn’t call people that haven’t––well, what you’d call enlisted with Him, would He?”
“He might,” answered Julia Cloud reflectively. She was sitting on the end of the big blue couch, and the firelight played over her white hair with silvery lights, and cast a lovely rose tint over her sweet face. “There were several instances where He called people who had never known Him at all, who, in fact, were worshipping idols and strange gods, and told them to go and do something for Him. There was Paul; he was actually against Him. And there was Abraham; he lived among regular idol-worshippers, and God called him to go into a strange land and founded a new family for him, the beginning of the peculiar people through whose line was to come Jesus, the Saviour of the world. And Abraham went.”
“Oh, nonsense, Cloudy! That was in those times. Of course. There wasn’t anybody else, I suppose; and190He had to take some one. But now there are plenty of people who go to church all the time and like that sort of thing.”
“How do you know, Allison? Perhaps you are the only one in this town, and God has sent you here just to do this special work.”
“Well, I won’t, and that’s flat, Cloudy; so you can put the idea right out of your head. I won’t, not even for you. Anything that has to do with your personal comfort I wouldn’t say that about, of course; but this belongs entirely to that little old ratty church, and I haven’t anything at all to do with it; and I want you to forget it, Cloudy, forI’m not going to do it!”
“Why, Allison, you’re mistaken about me. It isn’t my affair, and I don’t intend to make it so. I didn’t get this up. It’s between you and God. If God really called you, you’ll have to say no to Him, not to me. I don’t intend to make excuses to God for you, child. You needn’t think it. And, besides, there’s another thing you’re very much mistaken about, and that is that you haven’t anything to do with the church. When you were a little baby six months old, your father and mother brought you home to our house; and the first Sunday they were there they took you to the old church where all the children and grandchildren had been christened for years, and they stood up and assented to the vows that gave you to God. And they promised for themselves that they would do their best to bring you up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord until you came to years and could finish the bond by giving yourself to the Lord. I shall never forget the sweet, serious look on the face of your lovely girl-mother when she bowed her head in answer to the minister’s question, ‘Do you thus promise?’”
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Allison had stopped in his angry walk up and down the room, and was looking at her interestedly.
“Is that right, Cloudy? Was I baptized in the old Sterling church? I never knew that. Tell me about it,” and he seated himself on the other end of the couch, while Leslie switched off the light and nestled down between them, scenting a story.
“Wasn’t I, too, Cloudy?” she asked hungrily.
“No, dear, I think you were baptized in California in your mother’s church, and I’m sorry to say I wasn’t there to see; so I can’t tell you about it; but I remember very distinctly all about Allison’s christening, for we were all so happy to have it happen in the East, and he was the first grandchild, and we hadn’t seen your father for over two years, nor ever seen his young wife before; so it was a great event. It was a beautiful bright October day, and I had the pleasure of making the dress you wore, Allison, every stitch by hand, hemstitching and embroidery and all. And right in the midst of the ceremony you looked over your father’s shoulder, and saw me sitting in the front seat, and smiled the sweetest smile! Then you jumped up and down in your father’s arms, and spatted your little pink hands together, and called out ‘Ah-Jah!’ That’s what you used to call me then, and everybody all over the church smiled. How could they help it?”
“Gee! I must ’a’ been some kid!” said Allison, slipping down into a comfortable position among the pillows. “Say, Cloudy, I knew a good thing when I saw it even then, didn’t I?”
“You know, Allison, that ceremony wasn’t just all on your father’s and mother’s part; it entailed some responsibility upon you. It was part of your heritage, and you’ve no right to waste it any more than if it192were gold or bank stock or houses and lands. It was your title to a heavenly sonship, and it gave God the right to call upon you to do whatever He wants you to do. It’s between you and God now, and you’ll have to settle it yourself. It’s not anything I could settle for you either way, much as I might want it, because it is you who must answer God, and you must answer Him from the heart either way; so nobody else has anything to do with it.”
“Oh, good-night! Cloudy, you certainly can put things in an awkward way. Oh, hang it! Now this whole evening’s spoiled. I wish I hadn’t gone to the front door at all. I wish I’d turned out the lights and let ’em knock. And there was that story you were going to read, and now it’s too late!”
“Why, no; it’s not too late at all,” said Julia Cloud, consulting her little watch in the firelight. “It’s only quarter to nine, and I’m sure we can indulge ourselves a little to-night, and finish the story before we go to bed. Turn the light on, and get the magazine.”
With an air of finality Julia Cloud put aside the debated question, and settled herself in the big willow chair by the lamp with her book. Leslie went back to her chair by the fire, and Allison flung himself down on the couch with a pillow half over his eyes; but anybody watching closely would have seen that his eyes were wide open and he was studying the calm, quiet profile of his aunt’s sweet face as she read in a gentle, even tone, paragraph after paragraph without a flicker of disturbance on her brow. Allison was not more than half listening to the story. He was thinking hard. Those things Julia Cloud had said about obligations and Moses and Abraham and Paul stuck hard in his mind, and he couldn’t get away from them.
193CHAPTER XVI
Julia Cloud said nothing more to her boy about that Christian Endeavor Society, but she said much to her Lord, praying continually that he might be led to see his duty and want to do it, and that through it he might be led to know Christ.
In the meantime she went sunnily about setting the new home to rights and getting the right maid to fit into their household régime. Julia Cloud had never had a maid in her life, but she had always had ideas about one, and she put as much thought and almost as much care into preparing the little chamber the maid was to occupy as she had put upon the other rooms. To begin with, the room itself was admirably adapted to making the right maid feel at home and comfortable. It had three windows looking into gardens on the next block, and a blaze of salvia and cosmos and geraniums would greet her eyes the first time she looked out from her new room. Then it had a speck of a bathroom all its own, which Julia Cloud felt would go a long way toward making any maid the right maid, for there would be no excuse for her not being clean and no excuse for her keeping her tooth-brush down on the edge of the kitchen sink or taking a bath in the laundry tubs, as she had heard that some of her neighbors’ maids had done at various times.
The windows were shrouded with white curtains of the same kind as those all over the house, and within were draperies with bright flower borders. The bureau was daintily fitted out, and the bed was spotless and194inviting-looking. A cushioned rocking-chair stood beside a small table, with a dainty work-basket on the shelf below; and against the wall were some shelves with a few interesting books and magazines. A droplight with a pretty shade gave a home-like air, and the room was as attractive as any other in the house. Any maid might think her lines had fallen in pleasant places who was fortunate enough to occupy that room. As a last touch Julia Cloud laid a neat coarse-print Testament on the table, and then knelt beside the rocking-chair and asked God to make the unknown comer a blessing to their house, and help them all to be a blessing to her. Then she went down to the car, and let Allison take her out to the addresses that had been given her. As a result, by Wednesday the little gay chamber half-way up the stairs was occupied by a pleasant-faced, sturdy colored girl about eighteen years old, who rejoiced in the name of Cherry, and was at once adopted as part of the new household with the same spirit with which everything else had been done. Perhaps if every household would go about it in the same way it would go far toward settling the much-mooted servant question.
When Cherry was introduced into her bedchamber the look on her face was worth seeing. It was in the early evening when she arrived, riding on the front seat of the wagon that brought her trunk; and, when she was ushered in by Julia Cloud, with Leslie in the offing to see what the newcomer would say to it, the girl stepped in, gave a wild glance around, then backed off, and rolled her eyes at her new mistress.
“This ain’t––you-all ain’t puttin’ me inta dis year fine bedroom!” she exclaimed in a kind of horror.
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“Yes, this is your room,” said Julia Cloud kindly, stepping in and moving a chair a little farther from the bed, that there might be room for the girl’s trunk. “You can put your trunk right here, I should think; and here is your closet,” swinging open the closet door and showing a plenitude of hooks and hangers, “and that is your bathroom.” She pushed back the crash curtain that shut off the tiny bathroom, and stood back smiling. But the girl was not looking at her. She had cast one wild look around, and then her eyes had been riveted on the little vase on her bureau, containing a single late rose that Leslie had found blooming in the small garden at the rear, and put there for good luck, she said. Could it be that any one had cared to pick a flower for a servant’s room? Her eyes filled with tears; she dropped her bundles on the floor, and came over to where her new mistress stood.
“Oh!” she said in a choked voice. “If you-all is goin’ to treat me like comp’ny, I’se jest goin’ to wuk my fingahs to de bone for youse!”
After the advent of Cherry things began to settle down into something like routine. The inn was abandoned entirely, and each meal was a festive occasion. Cherry took kindly to the cooking-lessons that Julia Cloud knew well how to give. Light, wonderful white bread came forth from the white-enamel gas-range oven, sweet, rich, nutty loaves of brown bread, even more delectable. Waffles and muffins and pancakes vied with one another to make one meal better than another; apple dumpling, cherry pie, and blackberry roly-poly varied with chocolate steamed pudding, lemon custard, and velvet whip made the desserts an eagerly awaited surprise.
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Leslie hovered over everything new that was made, and wanted to have a hand in it. Each day she learned some new and wholesome fact about housekeeping, and seemed to take to the knowledge readily. Her first attempt at real cooking was learning to make bread; and, when she succeeded so well that Allison thought it was his aunt’s baking, she declared her intention of making it once a week just to keep her hand in.
Allison had said no more about Christian Endeavor; and, when Thursday afternoon came, he asked his aunt to ride to the city after a few little articles that were still needed to make the house complete. They had a pleasant trip, and Julia Cloud entirely forgot that the young people had been asked to attend the committee meeting that evening. Perhaps Allison was waiting for her to speak about it; for he looked at his watch uneasily several times, and glanced back at his aunt suspiciously; but she sat serenely enjoying the ride, and said nothing. At last, just as they were nearing home he burst forth with, “Cloudy, do you really think we ought to go to that bl-looming thing to-night?”
Julia Cloud lifted quiet eyes and smiled.
“I didn’t say you ought to go; did I, dear?”
“Well, yes, you sorta did, Cloudy.”
Julia Cloud shook her head.
“I don’t think I did. I said it wasn’t a matter for me to meddle with.”
“Well, don’t you?”
“No, Allison, not unless you feel that God has called you and you are willing to do what He wants you to. If you just went because you thought I wanted you to go, I don’t believe it would be worth while, because197you wouldn’t be working with the right spirit. But, as I said before, that is something you have got to account for to God, not to me.”
Allison drew his brows in a frown, and said no more; but he was almost silent at supper, and ate with an abstracted air. At quarter to eight he flung down the magazine he had been reading, and got up.
“Well, I s’pose I’ve got to go to that bloomin’ thing,” he said half angrily. “Come on, kid; you going?”
Leslie hurried into her hat and cape, and they went off together, Allison grumbling in a low, half-pleasant voice all the time. Julia Cloud sat apparently reading, watching the little byplay, and praying that God would strengthen the young heart.
“Dear Moses!” she murmured with a smile on her lips as the front door banged behind the children and she was left reading alone.
Two hours later the two returned full of enthusiasm. Leslie was brimming over.
“O Cloudy, we’re going to give this sleepy old town the surprise of a lifetime! We’re going to have a grand time to-morrow night, just getting all the members together and doping it out what to do. And you ought to hear Allison talk! He’s just like a man! He made a wonderful speech telling them how they ought to get together, and everybody do teamwork and all that, like they do in football; and they asked him to make it over again to-morrow night, and he’s going to!”
Leslie’s eyes were shining with pride, and she looked at her brother lovingly. He flushed embarrassedly.
“Well, what could you do, Cloudy? There they198were sitting like a lot of boobs, and nobody knowing what to do except that Jane Bristol. She’s the only sensible one of the bunch, and they don’t listen to her. They made me mad, ignoring her suggestions the way they did; so I had to speak up and say she was right; and I guess I talked a lot more when I got started, because she really had the right dope, all right, and they ought to have had sense enough to know it. She’s been in this work before, and been to big State conventions and things. Say, Cloudy, that Christian Endeavor stuff must be a pretty big thing. It seems to have members all over the world, and it’s really a kind of international fraternity. I rather like their line. It’s stiff all right, but that’s the only way if you’re going into a thing like that.”
“And how did the praying go?” asked Julia Cloud, watching her boy’s handsome, eager face as he talked.
“All right,” he evaded reticently.
“Heprayed, Cloudy!” announced Leslie proudly. “It wasregular!”
“Well, what could a fellow do?” said Allison apologetically, as if he had done something he was half ashamed of. “That poor girl prayed something wonderful, and then they all sat and sat like a parcel of boobs until you could feel her cheeks getting red, and nobody opening their mouths; so I started in. I didn’t know what to say, but I thought somebody ought to say something. I did the best I knew how.”
“It was regular, Cloudy!” repeated Leslie with shining eyes.
“Well, it got ’em started, anyhow,” said Allison. “That was all that mattered.”
Julia Cloud with lips trembling joyously into a smile199of thanksgiving listened, and felt her heart glad. Somehow she knew that her boy had yielded himself to the call of his God to lead this band of young people out of an Egypt into a promised land, and she saw as by faith how he himself would be led to talk with God on the mount before the great work was completed.
“It really was regular, Cloudy,” reiterated Leslie. “I didn’t know my brother could pray like that, or talk, either. After he prayed everybody prayed, just a sentence or two, even that little baby doll Lila that was here the other night. They didn’t say much, but you could see they wanted to do the right thing and be right in it. But everybody was in earnest; they really were, Cloudy. That Jane Bristol is wonderful! The president had told her she was chairman, and all about the meeting; and she read some verses out of the Bible about Christ’s being always in a meeting where there were just two or three, and about two or three agreeing to ask for something and always getting it. I never knew there were such verses in the Bible, did you? Well, and after that it seemed awfully solemn, just as if we had all come into God’s reception-room and were waiting to ask Him as a big favor to help this little Christian Endeavor Society to be worth something in His kingdom. Those aren’t my words, Cloudy; you needn’t look surprised. That’s the way Jane Bristol put it, and it made me feel queer all down my back when she said it, as it did the first time I went to hear some great music. And––why, after that you couldn’t help praying just a little, so the promise would hold good. It wasn’t square not to help them out, you see.”
“And we’re not going to have anybody to-morrow200night but the regular members until we get them all to understand and be ready to help,” went on Allison.
“Yes, they asked Allison to take charge and help plan it all out; and Allison is going to hunt up some of the big Christian Endeavor people in the city, and get them to come out one or two at a time to our meetings,”––Julia Cloud noted the pronoun “our” with satisfaction,––“and stir things up on Sundays; and we’ll drive in and get them, and bring them to our house to supper, maybe, and put them wise to things so they’ll know best how to help; and then we’ll drive them home after church that night, see? And Allison suggested that we have pretty soon a series of parties or receptions, just for the young people to get together and bring new ones in one at a time, just as the boys in college have rushing-parties, you know. We’ll have a reception, real formal, with regular eats from a caterer, and flowers and invitations and everything, for the first one; and a Hallowe’en party for the October meeting, and a banquet for the November meeting, just about Thanksgiving time, you know. Oh, it’s going to be lots of fun. And, Cloudy, I told them we’d make a hundred sandwiches for to-morrow night; you don’t mind, do you? We can buy the bread, and it won’t take long to make them. I know how to cut them in pretty shapes, and I thought I’d tie them with ribbons to match the lemonade.”
Julia Cloud with radiant face entered into the plans eagerly, and to have heard them talk one would never have imagined that twenty-four hours before these two young people had been exceedingly averse to having anything to do with that little dying Christian Endeavor Young People’s Society.
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“And, Cloudy, that Jane Bristol is real pretty. She had on a charming collar to-night, and her hair fixed all soft around her face. She has beautiful hair! I think they were all surprised at the easy way she talked; I don’t believe she is a day older than I am, either. And sheisgoing to college. I’m awfully glad, for I want to get to know her. We’ll invite her down here sometimes, won’t we? I want you to know her, Cloudy. You’ll like her, I’m sure.”
So Julia Cloud went to her pretty gray bed that night, and lay marvelling at the goodness of God to answer her prayers. As for the children, they could hardly settle down to sleep, so full of plans were they for the revivifying of that Christian Endeavor Society. They kept calling back and forth from room to room, and after everything had been quiet for a long time and Julia Cloud was just dropping off to sleep, Leslie woke them all up calling to know if it wouldn’t be a good plan to have the Hallowe’en party there at the house and have everybody come in costume. Then they had to begin all over again, and decide what they would wear and who they would be. Allison declared he was going to be a firecracker; he had a “dandy” costume for it in California, and he would write to-morrow morning to the housekeeper to look it up.
Leslie wanted to have a candy-pull, with apples and nuts and raisins for refreshments. Julia Cloud began to wonder whether it was just as acceptable to God to have play mixed up with the religion as these children were doing it.
“You must look out that your festivities don’t get ahead of your righteousness,” she warned half laughingly; but Allison took her in earnest.
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“You’re right there, Cloudy. That’s one of the things we have to look out for in frats. We have to see we don’t have too many social things. If we do, the marks suffer; and right away we lose ground. We’ll have to keep those Sunday meetings up to the mark––see, kid?––or the other things will only bring in a lot of dead-wood that won’t count. They must come to the Sunday meetings, or they don’t get invited to the parties. That’s the way we’ll fix ’em.”
“There’s no use saying ‘must,’” said Leslie wisely. “If you don’t have your meetings interesting, they won’t come anyhow you fix it.”
“That’s a girl for you!” scorned Allison. “No loyalty in the whole bunch. They’ve got tolikeeverything. Now, the real spirit is to come andmakethe meetings good, just because they’reyourmeetings. See, kid?”
“Yes, I see,” snapped Leslie; “but I won’t come to your old meetings at all if you are going to talk that way about girls. I guess I’ve always been loyal to everything, especially you, and I won’t stand for that!”
“Oh, I didn’t mean you, kid; I was talking about girls in general,” soothed the brother. “You’re all right, of course. But those little fluffy-ruffles that sat in the back seat, now, you’ll have to teach them what loyalty means. See?”
Finally the household settled to sleep.
The next day the little house saw little else done save the making of marvellous dainty sandwiches in various forms and shapes.
Even Cherry entered into the work with zest, and Julia Cloud proved herself rich in suggestion for different fillings, till great platters of the finished product203reposed in the big white refrigerator, neatly tucked about with damp napkins to keep them from drying.
All that day Allison flew hither and yon in his car, carrying some member of the committee on errands connected with the evening social. Never had such a stir been made about a mere church social in all the annals of the society. Every remotest member was hunted out and persuaded to be present, and Allison agreed to go around in the evening and pick up at least a dozen who had professed their inability to get there alone. So the big blue car was enlisted in Christian Endeavor service, and the young people were as busy and as happy as ever they had been in getting their little new home settled. They drove away about seven o’clock after a hasty supper, with their platters of sandwiches safely guarded on the back seat; and Julia Cloud watched them, and smiled and was glad. She wondered whether this work would get such a hold upon them that it would last after they started their college work, and fervently hoped that it might, so that there would be another link to bind them to God’s house and His work. She sighed to think how many things there would likely be to draw them away.
About ten o’clock Leslie telephoned. She wanted to bring Jane Bristol home for the night, as the people where Jane was living were away, and she would otherwise have to stay alone in a big house. Julia Cloud readily assented, and she and Cherry had a pleasant half-hour putting one of the guest-rooms in order. It was while she was doing this that she began to wonder seriously what Jane Bristol would be like. Who was brought intimately into their new home might mean so much to her two children. And in this room, too,204after Cherry had gone to bed, she knelt and breathed a consecrating prayer. Then she went down-stairs to wait for the coming of her children, building up the fire and lighting the porch light so that all would be cheery and attractive for them and their guest. Only a little, lonesome child who did housework for her living, but it was good to be able to give her a pleasant welcome.
In a few minutes the car arrived, and the two girls came chattering in, while Allison put the car away. At least, Leslie was chattering.
“I think you look so lovely in that soft blue dress!” she was saying. “It is so graceful, and the color just fits your eyes.”
“It’s only some old accordion-pleated chiffon I had,” answered the guest half ashamed. “I had to wash it and dye it and make it myself, and I wasn’t sure the pleats would iron out, or that it would do at all. You know I don’t have much use for evening dresses, and I really couldn’t afford to get one. That’s the reason I hesitated at your suggestion about having receptions and parties. But I guess you have to have them.”
“You don’t mean to say you made it all yourself! Why you’re a wonder! Isn’t she, Cloudy? Just take her in and look for yourself! She made that dress all herself out of old things that she washed and dyed. Why, it looks like an imported frock. Doesn’t it look like one, Cloudy? And that girdle is darling, all shirred that way!”
That was Julia Cloud’s introduction to the guest as she stood in the open door and watched the two trip along the brick terrace to the entrance.
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Leslie snatched away the long, dark cloak that covered Jane Bristol’s dress; and she stood forth embarrassed in the firelight, clad in soft, pale-blue chiffon in simple straight lines blending into the white throat in a little round neck, and draping the white girlish, arms. The firelight and lamplight glimmered and flickered over the softly waved brown hair, the sweet, serious brow, the delicate, refined face; and Jane Bristol lifted two earnest deep-blue eyes, and looked at Julia Cloud. Then between them flashed a look of understanding and sympathy, and each knew at once that she liked the other.
“Isn’t she a dear, Cloudy Jewel?” demanded Leslie.
“She is!” responded Julia Cloud, and put her arms softly around the slender blue-clad shoulders. Then she looked up to see the eyes of Allison resting upon them with satisfaction.
They turned down the light and sat before the fire for a little while, telling about the success of the evening and talking of this and that, just getting acquainted; and, when they finally took Jane Bristol up to the pretty guest-room, it was with a sense that a new and lasting friendship had been well begun. Julia Cloud as she lay down to sleep found herself wondering whether her children would always show so much good sense in picking out their friends as they had done this time.
206CHAPTER XVII
The day when college opened was a great day. The children could hardly eat any breakfast, and Allison gave Leslie a great many edifying instructions about registering.
“Now, kid, if you get stuck for anything, just you hunt me up. I’ll see that you get straightened out. If you and Jane Bristol could only get together, you could help each other a lot. I’ll get some dope from some of the last-year fellows. That’s the advantage I get from finding a chapter of my frat here. They’ll put me wise as to the best course-advisers, and you stick around near the entrance till I give you the right dope. It doesn’t pay to get started wrong in college.”
Leslie meekly accepted all these admonitions, and they started off together in the car with an abstracted wave of good-by to Julia Cloud, who somehow felt suddenly left out of the universe. To have her two newly-acquired children suddenly withdrawn by the power of a great educational institution and swept beyond her horizon was disconcerting. She had not imagined she would feel this way. She stood in the window watching them, and wiped away a furtive tear, and then laughed to herself.
“Old fool!” she said softly to the window-pane. “The trouble with you is, you’d like to be going to college yourself, and you know it! Now put this out of your mind, and go to work planning how to make home doubly attractive when they get back, so that they will want to spend every minute possible here instead of207being drawn away from it. They love it. Now keep them loving it. That’s your job.”
When the two came back at noon, they were radiant and enthusiastic as usual, albeit they had many a growl to express. One would have thought to hear Allison that he had been running colleges for some fifty years the way he criticized the policy and told how things ought to be run. At first Julia Cloud was greatly distressed by it all, thinking that they surely had made a mistake in their selection of a college, but it gradually dawned upon her that this was a sort of superior attitude maintained by upper-class men toward all institutions of learning, particularly those in which they happened to be studying, that it was really only an indication of growing developing minds keen to see mistakes and trying to think out remedies, and as yet inexperienced enough to think they could remedy the whole sick world.
The opening days of college were turbulent days for Julia Cloud. Her children were so excited they could neither eat nor sleep. They were liable to turn up unexpectedly at almost any hour of the morning or afternoon, hungry as bears, and always in a hurry. They had so many new things to tell her about, and no time in which to talk. They mixed things terribly, and gave her impressions that took months to right; and they could not understand why she looked distressed at their flightiness. They were both taken up eagerly by the students and invited hither and yon by the various groups and societies, which frequently caused them to be absent from meals while they were being dined and lunched and breakfasted. Of course, Julia Cloud reflected, two such good-looking, well-dressed,208easy-mannered young people, with a home in the town where they could invite people, a car in which to take friends out, and a free hand with money, would be popular anywhere. Her anxiety grew as the first week waxed toward its end and finished up Saturday night with invitations to two dances and one week-end party at a country house ten miles away.
Leslie rushed in breathless about six o’clock Saturday evening, and declared she was too much in a hurry to eat anything; she must get dressed at once, and put some things in her bag. She rattled on about the different social functions she was expected to attend that evening until Julia Cloud was in hopeless confusion, and could only stand and listen, and try to find the things that Leslie in her hurry had overlooked. Then Allison arrived, and wanted some supper. He talked with his mouth full about where he was going and what he was going to do, and at the end of an hour and a half Julia Cloud had a very indefinite idea of anything. She had a swift mental vision of church and Sabbath and Christian Endeavor all slipping slowly out of their calculation, and theworldin large letters taking the forefront of their vision.
“You are going to a dance!” she said in a white, stricken way she had when an anxiety first bewildered her. “Totwodances! O my dear Leslie! You––dance, then? I––hadn’t thought of that!”
“Sure I dance!” said Leslie gayly, drawing up the delicate silk stocking over her slim ankles and slipping on a silver slipper. “You ought to see me. And Allison can dance, too. We’ll show you sometime. Don’t you like dancing, Cloudy? Why, Cloudy! You couldn’t mean you don’t approve of dancing? Not209really! But where would we be?Everybodydances! Why, there wouldn’t be anything else to do when young people went out. Oh, do you suppose Cherry would press out this skirt a little bit? It’s got horribly mussed in that drawer.”
Julia Cloud had dropped into a chair with an all-gone feeling and a lightness in the top of her head. She felt as if the world, the flesh, and the devil had suddenly dropped down upon the house and were carrying off her children bodily, and she was powerless to prevent it. She could not keep the pain of it out of her eyes; yet she did not know what to say in this emergency. None of the things that had always seemed entirely convincing in forming her own opinions seemed adequate to the occasion. Leslie turned suddenly, and saw her stricken face.
“What’s the matter, Cloudy? Is something wrong? Aren’t you well? Don’t you like me to go to a dance? Why, Cloudy! Do you reallyobject?”
“I have no right to object, I suppose, dear,” she said, trying to speak calmly; “but––Leslie, I can’t bear to think of you dancing; it’s not nice. It’s too––too intimate! My little flower of a girl!”
“Oh, but we have to dance, Cloudy; that’s ridiculous! And you aren’t used to dances, or you wouldn’t say so. Can’t you trust me to be perfectly nice?”
Julia Cloud shuddered, and went to the head of the stairs to answer a question Allison was calling up to her; and, when, she came back, she said no more about it. The pain was too great, and she felt too bewildered for argument. Leslie was enveloped in rose-colored tulle, with touches of silver, and looked like a young goddess with straps of silver over her slim shoulders210and a thread of pearls about her throat. The white neck and back that the wisp of rose-color made no attempt to conceal were very beautiful and quite childish, but they shocked the sweet soul of Julia Cloud inexpressibly. She stood aghast when Leslie whirled upon her and demanded to know how she liked the gown.
“O my dear!” gasped her aunt. “You’re not going out before people––men––all undressed like that!”
Leslie gave her one glance of hurt dismay, whirled back to her glass, and examined herself critically.
“Why, Cloudy!” Her voice was almost trembling, and her cheeks were rosier than the tulle with disappointment. “Why, Cloudy, I thought it was lovely! It’s just like everybody’s else. I thought you would think I lookednice!” The child drooped, and Julia Cloud went up to her gently.
“It is beautiful, darling, and you are––exquisite! But, dear! It seems terrible for my little girl to go among young men so sort of nakedly. I’m sure if you understood life better, you wouldn’t do it. You are tempting men to wrong thoughts, undressed that way, and you are putting on common view the intimate loveliness of the body God gave you to keep holy and pure. It is the way cheap women have of making many men love them in a careless, physical way. I don’t know how to tell you, but it seems terrible to me. If you were my own little girl, I never,neverwould be willing to have you go out that way.”
“You’ve said enough!” almost screamed Leslie with a sudden frenzy of rage, shame, and disappointment. “I feel as if I never could look anybody in the face again!” And with a cry she flung herself into211the jumble of bright garments on her bed, and wept as if her heart would break. Julia Cloud stood over her in consternation, and tried to soothe her; but nothing did any good. The young storm had to have its way, and the slim pink shoulders shook in convulsive sobs, while the dismayed elder sat down beside the bed, with troubled eyes upon her, and waited, praying quietly.
In the midst of it all Allison appeared at the door.
“What in thunder is the matter? I’ve yelled my head off, and nobody answers. What is the matter with you, kid? It’s time we started, and you doing the baby act! I never thought you’d get hystericky.”
Leslie lifted a wet and smeary face out of her pillow and addressed her brother defiantly:
“I’ve good reason to cry!” she said. “Cloudy thinks I’m not decent to go out in this dress, and she won’t believe everybody dresses this way; and I’mnot going! I’mnevergoinganywhereagain; I’mdisgraced!” And down went her head in the pillow again with another long, convulsive sob.
Her brother strode over to her, and lifted her up firmly but gently.
“There, kid, quit your crying and be sensible. Stand up and let’s look at you.”
He stood her upon her feet; and she swayed there, quivering, half ashamed, her hands to her tear-stained face, her pink shoulders heaving and her soft, pink chest quivering with sobs, while he surveyed her.
“Well, kid, I must say I agree with Cloudy,” he said half reluctantly at last. “The dress is a peach, of course, and you look like an angel in it; but, if you could hear the rotten things the fellows say about the212way the girls dress, you wouldn’t want to go that way; and I don’t want them to talk that way about my sister. Couldn’t you stick in a towel or an apron or something, and make a little more waist to the thing? I’m sure you’d look just as pretty, and the fellows would think you a whole lot nicer girl. I don’t want you to get the nickname of the Freshman Vamp. I couldn’t stand for that.”
Poor Leslie sank into a chair, and covered her face for another cry, declaring it was no use, it would utterly spoil the dress to do anything to it, and she couldn’t go, and wouldn’t go and wear it; but at last Julia Cloud came to the rescue with needle and thread and soft rose drapery made from a scarf of Leslie’s that exactly matched the dress; and presently she stood meek and sweet, and quite modest, blooming prettily out of her pink, misty garments like an opening apple-blossom in spite of her recent tears.
“But when are you coming back?” asked Julia Cloud in sudden dismay, her troubles returning in full force as she watched them going out the door to the car, Allison carrying two bags and telling Leslie to hurry for all she was worth.
The two children turned then, and faced their aunt, with a swift, comprehending vision of what this expedition of theirs meant to her. It had not occurred to them before that they were deliberately planning to spend most of the night, Saturday night, in mirth, and stay over Sunday at a house-party where the Sabbath would be as a thing unknown. Nobody had ever talked to them about these things before. They had accepted it as a part of the world of society into which they had been born, and they had never questioned it. They213were impatient now that their tried and true friend and comrade did not comprehend that this occasion was different from most, and that it must be an exception. They were willing to keep the Sabbath in general, but in this particular they felt they must not be hampered. The whole idea shone plainly in their faces, and the pain and disappointment and chagrin shone clearly, emphatically in Julia Cloud’s eyes as she faced them and read the truth.
“Why, we don’t know, just for sure, Cloudy,” Allison tried to temporize. “You see, they usually dance to all hours. It’s Saturday night, and no classes to-morrow, and this is an unusual occasion. It’s a week-end party, you know–––”
“Then––you won’t be back to-night! You are not going to church to-morrow! You will spend the Sabbath at a party!”
She said these things as if she were telling them to herself so that she could better take in the facts and not cry out with the disappointment of it. There was no quality of fault-finding in her tone, but the pain of her voice cut to the heart the two young culprits. Therefore, according to the code of loving human nature, they got angry.
“Why, of course!” chirped Leslie. “Didn’t you expect that? That’s what week-end parties are!”
“Oh, cut this out, Leslie,” cried Allison. “We’ve gotta beat it. We’re way late now! Cloudy, you can expect us when we get here. Don’t bother about anything. There’s no need to. We’ll telephone you later when we expect to come back. Nightie, nightie, Cloudy. You go rest yourself. You look tired.”
He gave her a hurried, deprecatory kiss, and swept214his sister out into the night. Julia Cloud heard the purring of the engine, saw the lights of the car glide away from the door down the street and out of sight. They were gone! She felt as though a piece of herself had been torn away from her and flung out for the world to trample upon. For a long time she stood staring from the window into the darkness, unshed tears burning behind her eyes and throat, trying to steady the beating of her heart and get used to the gnawing trouble that somehow made her feel faint and weak.
It came over her that she had been a fool to attempt to fill the place of mother to these two modern young things. Their own ideas were fully made up about all questions that seemed vital to her. She had been a fossil in a back-country place all her life, and of course they felt she did not know. Well, of course she did not know much about modern society and its ways, save to dread it, and to doubt it, and to wish to keep them away from it. She was prejudiced, perhaps. Yes, she had been reared that way, and the world would call her narrow. Would Christ the Lord feel that way about it? Did He like to have His children dressing like abandoned women and making free with one another under the guise of polite social customs? Did He want His children to spend their Sabbaths in play, however innocent the play might be? She turned with a sigh away from the window. No, she could not see it any other way. It was the way of the world, and that was all there was to it. Leslie had made it plain when she said they had to do it or be left out. And wasn’t that just what it meant to be a “peculiar people” unto the Lord, to be willing to give up doubtful215things that harmed people for the sake of keeping pure and unspotted from the world? “If ye were of the world, the world would love its own; but because I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you,” came the familiar old words. Well, and what should she do now? It wouldn’t do to rave and fuss about things. That never did any good. She couldn’t say she wouldn’t stay if they danced and went away over the Sabbath. Those were things in which she might advise, but had no authority. They were old enough to decide such matters for themselves. She could only use her influence, and trust the rest with the Lord. Yes, there was one thing she could do. She could pray!
So Julia Cloud gave her quiet orders to Cherry, and went up to her rose-and-gray room to kneel by the bed and pray, agonizing for her beloved children through the long hours of that long, long evening.
It was a quiet face that she lifted at last from her vigil, for it bore the brightness of a face-to-face communion with her Lord; and she rose and went about her preparations for the night. Then, just as she had taken down her hair and was brushing it in a silver cloud about her shoulders, she heard a car drive up. A moment more a key turned in the latch, and some one came in.
Julia Cloud stood with the hair-brush poised half-way down a strand of hair, and listened. Yes, the car had gone on to the garage. What could have happened?