Story Of A Needle — The Story of a needle chapters 11-14

“That’s as mamma likes,” answered George.

“I think,” said Mrs. Ellerslie, replying to his glance, “that as you have been working so hard, my boy, you might indulge in a few days’ complete rest.

” “I must not be quite idle,” said George cheerfully; “will you not let me teach Eddy while I am at home?

” “I think that you would be soon tired of the business,” replied Mrs. Ellerslie, with a smile.

“I’ll try my skill as a tutor, at least;” and there was a bright look about the boy, which seemed to say, “I am determined _not_ to be tired.

” So George set about the task of tuition with wondrous good-humour and patience; and Eddy was delighted with his teacher, who really succeeded in persuading him at last that twice two does _not_ make three.

I must own that Eddy persisted to the end in calling _no_—_on_, and _of_—_for_;

but then he was but a little boy, and George said that he would do better in time.

It was certainly a relief to Mrs. Ellerslie not to have her attention diverted from Lily; but I could not but fancy, from the anxious, abstracted expression of the poor lady’s face, that her own thoughts were often wandering from the lessons to the difficulties of her husband and the expected letter from Bristol.

As soon as the studies were over she quitted the room, doubtless glad that the drudgery was ended for the day; and merry as a bird from a cage, Lily flew to the side of her brother.

[Illustration: Eddy was delighted with his teacher.

_Page 80. _ ] “It’s raining, so we need not go out.

Oh, what a delightful chat we shall have!

Just sit down beside me, Georgie, and tell me how you feel now that you are at home.

” “I should feel very happy indeed, but that I think mother is looking very ill.

” “Do you?

” exclaimed Lily, with a look of alarm.

“Well, I hoped that she was better, for she never complains.

The doctor saw her about a month ago; he gave her something to strengthen her, and said that she must be taken care of, and then there would be nothing to fear.

” “And is she taken care of?

” said George.

“Well, I don’t know—I don’t see what we can do,” replied Lily, looking perplexed; “I would gladly sit up all night, if it could do her any good.

” “She does not want any one to sit up with her all night,” said George;

“but I cannot help thinking that we could do more for her, Lily, than the cleverest doctor could.

The lessons are a great fatigue to her, I fear.

” “Well, I’m sure that I should be delighted to leave them off, every one of them!

” exclaimed his sister.

“That would not do,” answered George; “they must be learned; and I am afraid that I could not teach you as well as Eddy.

But it does seem to me, Lily,” he continued, speaking more slowly and looking on the ground, “that you might save mother just half the trouble that you give her at your lessons.

” “I!

what do you mean?

” said Lily quickly.

“Well, dear, I don’t wish to vex you; but you know that I could not help hearing what went on all the time that you were at your tasks.

Mother had to tell you this thing and that—just what, I suppose, she had told you a hundred times before: and you were watching the butterfly fluttering about while she was explaining the rule of three; so of course you did not understand it one bit, and she had to begin from the beginning again.

Mother is so kind and gentle—it seems as though her goodness made you careless.

I am sure that you would learn your lessons much better if she had taught you with a rod in her hand.

” “George, I never expected this from you!

” cried Lily, her eyes filling with tears.

“Forgive me, dear, for speaking so plainly; but when I look at mother, and see her so thin and so pale, I can’t help telling you a little what I think.

Now, it’s just like this,” continued George, searching in his mind for a simile.

“Suppose that you were lame, and that it was my duty to lift you into the baby’s little carriage, and give you a turn round the square.

” “You could manage it, I dare say,” said Lily.

“Ah!

but suppose that, as I was drawing you along, you caught at every bush, and clung to the palings, and held the wheels, so that they could not be turned round.

” Lily could not refrain from laughing.

“You would have hard work, Georgie, dragging me along!

But I should never make you so unkind a return, if you were so good as to draw me round the square!

” “And yet, when dear mother gives her time and her strength to getting you on with your learning, you act just as if you wished to make her pull in vain; and I am sure that she is just as much tired as I should be after giving such a drive.

Now, Lily, I am certain that you love dear mamma—” “I love her—I dote on her—I would do anything for her!

” exclaimed the little girl, fairly bursting into tears, for she was much wounded by the words of her brother.

George kissed her again and again, as if angry with himself for having vexed her; but as soon as Lily was more calm, he resumed the subject once more.

“Now, dear, suppose that you and I resolve in future to do our very best to make mother strong and well.

There are three things which I think will do her more good than all the steel wine in the world.

First, let her never say anything _twice_—what a saving of her strength that would be!

Then let us always determine to think of her pleasure before our own.

And lastly, in every little thing, let us save her all the trouble that we can.

Oh, Lily, let us only consider what a blessing God has given us in such a parent; we cannot love her too much, nor care for her too much, nor too earnestly try to obey that commandment, ‘_Honour thy father and thy mother_.

’ And now, will you forgive me for what I have said?

” George added, gently laying his hand upon his sister’s. Lily threw her arms around his neck.

“George, you are a darling!

” she exclaimed.

“And so we will be merry again!

Come, dry up those eyes, dear Lily; I cannot bear to see you cry.

” Lily smiled through her tears, dried her eyes, and then, taking her work-box from the table, she drew out her beautiful pen-wiper.

“Can you guess for whom this is?

” said she; “do you think that it will be pretty when it is done?

” “Very pretty indeed,” answered George; “how beautiful the gold looks on the dark blue!

” “It is for a certain brother of mine,” said Lily, with an arch, pleasant smile.

“For a brother who will value it very much—I think that I can answer for that,” replied George.

“I’m going to work it now,” said the little girl, as she passed a thread through my eye.

“Have you nothing else that you wish to do first, dear Lily?

” “No, nothing;—oh, you are looking at that hole in my dress; but I never mend my own clothes.

” “I thought that I heard mother say something about that very hole to-day,” observed George, with a little hesitation.

“Well, I suppose that I ought to run it up; but I do so detest mending.

” “I wish that I could help you, Lily; but I fear that my fingers are too clumsy.

Here is an opportunity for you to begin to follow up your good resolutions.

Here is something which you dislike to do; but then your doing it will give pleasure to mother.

What is trouble to you will save trouble to her, and you will be so glad when the effort is made.

” “Must I put this by?

” said Lily, looking sadly at her pen-wiper.

“For a while, dear—only for a while.

I shall always look with more pleasure at my beautiful present when I remember that my Lily would not let her own will come before her duty and her love to her mother.

” The pen-wiper was replaced in the box, and I felt myself hastily run into the dress.

“I will sit beside you while you work,” said George, “and tell you a story to amuse you.

” “A story!

a story!

” exclaimed Eddy, running up to his brother in high glee at the word.

“Oh, Eddy!

what have you been about?

—pulling the horse-hair out of the chair!

” “He is always at some mischief,” said Lily.

“I think,” observed George, “that it must be because he is idle, and cannot keep those little fingers still.

Now, Eddy, would you not rather be a comfort to mamma, and help her?

” “I do help mamma!

” exclaimed the little boy, with a look of injured innocence; “I helped her a great deal to pack her box; I wish mamma had a box to pack every day.

” “Perhaps mamma would not join in that wish.

But if there is not a box to pack, here is a great skein of wool to wind.

Will you hold it on your hands, little man, while I try to find out the knot?

” “He’ll let it slip off to a certainty!

” cried Lily; “you had much better put it over a chair.

” “Will you let it slip off, Eddy,” said his brother, “and spoil all the skein for mamma?

” “I’ll hold it as tight—as tight as a drum!

” cried the child, indignant at his carefulness being doubted.

“I will be useful—I will help mamma!

” his face quite flushed as he spoke.

“You’ll be her comfort, Eddy; I’m sure of it,” said George.

“Now, softly; you need not stretch it so hard; just hold your hands a little nearer to the light; I can wind all the time that I am telling the story.

” “Oh, how nice it will be!

how happy we are!

What shall the story be about?

” cried Eddy.

“Let me see,” said George, shaking out a knot.

“Why, Lily, how famously you are getting on with your hole!

We shall be puzzled to find out the place where it was.

I think that, in compliment to your work, I will tell you a story of a needle and a compass.

” “Of a needle!

—oh, what fun!

” cried little Eddy.

A jovial little fellow he was, and very merry sounded his laugh; but it was not merrier than mine, if the children could have heard it; for never had it entered my thoughts for a moment that any one would ever make a story about me; and I felt amazingly complimented by the idea.

“What sort of needle?

” asked Eddy; “a big needle—a darning needle—a bodkin?

” “Oh no!

” replied George, with a smile; “we need nothing so grand as that.

We’ll have a story of a nice little needle, just like that with which Lily is sewing.

” With eager curiosity I listened, and the Scissors and the Thimble were all full of attention, as George commenced his story.

------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER XII. THE STORY OF A NEEDLE AND A COMPASS.

“ONCE upon a time, in the days of fairies—” “How long ago?

” inquired Eddy.

“Well, you must not ask too particularly about that,” laughed George;

“but I suppose that, as there is a compass in my story, it must have been after the compass was invented—about the thirteenth century, that is to say, though some believe that the Chinese had it more than two thousand years before.

” “But what is a compass?

” said Eddy, looking up.

“Oh, Eddy,” cried Lily with impatience, “you must not interrupt us every minute!

” “Poor little fellow!

it is very natural that he should like to understand,” observed George “I’ll try to explain it to you, Eddy.

There is a strange substance, called loadstone, dug out of the ground, for which iron has a wonderful fancy.

If a lump of it were placed in Lily’s work-box, all her needles and scissors, and her keys, if she had any, would jump to it, and cling to it in a minute, just as you would jump into mother’s arms.

” “Oh, I wish that I had a lump as big as my head!

I should like to see the poker and the tongs and the shovel all jumping!

” exclaimed Eddy, full of merriment at the thought.

“And the odd thing is,” continued George, “that when iron is well rubbed with this loadstone, it seems as though it grew just like it, for it gets the very same curious property of attracting other bits of iron.

One of the boys at my school had a large steel magnet—that is, steel that had been rubbed with the loadstone—and it was the funniest thing in the world to see a dozen needles sticking to it at once, like so many quills upon a porcupine.

” “But what has this to do with the compass?

” inquired Lily.

“It has a great deal to do with the compass.

It has been discovered that magnets, when put in such a position that they can freely move in any direction, are sure always to turn towards the north: so little instruments are formed, holding a small piece of steel made into a magnet, not fixed, but left to tremble and tremble, till, like a tiny finger, it points towards the North Pole.

” “What is the use of that?

” said Eddy.

“It is of wonderful use,” answered George.

“Why, only think of poor sailors at sea; when there is nothing but water, wide water, around them, and when the clouds hide the sun or the stars, how can they tell which way to steer?

” “I don’t know,” said Eddy, quite puzzled.

“They look at their clever little compass—they see in what direction it points—they know from it where the north and south lie; and the tiny magnet serves as a guide.

” “What a clever little compass!

” cried Eddy; “now, please go on with your story.

” “Well, as I said, once upon a time, in a beautiful garden, near a beautiful palace, there sported two beautiful children.

They were the little son and daughter of a king; and they were brought up with such foolish indulgence, that in all things they had their own way.

They did not like spelling, so they never learned to spell; they did not know their tables; they never looked at maps; they could not so much as count their fingers!

” “Oh!

” exclaimed Eddy, “the stupid little things!

” “They were not naturally more stupid than others,” replied George; “but then they were terribly idle.

They were of no use to any one in the world.

They did nothing but gather fruit and eat it, and make garlands of pretty flowers, and sing aloud their foolish little song— ‘I love to be idle, I love to be gay, I’ll throw my books and my work away;

From morning till night—all play, all play!

’” There was a twinkle in Eddy’s merry eye that seemed to say that he felt no surprise at the idle taste of the children.

“Well,” continued George, winding rapidly all the time that he spoke, “one day they were playing together in the garden, when they were surprised to hear a low, soft sound, which came from a bed of flowers.

They ran eagerly to the spot, and, standing in the cup of a tulip, a fine tulip, all streaked with crimson and white, what do you think they saw?

” Eddy suspected a wasp, or a dragon-fly.

“No; a lovely little fairy, with gossamer wings, all spangled with silver and gold; and she held in her hand a fine glittering wand, not half so big as the tiniest needle!

“‘Oh, foolish children!

’ she cried, in a soft, sweet voice, which sounded like the tinkling of a bell, ‘do you think life was made only for a plaything, and time given to be thrown away in folly!

There is work in this world for every one to do, and everything is created for some use.

As you have never, with your wills, done any service to mankind, it is your doom to do service without them.

Your eyes, your ears, your hands, your tongues, have been given you to no purpose; their powers shall now be taken quite away; for seven long years you shall toil in humble estate, till you have learned how great is the value of time, and opportunity to do some good to others!

’ “While the little prince was wondering what the fairy could mean, she stretched her gossamer wings, and flying towards him, she touched him on the face with her wand.

A very odd feeling came over him at once.

He seemed to be contracting like an india-rubber ball, when some one has let out the air.

Feet and legs, hands and arms, appeared drawn into his body; and the body itself became smaller, and rounder, and harder, every minute, till nothing was left of the poor little prince but a mariner’s compass in a neat brass case, with its slender finger trembling, trembling, till it found its resting-place towards the north!

” Eddy opened his blue eyes very wide at the idea of such a strange transformation, and nearly let the skein of wool slip over his fingers.

“The little girl stood amazed, as you may suppose, at the singular change in her brother.

In her surprise to see him shrink into so curious a shape, she was uttering a cry of dismay, when her tongue, all on a sudden, ceased to move, her fingers appeared fastened to her sides, her feet joined together and grew into a point—she shrank, shrank, as if going to disappear altogether—till, where the little princess had stood, there only lay on the ground a small needle!

” “Oh, George, what a comical story!

” cried Lily, smoothing down the dress, which she now had finished mending.

“Please, go on,” exclaimed Eddy; “what did the fairy do next?

” “Turning towards the mariner’s compass, and waving her wand to the sound of strange wild music in the air, she sang the following words:— ‘Upon the stormy tide The weary seaman guide, And point to the North across the ocean wide!

’ Then bending over the needle, she continued the lay— ‘What is marred, make right;

What is severed, unite;

And leave where’er you pass a golden thread of light!

’ Then in what manner they were conveyed away I know not, but suddenly the compass found itself on the deck of a ship, and the needle in the work-box of a young lady.

” “That was Lily,” suggested Eddy.

“Oh!

as if we lived in the time of the fairies!

” exclaimed his sister, now busy again with her pen-wiper.

“Well, we may call industry and affection good fairies,” said George, “for what wonderful changes they make!

But to go on with my little story.

“For seven long years the compass and the needle were as clever and useful, and did as much work, as compass and needle could do.

The one was tossed on the stormy sea, was nearly lost in a shipwrecked vessel, and when it was deserted by its crew, and almost everything else left behind, they took it with them, as something more precious than gold, and by it were guided to safety!

It were endless to tell all the good deeds of the tiny needle in its quiet little home; how many holes it mended, how many poor it clothed, what beautiful pen-wipers it made,” George added, glancing playfully at his sister, “till at last—” “Well, what happened at last?

” said Eddy.

“At last, one lovely summer morn, when all the birds were singing, and the flowers smelling sweet, and the trees waving softly in the air, in the beautiful garden of a beautiful palace the two beautiful children found themselves again, with their arms closely twined around each other!

” “Had they not grown in all that time?

” inquired Lily.

“They had grown wiser, dear; but the years that had passed seemed to them like nothing but a dream; and a dream they would have thought them, so exactly did everything appear as it had done before, had not the same silvery voice come from the centre of a rose, and the same fairy form appeared with spangled wings, and tiny glittering wand!

“‘Let not the lessons which you have learned be forgotten!

’ she cried.

‘Follow the same path of usefulness now with your wills as you have lately been doing without them.

Let not lifeless brass and steel do more than beings with reason, judgment, and affection.

Let the heart still point to the pole-star of duty in every danger and trouble; and your home be cheered by the quiet virtues which adorn the peace-maker, the comforter, the friend!

’ Then bursting into song as she vanished into air, the fairy’s musical voice was heard:— ‘On life’s ocean wide Your fellow-creatures guide, And point to a shore beyond the stormy tide!

What is marred, make right;

What is severed, unite;

And leave where’er you pass love’s golden thread of light!

’” “That’s a pretty little story!

” said Eddy, as his brother wound off the end of his skein.

“You must teach me the tiny fairy’s song— ‘_What is marred, make right.

_’ Just say it over again once or twice, Georgie.

” “What do you think of it?

” said I to Mrs. Scissors.

“Oh, you know very well that it is not in my line,” she replied, in a snappish manner; “I sever what is united, and cut right and left!

I

would not stoop to the office of a needle!

” ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER XIII. GOLD BROUGHT TO THE PROOF.

THE story told by George, however gratifying to my feelings as a needle, did not prevent me from dwelling a good deal on the troubles of his parents, and wondering if any letter had arrived from Bristol.

I seldom saw Mr. Ellerslie in the drawing-room, where I was kept, till he returned from business late in the afternoon.

This day, when he entered the apartment with his wife, he looked gloomy and anxious as ever.

“There is a late post; we may hear to-night,” the lady said.

He muttered something, I could not make out what.

Mr. Ellerslie was very irritable that evening; he could scarcely bear the children near him at all.

Eddy made a vain attempt to repeat to him the fairy’s song, of which the rhyme had caught the child’s fancy.

He and his sister were soon sent up to the nursery; but George, as being older and more quiet, was suffered to remain behind.

Mrs. Ellerslie, with forced cheerfulness, did all that she could to make the heavy time pass pleasantly.

She carefully avoided rousing her husband’s temper, and when, without reason, his peevishness broke forth, she bore it without a murmur or complaint, and kept down the tears which struggled to rise.

I saw plainly that iron is not the only thing liable to a speck of rust, nor broken-pointed scissors the only articles formed to cut and divide.

Mrs. Ellerslie took up a book, a very amusing volume it was, and read till her voice grew hoarse and faint.

“May I read a little, mother?

” said George; “it is good practice for me, you know.

” She placed the book in his hand; but it soon became evident that George was not accustomed to read aloud.

He never varied his tone, missed the short words and mispronounced the long, and certainly made a very poor figure as a reader.

“How you drawl!

it is a penance to hear you!

” cried his father.

“Shall I take the book now?

” said Mrs. Ellerslie faintly.

George was flushed.

I could see that he felt his father’s taunt.

I

believe that he would gladly have given up the reading; but his mother’s feeble tone seemed to touch his heart, and still retaining his hold of the volume, he said, “If you please, I would rather try a little longer;

I will try to read better, if you will let me.

” “There’s the post!

” exclaimed Mrs. Ellerslie, with a start, as the double rap was suddenly heard.

George saw that his mother was anxious: he sprang out of the room in a moment.

Mr. Ellerslie rose, as if too impatient to be able to sit still; his wife clasped her trembling hands; but neither of them uttered a word till George returned with a letter.

“The Bristol post-mark!

” muttered Mr. Ellerslie, as he broke the seal.

“George, my son,” said the lady, “go to the dining-room for a few minutes.

You can take the book with you, if you like.

” George instantly obeyed, without speaking; and Mrs. Ellerslie fixed her blue eyes, with a look of intense anxiety, on the changing countenance of her husband.

“There—read it,” he exclaimed, when he had finished perusing the letter;

“what do you say, Eliza, to that?

” and he threw himself again on his chair.

“He writes kindly of George,” said the mother, after looking over the first page of the letter,—“‘_I was much pleased with what I saw of your boy last year,—I don’t forget that he is my namesake.

_’” The poor mother’s face brightened up.

“Read on,” said her husband abruptly.

“It does not seem that he declines to assist you,” said the lady, still anxiously endeavouring to make out the crabbed handwriting before her;

“on the contrary,” he writes, ‘_I shall have a large sum at your disposal, such as I think will remove every difficulty.

_’” “There’s an _if_ to that.

Read on a little farther.

” “Oh, Edward!

” exclaimed the lady, almost dropping the letter, “can he ask us to give up our boy—our dear son?

” “He offers to adopt him as his own.

” “My George!

oh!

no, no, no!

—we can never, never consent to that!

” “Why, you see, Eliza,” said her husband, speaking rapidly, “if I have not assistance now, all will be ruin—I shall have no means of supporting my family.

Perhaps this is the best thing for George himself—” “I can hardly think it,” said the mother, with a look of intense pain.

“Hardcastle gives us to understand that the separation from our boy must be ‘_complete—final_’—these are his very words—that ‘_George must not look to two fathers or two homes_—’” “Hardcastle dislikes me,” muttered Mr. Ellerslie to himself.

“And even if we could bear to part,” continued his wife, with something like a stifled sob, “Hardcastle is not one to whom our boy could look up with the affection—the reverence—” she stopped for a moment, as if to swallow down her tears.

“Hardcastle has temper, he is strange, eccentric.

Our George would be wretched with him.

Oh no!

it cannot be!

” she added with energy; “it would be like sacrificing—selling our child!

” “If we refuse Hardcastle’s offer,” said her husband, “we offend him for ever; and you know the consequences, Eliza.

” She sat with her hand pressed over her eyes, while Mr. Ellerslie continued to speak, “He can afford George advantages, comforts, which it would not be in our power to bestow.

I am not certain whether, all selfish motives set aside, the boy would not be happier at Bristol than here.

” “Let us consult George himself,” said the unhappy mother.

“On a question which concerns the welfare of his whole life, we at least should know what are the poor child’s feelings.

” “I have no objection,” replied the father, walking to the door; “but you must command yourself, Eliza.

This is weak, foolish—not what I expected from you.

We must think calmly, and decide firmly, and not give way to emotions which injure ourselves and can do good to none.

—George!

” he called out, after opening the door, while his wife, after one look of anguish, such as I never can forget, sat quiet and submissive on the sofa, like one whose spirit is broken and crushed.

“Did you call me, father?

” said George, as he entered with his light step and cheerful glance.

“Yes; I wish to speak to you, my boy.

You remember your visit to Bristol last summer?

” “That I do!

” replied the school-boy with a meaning smile; “I know that I was precious glad when it was over!

” “You had nothing to complain of—Mr. Hardcastle was kind?

” “Well, kind after his fashion,” said George, with a little hesitation.