Hesper, the Home-Spirit

One day, however, as she was crossing the brook between her own home and aunt Nyna’s, she spied Jake on the bank, skinning a rabbit which he had killed a short time previous. His gun and a bunch of dead birds lay on the ground beside him.

“Dear me, Jake!” said Hesper, as she stopped suddenly – “what a nice parcel of birds you have! Did you kill them all this morning?”

“Yes, every one;” said Jake, briefly, as he continued his operations.

“And what a fine fat rabbit, too! Why, I declare, you are quite a sportsman!”

Jake looked up with a smile – “Yes,” said he, “this is a nice little fellow, and will make a first rate dinner for me. Won’t you please, Miss Hesper, to just hold him by the legs, while I pull the skin off over his back? There, that’s it. Thank you.”

“Why, Jake!” said Hesper, as she let go of the little creature with a secret shudder – “you did that in a real scientific manner. I don’t believe I could possibly have done it myself.”

“Ah!” said Jake, with a gratified look, “there is everything in knowing how.”

“Yes,” replied Hesper, “we all have to live and learn, and there are none of us so wise but what we can learn many things of one another. But that makes me think, Jake – why don’t you come to our evening school? We should be glad to have you.”

“Because I don’t want to,” he replied decidedly, “and what’s more, I won’t. I haven’t been to school since I licked the master, and if I should go again, it wouldn’t be three weeks before I should do the same, and that would be the end on’t.”

“But, Jake,” said Hesper, pleasantly – “I should be your teacher, and you wouldn’t lick me, would you?”

The rude boy looked up to her face with a broad grin.

“Lick you!” he repeated, while his countenance assumed an expression as though the idea was perfectly preposterous; “I would sooner cut off my right hand first – and what’s more, if I saw any fellow lift his finger against you, or even make an ugly face at you, I’d skin him as quick as I did this rabbit.”

“Then Jake,” said Hesper, “you are just the one I want, for sometimes I have a great deal of trouble, and I need a good friend to stand by me so you’ll come to-night, won’t you?”

“I don’t know about it,” said Jake, with some hesitation – “When I get among the white boys they call me a nigger, and that makes me so mad I could kill ‘em with a good will.”

“Jake,” said Hesper, as she laid her hand on his shoulder and looked him earnestly in the face, “if you’ll be my friend, I’ll be yours, and whoever treats you unkindly, it shall be all the same as if it were me. The Good Father, up there in heaven, cares nothing for the color of the skin. It is the heart alone he looks at, and therefore I shall do the same. We should all love one another in this world like brothers and sisters, Jake, so don’t turn away from me when I want to do you good, but I pray you, try my friendship a little while, and if it does not satisfy you then seek something better.”

Jake dropped his rabbit upon the ground, and looked up to her with tears in his eyes.

“Miss Hesper,” he said earnestly, “I believe you are a good angel, for nobody ever spoke so to me before. If you’ll only be kind to me and love me all the time as you do now, I’ll go to school or anywhere, and do just as you want me.”

There was a convincing earnestness in his manner, and Hesper felt that she had touched the right chord in a nature which had long been misunderstood.

“That’s right, Jake!” she said, as she clasped his hand with heartfelt sincerity. “Let me see you then at the hall to-night, and I will do all I can to make you happy.”

With a light heart and smiling countenance she turned to pursue her way again, but had not proceeded far, when Jake came running after her.

“Miss Hesper,” said he, “wouldn’t you like to have these birds for your dinner? they are all quails and wood-pigeons, and you will find them nice eating.”

“I shouldn’t like to rob you, Jake,” said Hesper, as she looked at the birds, which she really did not want.

“O please do take them!” he said entreatingly. “I’ll dress them all nicely, and wash them in the brook, and carry them up to your house myself, if you only say so.”

“Well, Jake,” replied Hesper, without further hesitation, “I shall be greatly obliged to you if you will, and I will cook them as nicely as possible.”

Away flew Jake again to the brook, perfectly delighted, and Hesper continued on her way. There was no small commotion in the school that evening, when black Jake made his appearance among them. He regarded the whole assembly with a look of defiance, but the moment he drew near Hesper, he seemed to soften and bend immediately beneath the glance of her gentle eye. For the first few evenings he did very well, and then he grew restless and uneasy, but Hesper watched him closely, and by her unvarying kindness and attention, she at length succeeded in calling up all the powers of his better nature. Then nothing could keep him from the school, and he made more rapid improvement than any of the others. Before many weeks, the Charity School became a very popular thing, and visitors came pouring in from all quarters. Among them aunt Betsey at length made her appearance. At first she only came just within the door, and with her spectacles upon her nose, she surveyed the whole school with a sharp, half-contemptuous gaze. Then she drew her dress close about her, and passed along to the place where Hesper was engaged in teaching.

“Mercy me!” she said in an under tone, “what a looking set of mortals! Black, white, grey and all colors – old, young and middling. Why I don’t see, Hesper, how you can stay here five minutes! more especially with that great, dirty black fellow close to your elbow!” She spoke cautiously, but nevertheless, Jake overheard, and he brought his clenched fist down, with so-much force upon his slate, that he cracked it entirely across, and attracted the attention of the whole school.

“Mercy me!” said aunt Betsey, as she started back in alarm.

Jake was about to spring from his chair, but Hesper laid her hand firmly upon his shoulder. She felt him trembling violently beneath her touch, and she knew that his fiery spirit could ill brook control, but she did not loose her hold, and kept soothing him with gentle words, till gradually he bowed his head upon his hands and rested them upon the table before him. His whole frame shook with emotion, but Hesper knew that the poor boy had won a great moral victory, and her heart rejoiced with him. Aunt Betsey, however, was unconscious of all this, and therefore she regarded him with a very angry and suspicious look.

“Dear me!” she said, after a few moment’s silence, “I can’t stay here another minute. I am really afraid of taking some pestiferous disease in this horrid atmosphere. I think your school is a very good thing, Hesper, and I wish it all success, but I don’t believe I shall ever come again – good night” – and she bustled out, with an expression of countenance, which was anything but pleasing.

For more than four months the school continued in a most prosperous condition, and then, as the evenings grew very short, and many of the scholars were about to leave for their summer employment, it was proposed to suspend the school until the following September. A few evenings previous to the breaking up, however, black Jake was missing, and the sad intelligence was brought that he had fallen from the third story of a house which was in process of erection, and was now lying in a very precarious condition. With all possible haste Hesper repaired to his bed-side next day, and found her worst fears confirmed. He did not seem to suffer much pain, but the blood which flowed slowly but constantly from his mouth, showed that he had sustained a severe internal injury.

“O Miss Hesper!” he whispered, as soon as he beheld her loved countenance, “I knew you would come! All night I have been comforted with the thought that I should see you in the morning.” The tears of grateful affection rolled down his cheeks as he spoke, and he pressed her hand earnestly to his heart.

“The doctor says I am going to die, Miss Hesper,” he continued, “and I am willing to go, for ever since you told me that the Good Father in heaven cared nothing for the color of the skin, I have longed to go to him. I thought once that every body in the world hated me, and so I hated every body, but when I found that you loved me and cared for me, then I tried to be a better boy. I only knew how to read a very little when I came to your school, but you soon made it so easy and pleasant for me, that very often, when I was in the woods, instead of killing birds and rabbits, I would lay down in the bushes and spell out the words in the little Testament you gave me. Now I think it is best for me to die, for if I grow up to be a man, I may become wicked and careless again, and I should never be ready to go. But let me tell now, Miss Hesper, while I am able, it is your love and kindness that makes me feel so happy, and I hope God will bless you for it forever and ever.”

Poor Hesper’s loving heart was so deeply moved by the boy’s earnestness, that she could not speak. She could only put her handkerchief to her face and weep like a child. It so happened that the old minister who had formerly taken Jake under his care, had entered unobserved, and overheard the boy’s words. With tearful eyes he now drew near the bed and extended his hand.

“My poor fellow,” he said, “I have wronged you, but it was because I did not understand your nature. I endeavored to drive you into goodness, therefore you hated me, and my labor was lost. God forgive me that I forgot ‘the charity that never faileth’ – the love that ‘overcometh all things.’ But this good girl has taught me a useful lesson, and henceforth I shall endeavor to profit by it.”

The old man knelt by the side of the bed in prayer, and his words came with a perfect gush of earnestness and love. When he arose and looked upon the boy’s face again, he perceived that the spirit even then was preparing to lay aside its mortal garment. One after another the neighbors and friends dropped in, and many of Jake’s schoolmates gathered around his bed. He regarded them all with a pleasant smile – turned his eyes with a look of grateful love to Hesper’s countenance, and then, drawing his weeping mother closer to him, he breathed his life away like a weary child upon her bosom.

A few days after this, the whole school followed poor Jake’s mortal remains to their last resting place, and the old minister addressed the assembly so earnestly and touchingly at the grave, that all were moved to tears. It seemed to Hesper a strange dispensation of Providence, that thus briefly the poor boy had been thrown upon her sympathies, and then suddenly withdrawn when his life seemed budding forth into the fulness of promise. But she felt that a wise purpose had been served, and full of strength and consolation did the thought come to her, that if only in this one instance her labors among the poor children had been crowned with success, she was amply rewarded. Thus she reasoned with herself, but she could not see deeply enough into her own nature, to comprehend, that this one simple incident had formed a chapter in her experience, clearly illustrating the pure principle of love which not only governed all her actions, but was also leading her on to still higher attainments in the future.

CHAPTER XXIV.

AN UNEXPECTED CHANGE

As time passed on, and Mose made several successive voyages, he was at length promoted to the rank of first mate, and then it was whispered among the village gossips, with some truth, that he had found favor in the eyes of Alice Smiley, the doctor’s youngest daughter. He was not indeed her equal in point of social position or education, but his frankness and manliness of character, his general intelligence and unaffected goodness of heart, had so far won upon her, that she could easily overlook all minor differences. He was also a great favorite with her father, and therefore he would meet with no difficulty in that quarter. Hesper was very much pleased with this arrangement, but the village gossips were greatly surprised, as they had already selected Juliana Grimsby for Mose. Aunt Betsey, in particular, made herself very busy about the matter, and came down one evening for the express purpose of talking it over with Hesper.

“Look here,” said she, “I think Mose is setting himself up most too high, and if I ain’t much mistaken, he’ll find it out before long. These people that are always trying to get themselves in among the aristocracy, seldom escape without punishment. They are petted and patronized for a time, and then pitched out all of a sudden, for some new favorite. I know how it is, for I’ve tried it myself afore now. If he had contented himself among common folks, and taken up with Juliana Grimsby, I should have approved of his choice, and made the bride a handsome present; but now I shan’t do the least thing in the world for him. Juliana is a smart, likely girl, and would have made him an excellent wife.”

“I have no doubt of it,” said Hesper, “but then every one has their own choice you know.”

“Of course,” replied aunt Betsey, “but it may be a mighty foolish choice though, if ‘tis one’s own. There are some people who don’t know what is for their good half so well as others can tell them, and so they often make grievous mistakes, which, with a little advice, they might have avoided. Now if Mose had only asked me, I should have said Juliana, by all means. Just think, Hesper, how handsome she is! why, there isn’t a girl in the village that will compare with her!”

“It is true,” replied Hesper, “that Juliana is very handsome – much more so than Alice; but then Mose don’t think much of beauty.”

“I think he does though,” returned aunt Betsey, “but it’s of a peculiar kind. The beauty of the doctor’s purse is far more attractive than his daughter’s countenance.”

Hesper bit her lips quickly to keep from answering, for she was greatly vexed.

“Now, as far as you and Harry are concerned,” continued aunt Betsey, “I have not a word to say. You are well matched, and I suppose, by what I hear, that he has quite a snug little fortune laid up, by this time. Let’s see; you are expecting him home before long, ain’t you?” “I should not be surprised to hear of his arrival at any time,” replied Hesper, quietly.

“Dear me!” resumed aunt Betsey, “what a time his mother will make! She thinks so much of her Harry. Don’t you think! the other day she really undertook to pity me, because I had no children! Why, it was perfectly ridiculous! for the Searcher of Hearts knows, that I never desired them.”

Just then, in rushed Bose like a mad creature – he jumped – he howled, he barked, and then laid down on the floor and rolled with all his might.

“Mercy me!” exclaimed aunt Betsey, as she sprang upon the dining table and drew her dress close about her – “The creature is certainly mad! Hesper, put your head out of the window, and scream for help as loud as you can!”

Hesper, however, who was not so much alarmed, was regarding the dog with some curiosity, for this was rather an unusual demonstration on his part. So earnestly was her attention fixed upon him, that she did not perceive the entrance of any one, till a strong arm was thrown around her, and a warm kiss imprinted upon her cheek. She glanced up quickly, at the pleasant, manly countenance that bent over her, and exclaimed “Harry!” for the long expected one, had really returned.

“O law!” said aunt Betsey, as she descended from the table, and shook hands with the young man, “that accounts for the dog’s actions. Why, what a knowing creature he is!” She didn’t stop long, however, for she and Bose never were friends, and never could be.

“Hesper,” said Harry, “I couldn’t wait to see mother, but sent my baggage along and came directly here. I suppose, however, the good old lady will be almost crazy till I come, so I pray you put on your bonnet and shawl and go with me.”

Hesper made herself ready as soon as possible, and while she was doing so, Harry lit his cigar. “I hope,” said he, as they passed along, “that this smoke isn’t disagreeable to you. Some women have a great objection to cigar smoke, but if you’ll just go over to the windward it won’t come so directly in your face. It’s a bad habit I know, but then if I don’t smoke I chew, and one is about as bad as the other. I’m sorry, but I can’t help it.”

Hesper could not help feeling a little sorry too, but then, like many other women, she thought that if it was any pleasure or satisfaction to one who was so dear to her, she would try to overlook it. When they arrived at the house, they found Juliana, who had been passing the afternoon there. As aunt Nyna was not expecting Harry before she heard of the ship’s arrival, of course she was greatly surprised. But her surprise could not equal Harry’s, when he found that the handsome and intelligent young lady he met there, was the same Juliana who formerly lived in the house with Hesper. He had known her then, as a slovenly, disagreeable girl, against whom he had felt the greatest dislike.

“I declare!” he said, in a straight-forward manner, as he stood and gazed at her – “I never saw any one so altered in my life! and if you won’t think me impudent, I will also add, or so handsome either.”

A light blush quickly overspread Juliana’s countenance, as she glanced smilingly up to him, which made her appear more beautiful than ever. After this Harry paid her great attention, and when she became a little more acquainted, she grew very social and entertaining.

That night they all walked home together, loitering along in the moonlight, engaged in pleasant conversation, until they parted with Juliana at her own door.

“I declare!” exclaimed Harry again, shortly after leaving her, “what a beauty that girl is! and how charming in conversation!”

“Yes!” replied Hesper earnestly, “and what is best of all, she is good as she is handsome.”

She spoke most sincerely, for she loved Juliana much, and the charity which thinketh no evil, shut out all feelings of jealousy or suspicion from her heart. Harry listened with much interest, as Hesper proceeded at still greater length to set forth the merits of Juliana, and at the conclusion, he simply remarked, that he was glad Hesper had so good a friend.

For the first two or three weeks after his arrival, Harry was quite a constant visitor at the residence of the Greysons, but when Hesper was busy about the house, he usually took Juliana out to ride, or sail, with him, and finally this became so frequent, that the village gossips took the matter up, and aunt Betsey came down to see about it. To her surprise, however, she found that Hesper did not feel anxious or troubled in the least, and therefore she set herself to work immediately, to make her so.

“I declare!” said she, after talking some time, “I don’t see how you can be so quiet and calm about it! Why, if it was me, I’d tear that girl’s eyes out.”

“That would not mend the matter,” said Hesper, carelessly. “If he likes her better than me, let him take her – that’s all.”

“And do you mean to say, you wouldn’t care one straw about it?” asked aunt Betsey.

“If I did, I shouldn’t tell any one,” said Hesper.

“But if you don’t look out for your rights in time, you will be an old maid, certain.”

“Well, what if I am?” was the quiet reply; “that will not hinder my usefulness.”

“Why Hesper Greyson!” exclaimed aunt Betsey. “It’s a horrible disgrace to be an old maid! I tell you, if I was a young girl, I would marry an Esquimaux or a Hottentot, rather than be one!” “And as for me,” replied Hesper, “I would sooner lie down in my grave, than marry a man whom I did not sincerely love, or who did not thus love me.”

“Very well,” replied aunt Betsey, starting up, “I see that you have some mighty fine ideas on this subject. But let me tell you that if you won’t look out for your own interest in time, and turn out a poor, miserable old maid at last, you needn’t look to my husband for assistance – that’s all.”

After thus relieving herself, she departed, leaving Hesper in rather an uncomfortable frame of mind. As matters continued, the poor girl herself could not doubt much longer, and when, one night, Harry came in and took his seat beside her, she knew the instant she looked in his face, what was the intention of his call as well as if he had already spoken it.

“Hesper,” he said, after a short introductory conversation, “I did think, when I came home, that I loved you better than any one else in the world, but now I know that I do not. I would help it if I could, and if you say so, I will still fulfil my promise, but I feel that with my heart so divided, I could never make you truly happy.”

The color faded slightly from Hesper’s cheek, and there was a scarcely perceptible tremor in her voice, but she looked him calmly in the face and said —

“Harry, if you love Juliana better than you do me, marry her. You could not do yourself or me a greater wrong, than in fulfilling an engagement which you made under a mistaken impression. I do not blame you in the least. Go your way and be happy. You have my best wishes, and I shall ever remain a friend to you and yours, so long as life and breath are granted me.”

For a few moments Harry regarded her with silent admiration. “Hesper,” he said, “you are a noble girl, and perhaps I shall live to repent the step which I now take, in sackcloth and ashes. But O!” he added, as he started up and clasped her hand earnestly, “I cannot! indeed I cannot help it! Think kindly of me, Hesper, and forgive me.”

He pressed her hand to his lips, and turned quickly away, leaving her alone with God and her disappointment. She listened to the sound of his footsteps as he went down the pathway, and then falling upon her knees beside her chair, she wept in agony of spirit. There was but one refuge for her. The arms of Infinite Love were open to her, and like a storm-beaten dove she cast herself into them, as into an ark of safety, praying only that the void in her heart might be filled with something higher and holier than aught that earth could give.

A few days after this, Juliana came, and with tears in her eyes, opened her whole heart to Hesper. She received as kind and considerate an answer as that which had been given to Harry, and she went away comforted in the thought that by accepting his offer, she was not trampling on the sacred rights of her friend.

In the course of a few weeks the new engagement was made known, and everybody expressed their astonishment. Hesper bore up bravely beneath it. There was only one thing which deeply disturbed the serenity of her soul, and that was the idle curiosity and most contemptible pity of the village gossips. Aunt Betsey raved, and advised Hesper to sue Harry for breach of promise, directly.

There was one, however, to whom this unexpected change was a cause of the deepest sorrow, and this one was aunt Nyna herself.

“Hesper, my dear girl!” she said, as she came one night, and putting her arm around her, drew her close to her bosom – “I had hoped one day to call thee my own child, but I feel it is ordered otherwise. Between thee and me, I will say, that I fear my Harry is not what he should be. God bless thee, dear one! I trust that He in whom there is neither variableness nor shadow of turning, hath reserved for thee better things.”

CHAPTER XXV.

A HEART BLEEDING IN SECRET

There was an unusually large wedding at the Grimsbys, to which full half of the village was invited, and Hesper too was there, looking more beautiful than any one had ever seen her before. She wore moss rose-buds in her hair and upon her bosom, and her white dress, so floating and airy, gave her a light, spiritual appearance, which accorded well with the tender light in her eyes, and the serenity of her pale countenance. When the youthful pair stood up side by side, for the performance of the ceremony, Hesper felt the painful consciousness that as many eyes were turned upon her, as on them. They were probing the depths of her soul, to see how she bore her disappointment; but that calm, sweet countenance, betrayed nothing of the deep emotion within. Neither could the slightest affectation or insincerity be detected in her manner, when, at the conclusion of the ceremony, she went forward with others, to tender her congratulations and the kiss of affection to the newly married pair. The time, however, passed wearily to her, and feeling that she could not bear the scrutiny of curious eyes much longer, she retired at an early hour.