Emily Sarah Holt

“ Both of them were terribly ignorant; but Avice did honestly desire to know God’s will, and such truth as was in Hester’s words troubled her. And as she thought, other words came to her, heard years ago from the pulpit of Lincoln Cathedral, and from the long silent lips of that holy Bishop Grosteste whom she so deeply revered.
“By leaning on Christ,” the Bishop had said, “every true Christian rises into true life, peace, and joy; he lives in His life, sees light in His light, is invigorated with His warmth, grows in His strength, and leaning on the Beloved, his soul ascends upwards.” ”

“ Here comes one of them, in a long green robe of shining silky stuff, which is called samite; round his neck is a curiously cut collar of dark red cloth, and in his hand he carries a white hood. Men do not confine themselves to the quiet, sober colours that we are accustomed to see; they are smarter than the ladies themselves. This knight, as he passes out, throws his gown back, before mounting his horse, and you see his yellow hose striped with black—trousers and stockings all in a piece, as it were—with low black shoes, and gilt spurs. ”

“ The very next visit that Dan paid to Avice and Bertha showed them plainly that a change of some sort had come over him, and as time went on they saw it still more plainly. His heart had opened to the love of Christ like a flower to the sunlight. The moment that he really saw Him, he accepted Him. With how many is it not the case that they do not love Christ because they do not know Him, and they do not know Him because no one of those who do puts Him plainly before them?
It was much longer before Father Thomas and Avice saw any fruit of their prayers for Filomena. ”

“ Let her see a suffering child, and she would be sorry and anxious to help; but a thousand suffering people whom she did not see, even if something which she did had made them suffer, were nothing at all to her.
The Queen liked her visitors. She thought old Muriel looked reliable; she was amused with the bewildered reverence of Agnes; and as to Avice, a child more or less in Windsor Castle mattered very little. She would do to feed the peacock when Princess Margaret did not choose to attend to it. ”

“ But Ankaret and Susanna declined to touch the work, the latter cynically offering to lend her apron to Avice.
As Avice scrubbed away, she began to regret her errand. To be afflicted with such a lifelong companion as one of these lively young ladies would be far worse than solitude. But where was the youngest?—the quiet little Bertha, who took after her peaceable father, and whom Avice had rarely heard to speak? She asked Eleanor for her youngest sister. ”

“ Father Thomas was by nature a quiet man. His temper was gentle and even; he hated everything like noise and bustle, far more tumult and quarrelling. He was not fond even of conversation, except now and then as a pleasant variety to a quiet life, full of thinking and reading. A man of this sort is generally an innocent man—by which I mean, a man who does no harm to his neighbours: and considering how many men and women spend their lives in doing their neighbours harm of one sort or another, that is a good deal to say of any man. ”

“ We could not make her understand that one image was not the same thing as another image. But I fancy she had some idea—strange and dim it might be—of what we meant when we knelt and put our hands together and looked up. I know she did it very often, without telling—always at night, before she slept. But it was strange that she never went to the holy images at that time; she always seemed to go away from them, and kneel down in a corner. And in her last illness, several times, coming into the chamber, I found her lying with her hands folded in prayer, and her eyes lifted up to Heaven. ”

“ Avice smiled, for she knew better.
“Nay, Hildith, London town is built of brick and stone like Lincoln.”
“Is it, now? I always heard it was made o’ gold. But aren’t there a vast sight o’ folk there? nigh upon ten thousand?”
“Ay, and more.”
“However do they get victuals for them all?”
“I got mine when I lived there,” said Avice, laughing.
“And don’t they burn sea-coal?”
“They did once; it is forbidden now.”
“Dirty, poisonous stuff! I wouldn’t touch it. Well, good-even. Shut the door quick, Bertha, and don’t watch me out o’ sight; ’tis the unluckiest thing man can do.” ”

“ Daughter, dost thou believe in the Holy Ghost?”
Avice’s immediate answer was what would be the instinctive unthinking response of most professing Christians.
“Why, Father, of course I do!”
“Good. What dost thou believe?”
Avice was silent. “Ah!” said the priest. “It is easy to think we believe: but hard to put our faith into plain words. If the faith were clearer, maybe the words would follow.” ”

“ The Grandmother gave a little shake of her head, though she answered cheerfully enough.
“Things go pretty well, holy Father, I thank you. Work is off and on, as it may be; but we manage to keep a roof over our heads, as you see, and we can even find a bowl of broth and a wheat-cake for our friends. The Lord be praised for all His mercies!”
“Well said, my sister. And what do you intend to make of your little maid here?”
“Marry, I intend to make a good worker of her,” said Agnes in her turn, “and not an idle giggling good-for-nought, as most of the lasses be. ”

“ The truth is, everybody thinks his own trouble the worst; and yet, if we had our neighbours’ instead, nine times out of ten we should be glad to get back to our own. We know the worst of them, and often we don’t of the others. So that is why I say, I’d rather be as I am.”
“But people look down on you!” said Antigone.
“Well, let them. That won’t hurt me,” answered Sarah.
“Sarah, I do believe you’ve not a bit of spirit!”
“I’d rather keep my spirit for what it is good for—to help me over hard places and along weary bits of road. All women have those at times. ”

“ Opposite the bake-stone is the window; a very little one, much wider than it is high, and rilled with exceedingly small diamond-shaped panes of very poor greenish glass set in lead, there being so much lead and so little glass that the room is but dark in the brightest sunshine. ”

“ But who follows him?—this superbly dressed woman in rich blue glistening samite, with a black and gold hood, under which we see her hair bound with a golden fillet, and a necklace of costly pearls clasped round her throat—for it is a warm day, and she has not tied her hood. She must be somebody of consequence, for a smart gentleman leads her by the hand, and one with a long staff walks in front, to keep the people from pressing too close on her. She is indeed somebody of consequence—the Countess of Lincoln herself, by birth an Italian Princess ”

“ Because the poor worshippers fancied that the crucifix had more power than the image of a saint, and that the Virgin was able to look after her own candle! A torch, or in later times a candle, was always burning in front of the image; and of course if the image could keep it alight, it was much less trouble to the worshipper!
But had they no common sense in those days? Well, really, it looks sometimes as if they had not. When men once turn aside from God’s Word, it is impossible to say to what folly or wickedness they will not go. ”

“ Saint Peter had to put up with only half his hair for the rest of that day, for Father Thomas determinately washed and wiped his brush, threw a cloth over his book and painting tools to keep them from the dust, put on his fur cap, and went off to see the Vicar of Newport.
When a man braces himself up to do something which he does not like for the love of God, sometimes God makes it a great deal easier and less disagreeable than he expected to find it. ”

“ If we do a sum to find out what that would be now, when money is much more plentiful, we shall find that Hildith’s wages come to twenty-two shillings and sixpence, and the tinder-box was worth eighteen-pence. We should fancy that nobody could live on such a sum. But we must remember two things: first, they then did a great deal for themselves which we pay for; they spun and wove their own linen and woollen, did their own washing, brewed their own ale and cider, made their own butter and cheese, and physicked themselves with herbs. ”

“ This is a poor woman who comes now: she wears a serge dress which has cost her about three-halfpence a yard, and a threadbare hood for which she may have given sixpence.
Are things so cheap, then? No, just the other way about; money is so dear. The wages of a mason or a bricklayer are about sixpence a week; haymakers have the same; reapers get from a shilling to half-a-crown, and mowers one and ninepence. The gentlemen who wait on the King himself only receive a shilling a day. ”

“ Poor, weak, easy-tempered Dan! They took his advice, and crept round by the lee-side of the house, under cover of the hedge. When they were out of sight, with a belt of trees between, old Dan took leave of them.
“Thou’ll be good to the little maid, Avice,” said he. “I know thou will, or I’d never ha’ let her go. But she’ll be better off—ay, a deal better off, she’ll be. She gets put upon, she does. And being youngest, thou sees—I say, my lass, thou’d best call her aunt. She’s so much elder than thee; it’ll sound better nor cousin.”
“Very good, Father,” said Bertha. ”

“ Dan stared. “She wants no tellin’ that, I’ll go bail! she’s got every mortal thing her own way.”
“That is not the way to be happy,” answered the priest. “Nay, my son, she is a most unhappy woman, and her face shows it. Thou art happier far than she.”
Dan dropped the big hammer in sheer astonishment, and if Father Thomas had not made a rapid retreat, more than his eyes and ears would have told him so.
“Me happier nor our Filomena! Me! Father, dunnot be angered wi’ me, but either you’re downright silly, or you’re somewhat more nor other folks.” ”

“ The way to have the floor clear and clean is to sweep it every morning.”
“Ay, my daughter, sweep it every morning with the besom of prayer, and every night bear over it the torch of self-examination. So shall the evil insects not make their nests there.”
“I don’t quite know how to examine myself,” said Avice.
“And thou wilt err,” answered Father Thomas, “if thou set about that work alone, with a torch lighted at the flame of thine own righteousness. Light thy torch at the fire of God’s altar; examine thyself by the light of His holy law ”

“ When a woman comes to fifty years, little Bertha, there are plenty of things in the past of her life, which nobody can see who did not go through them with her. And often those who did so cannot see them. ”

“ Bertha began.
Avice answered the half-asked question. “They were like other folks, child. They liked their own way, and tried to get it. And they liked fine clothes, and great feasts, and plenty of company, and so forth; so they spent their money that way. I’ll not say they were bad folks, though they did some bad things they were folks that only thought what they liked, and did it; and folks that do that are sure to bring sorrow to themselves and others too, whether they be kings and queens or cooks and haymakers. The kings and queens can do it on a larger scale; that is all the difference. ”

“ And then something else inside the priest’s heart rose up, as it were, to press down the question, and bid the questioner be silent.
“I wonder,” said Avice, innocently, quite unaware of the course of her companion’s thoughts, “whether, if Aunt Filomena knew her duty better, she might not give poor Uncle Dan a little more rest. He is good, in his way, and as far as he knows. I wish I knew more! But then,” Avice concluded, with a little laugh, “I am only a woman.” ”

“ Saint Peter told bishops that they were not to be lords over God’s heritage, but to be ensamples to the flock; but when Bishop Grosteste lived, most bishops were very great lords, and very poor examples. Bishops, and clergymen too, were fond of going about in gay clothes of all colours, playing at games, and even drinking at ale-houses. Many of them were positively not respectable men. But Bishop Grosteste and his chaplain were dressed in plain black, and they were of the few who walk not according to the course of this world. ”

“ The carpets which were spread for the Countess have been rolled away, and our three humble friends pick their steps as best they may among the dirt-heaps, occasionally slipping into a puddle—I am afraid Avice now and then walks into it deliberately for the fun of the splash!—and following the road taken by the Countess as far as the Bull Gate, they then turn to the left, leaving the frowning Castle on their right, and begin to descend the steep slope well named Steephill. ”

“ Do you mean ’at He cares—that it makes any matter to Him up yonder, whether old Dan at t’ smithy loves Him or not? I’m no-but a common smith. There’s hundreds just like me. Does He really care, think you?”
“Thou art a man,” said the priest, “and it was for men Christ died. And there is none other of thee, though there were millions like thee. Is a true mother content with any babe in exchange for her own, because there are hundreds of babes in the world? ”

“ The majority showed themselves thoughtless and giddy: they went to run races on the green, and to play games—the better disposed only among themselves: but the wild, adventurous spirits soon joined a lot of idle youths as unsteady as themselves, with whom they spent the evening in rough play, loud laughter, and not altogether decorous joking. ”

“ Can this be Sunday afternoon in a good street? for every shop is open, and in the doorways stand young men calling out to the passers-by to come in and look at their goods. “What lack you? what lack you?” ”

“ Do the angels go to Purgatory? Nay, I do verily believe that, seeing her infirmity, Christ our Lord did all the work of salvation for her, and that she sings now before our Father’s face.”
Poor Avice! she could get no further. But we, who know God’s Word, know that there is but one Mediator between God and man, and that He has offered a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. Before Bertha could reply, an answer came unexpectedly from the dark corner. ”