Emma Leslie

“ So it was a mingled feeling of respect and pity that they felt for Eric. They had each had some chance in life that they had either lost or thrown away; but this lad had been worse off than they were, for he had not been allowed even this small grace.
That every man should have his chance in life was one of the few things they all believed in, and that their hearts could be touched on behalf of Eric on this account, proved that they were not so sunk in selfishness as their miserable condition would lead one to think. ”

“ Methodists are a society of people who have banded themselves together to serve God and hold themselves aloof from the world that lieth in wickedness."
"Oh yes, I heard all that from the Methodist who was working here; but it seemed to me that laziness was the thing he ought to avoid, but being a Methodist didn't seem to make much difference. I dare say he would have been lazy anywhere."
"I daresay he would," answered Sister Martin; "and it may be the man is trying to overcome this fault just because he is a Methodist; but you do not see these efforts he is making—you only see the failures. ”

“ Summerleigh was a quiet, self-contained little village on the edge of Epping Forest, far enough from London to be very jealous of the intrusion of strangers if they stayed more than a night at the inn, unless they happened to be visitors at the Hall. So when the poor woman came with her only son, a lad of ten, to occupy the little cottage that had stood tenantless so long on the edge of the forest clearing, the whole parish was stirred to discover who she was and why she came there. ”

“ After a time these other vessels were reached, and again the Osprey was asked for, but no one knew anything about her at all here.
"The next time you come out on a fool's errand don't ask Tom Higgins to go with you," said the surly boatman at last, turning his boat towards the shore, and giving up further search for the vessel. "I shall want a crown of you, young man," he went on.
"Then it's no good going back until we do find the Osprey," said Eric in a fright. "I haven't got so much money as that, but if we find the ship, I can get it, I daresay." ”

“ They will go back in the wherry, but the pannikins we shall take with us on our voyage."
"Are you going all the way with us?" asked Eric, with a glad light in his eyes.
"Yes, my lad, I hope to be God's messenger to some of these poor people here. It is not the first time I have been out to the king's plantations of America, and if my life is spared, I hope it will not be the last. If we have a good voyage, I hope to make two journeys this year, for there is a great demand for slaves among the colonists, and the people are better off there than in our gaols." ”

“ Where is the boy?" she asked, seeing Eric did not appear.
"Left him to look after Meg's foal; something ails her, and she wants seeing to for an hour," replied Mr. Consett.
"But he hasn't had his dinner," said both women in the same breath.
"Just what I told the lad; but true lovers of horses don't think of meals for themselves when the creatures need their attention. It is a test few can stand, I can tell you, Sister Martin," said Mr. Consett, with a quiet chuckle, as he took his seat at the table, and began helping himself to the ham and chicken. ”

“ There was not much accommodation for the crowd of convicts on board the wherry, barely standing room for them, in fact, at the end where they were crowded together; but Eric, with hope revived once more, could look out how to help some of his fellow convicts worse off than himself. He had got a place on the outermost edge of the crowd, but there were two poor women close by who could scarcely stand from weakness and fatigue, and so he offered to give up his place to somebody that wanted it, if they would stand close, so as to make room for the women to sit down. ”

“ So the first spring and summer passed at The Magpie. During the winter old Toby frequently had to stay at home, but nobody missed him, for by that time, Eric knew as well how to manage the horses as the old man himself, and kept everything about the stables and yard so neat and trim, that no one could find fault with him on that score; and his master hoped he would soon be able to live down the foolish prejudice that was felt against him, and so be admitted to the society of other village lads, who at present only made fun of him whenever they chanced to meet. ”

“ In this way did the good woman encourage the lad to hope and trust in the Friend who though invisible, is none the less mighty to help, mighty to save; and so Eric resisted more and more these depressing thoughts, which he found by experience always unfitted him for the duty that lay nearest to him, whatever it might be.
It was well for him that his life was a busy one, that Sister Martin always had something she needed to be done, either for herself or for her poor people. ”

“ This is another reason why I should like to see you join the Methodists here before I return to England.
"In a few days I shall have to leave you among strangers; you may be ill, or find yourself in some trouble, needing the help of friends; if you join our society, every Methodist brother and sister is bound to help you in your hour of need; but if you choose to stand alone, I do not say you will not find friends, but you will not have the same claim upon them that you would have if you joined the society."
Eric sat silent for a few minutes after this. ”

“ There were a good many hours in the course of a week when he was not wanted at all about the stables; and as Betty disdained receiving any help from him in her kitchen work, he was left free to roam about the forest almost as he had done during his mother's life. To search for herbs and roots to make his lotions and salves for the horses, and watch the ways and habits of the creatures who lived among its thickets, became the pastime of his life, since he was denied human friendship. ”

“ The man scratched his head. "You have no employment, no means of living, and so in the eyes of the law you are a beggar and vagabond; some say you are a poacher too, and that looks very black against you," said the man, trying to speak severely.
"Poaching?" repeated Eric. "What need had I to do that? My master always took care that I had enough to eat, and I was too fond of watching the gambols of the creatures to want to kill them." ”

“ I don't think he thought much of me or my opinion; it was the foal he was concerned with. As to his own stomach, that was clean forgotten for the time."
"Then you think the lad will do, sir?" said Sister Martin.
"I haven't the smallest doubt of it. A lad who can forget himself and his own hunger, to relieve the wants and sufferings of a dumb creature, won't go very far from God, whatever he may call himself. He told me as we went along that he couldn't decide to be a Methodist all at once; and I must say the news didn't please me much at first, though I liked the lad for telling me. ”

“ He of course had to appear before the coroner's court to be questioned and cross-questioned as to what had happened during that morning when his master met with his death, though he had told the story to one and another half a dozen times over at least.
Mrs. Tyler took care to see him before he went into the room, to let him know that he need expect no help from her. "I have got another stable boy—a respectable lad, whose mother was an honest woman and not a witch," she added.
So Eric knew that when this ordeal was over, he would be a homeless waif for whom no man cared in all the wide world. ”

“ I daresay he is, I have no doubt he is, but a lad who has the making of a man in him don't let his hunger or any other appetite master him when duty calls him the other way. I wouldn't have left him with Meg's foal, the most valuable creature on the whole place, if I couldn't have trusted him. ”

“ To do anything for the personal comfort of the woman who had given up her life to bring a little brightness and hope into theirs, was a delight to Eric, and he undertook to keep her little cabin clean, and attend upon her whenever and wherever he could lighten her labour, as well as help any of the rest in performing the tasks of work they were set to do. ”

“ Get me a morsel of food that I can eat on the way."
"Go back to Boston to-night!" said Mrs. Consett.
And yet she was not surprised, for she knew how anxious her husband felt about Eric, and she set about getting him bread and meat cut into sandwiches, while a fresh horse was saddled for him to ride back to town.
It was nearly midnight before he returned, and when he came he was, if possible, looking more anxious than when he went away. "The boy is not a thief; I have got that comfort out of my journey," he said, as he jumped off his horse at the gate, where his wife was waiting for him. ”

“ A few weeks after the death of Eric's master, a party of weary, woe-begone travellers arrived at Limehouse Hole, under the charge of several gaolers, for they were all prisoners under sentence of transportation to His Majesty's plantations of America. Here they would be sold as slaves to the settlers—Englishmen, like themselves, who had gone out earlier from the mother country and settled there as farmers or traders, each growing richer and more independent every year. ”

“ Then he burst into a storm of passionate protests against all strangers, be they witches or Methodists, declaring that he believed he was himself bewitched by the boy to let him do this work for him.
"That's all very well, Toby," said the landlord, who had stepped outside to see how Eric was getting on; "you take good care not to find fault until the work is done. Ah, and well done, too," said the master, as he slowly walked round the horse and surveyed it with a critical eye.
"Send him away, master, send him away!" foamed old Toby, hobbling to his feet, and trying to seize Eric. ”

“ He shines through them and gives us light still, though we may not see his face, or be able to rejoice in the sunshine. So God our Father may be hidden from us for a time by the trouble and sorrow that we meet with by the way, but He does not cease to be our Father because we cannot hold to Him as firmly as before; and He does not cease to lead and guide us because the way is rough, and not the path we would like to take. So I think you may still say that God is your Father and Friend, my lad."
"Thank you. Did you know my mother?" asked Eric, happy tears shining in his eyes ”

“ If he had been looking at the young man's face just then, he would have seen a peculiar smile part his lips as he said, "Oh, well, not being a Methodist, and under Consett's thumb, you can have a glass of small ale with me, just for friendship's sake, for we shall often be able to do each other a good turn, I expect, when you are waiting here for Consett's customers." ”

“ You know, Eric, the world at large is opposed to God and His servants; this is why the name of Methodist has come to be so hated by them. Mr. Wesley saw this long ago, and that was why he founded his society. Union is strength, and one can help another to be firm and faithful, and in time of trouble it becomes the duty of one Methodist to help another as far as he possibly can, and especially where it is needful to help him in the time of persecution, such as we often experience in England. ”

“ There was quite a little stir and bustle among the convicts concerning their important secret. Of course there were some surly and soured enough to shun all share in the little enterprise, but these were in the minority, and by far the larger number gave what they could towards making up the necessary sum; and those who did not possess a single penny they could bestow, gave earnest sympathy, for all had learned to love the lad who thought of every one's convenience and comfort before his own. ”

“ For us, for you and me, my friends, did the Lord Jesus suffer such trials and sorrows, and such a cruel death that we might have life—might learn to know and love and serve Him, and so be made sharers in His life and love. This alone can lift us out of the power of sin and the love of sin. I need not tell you who have suffered so sorely, that sin ever leads to misery, and that to escape from misery, sin must be given up. ”

“ Consett?" said Sister Martin, in a relieved tone.
"Take him? To be sure I will, and glad to get him, too. The old country turns out a pearl now and then with the supposed rubbish she sends to us as slaves, and this lad is one, or I am greatly mistaken; and living here opens a man's eyes, I can tell you; so that I am not often wrong in the judgment I form of the lads who come to me. ”

“ This weather has been hard on the poor brutes." And the landlord sighed as he thought of the broken-down condition of his horses.
"Peggy could do it, sir," said Eric; "she picks up quicker than the others do."
"Well, put her in and bring the gig round," said his master; and then he went into the house and called to Betty, took his three-cornered hat from its peg, and his heavy driving coat out of the recess, and when Eric brought round the gig, he stood in the porch, ready equipped for his journey.
"Jump in, lad; I shall take you with me, and we can kill two birds with one stone. ”