The Arnold family / by Mary C. Miller

Chapter I. The Opening Scene

T HE curtains were drawn for the evening and the student’s lamp was lighted. Mamma was busy with her sewing, papa with his newspaper. The folding-doors were closed. Where were the children?

Now and then mamma looked toward the doors, as if she expected to see them open. What were the children doing? Perhaps we will find out before long.

Mamma heard voices, and whenever they grew louder than usual she glanced from her sewing to the doors. Sometimes she looked at papa, who seemed to hear and see nothing but that fresh evening paper. What do you think the children were doing? Getting

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tableaux ready, did you say? Wait a little longer and you will know all.

Bang !

“What was that, Lucretia?” asked Mr. Arnold, starting suddenly as something came against the folding-doors.

“ Charlie studying his Catechism,” replied the lady, laughing as she spoke.

“ Studying his Catechism ? Is that the way he does it?”

Muttering sounds came from the back parlor, and while father and mother listened the voices grew louder, until they heard Charlie say, “ I won’t study it ! I hate it!”

When Mr. Arnold heard that he rose hastily, and, opening the folding-doors, disclosed — a tableau !

A little girl about ten years old sat on a hassock near the stove. She held in her hand a ragged Catechism. As papa opened the door she looked up, and traces of tears could plainly be seen. Maggie at play was a handsome girl. Her eyes were bright and her long ringlets were pretty. But now her face wore a sorrowful expression ; even a little pout was visible. Certainly, she did not look as well as usual.

Beside the table sat Josie, a blue-eyed girl with pleasant face, though not pretty. Her closed Catechism lay on the table.

At the opposite side of the table sat Charlie. How sullen he looked ! Papa looked at each one, but he looked longest at Charlie. Then he glanced on the floor and saw Charlie’s slipper, and near it lay his Catechism.

“What does this mean, Charlie?” papa said in a tone his little boy always dreaded to hear. “ What did you throw against the door?”

“ His shoe, father, and his Catechism too,” said Josie.

“ Well, father,” Charlie began, “ I can’t help it. You know I don’t understand a word of it. And Maggie hates it as much as I do, only she won’t say so ; but she told me so herself.”

“ Is that true, my daughter ?” gravely inquired Mr. Arnold.

“ Oh, papa, it’s awful hard and dry,” sorrowfully replied the little maiden.

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After looking thoughtfully upon the group the father began pacing the floor, and silence fell upon them all. Both girls tried to study, but Charlie’s Catechism remained where he had thrown it, while he pushed his feet back and forth upon the carpet.

At length Mr. Arnold said, “ What shall we do, wife? I cannot bear to have the children act so over that beautiful Catechism.”

“ Beautiful !” muttered Charlie in a tone loud enough to be overheard ; “ I shouldn’t say so.”

“ I want them to learn it and love it.”

“ I can’t,” exclaimed the boy.

“ Charlie, come here.”

The boy came slowly.

“ You may all come in here, and need not study any more this evening.”

“ I know mine,” said Josephine.

“ When will Charlie and I learn ours if we don’t now ?” inquired Maggie, who was generally anxious to do what she knew was right.

“ I will help you in the morning, Maggie,”

THE OPENING SCENE.

replied her father. “ You are all out of sorts now. And indeed I do not think late Saturday evening is a good time to study ; you are too tired after playing all day.”

“ Papa’s right,” said Maggie with the air of a judge.

This made all laugh but Charlie.

“Why don’t you study it the first thing on Saturday morning, Puss?” inquired her father, taking her on his knee as he spoke.

“ I do, papa, always — that is, when mamma makes me.”

“And why didn’t mamma make you this morning ?” asked her father.

“ Because I begged her to let me go to Elsie’s the first thing to see the new French doll her auntie bought her.”

“Wouldn’t the doll have kept an hour?” asked papa.

“ Well, you see, papa, I wanted to get there before her practice-hour.”

“And how long did you stay, Maggie?” asked papa.

“ She never came home till after eleven,” said Charlie.

“ Is that true, Maggie ?”

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“ Yes, papa/’ the little girl replied in a very low voice, and did not lift her eyes to her father’s face.

“Did you keep Elsie from practicing?” asked her father.

“ Yes, sir — I suppose I did.”

“ Was that right, Maggie ?”

“ No, sir.” Her voice was lower this time.

“ That was one wrong. And then when you came home did you sit down and study your lesson ?”

“ No, papa.”

“Why not?”

“ Oh, papa, I wish you wouldn’t ask so many questions.”

“ Look up at me, Maggie, and tell me why you did not study when you came home.”

“ Mamma wasn’t home,” said Maggie.

“ Is that a good reason ?” asked papa.

“ And I was telling Josie about the dolly, and I forgot all about it.”

“And when I put you in mind of it,” said Josie, “what did you say?”

“She said she hated the old Catechism. — I told you so, father,” said Charlie.

THE OPENING SCENE.

Papa looked at mamma, and repeated his old question : “ What shall we do, wife ?”

Mrs. Arnold did not reply directly, and Charlie said, “ Say we needn’t study it any more.”

“ Oh yes, do !” exclamed Maggie.

“ I will never say that,” said mamma.

“ Now, mother, tell me true : did you like to study it when you were little ?”

“ No, Charlie. I remember as well as if it were yesterday how I cried over one of the answers.”

“ Which one, mother ?” asked Josie.

“ ‘ What is repentance unto life ?’ ” mother answered.

Mr. Arnold took it up as soberly as if Mrs. Arnold was hearing him his lesson, and answered, “ 4 Repentance unto life is a saving grace, whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin, and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, doth, with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God, with full purpose of, and endeavor after, new obedience.’ ”

“Why,” said Josie, “I believe I could understand it better if father repeated it.”

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“ He says it as if he loved to say it,” add- • ed Maggie.

“ I do love it, Maggie,” replied her father.

“ I suppose you understand it, father,” said Josie.

“ Don’t you, Josie?” asked father. “I should not think it would be hard for a girl of fifteen.”

“ It don’t take me long to commit it, father, but I do not really understand it,” said Josie.

“ That is the trouble with them all,” said Mrs. Arnold. “ They do not understand it.

I know that made it hard for me.”

“ My father always explained it to us,” said Mr. Arnold. “We used to recite it to him every Sabbath evening.”

“ You know I had no home,” said Mrs. Arnold ; “ all my help came from the Sabbath-school.”

Mrs. Arnold’s father was a missionary in India. You know the missionaries in India have to send their little boys and girls home to be educated. So she had to bid good-bye to her father and mother and cross the great

THE OPENING SCENE.

ocean with her little brothers. Kind friends took care of her and sent her to Sabbath-school, but they never thought of explaining the Catechism, or even of inquiring whether she had learned it.

Mr. Arnold told the children that his father, who was a New Englander, used to be instructed in the Westminster Catechism every Saturday morning; the minister always visited the day-school for that purpose. Grandpapa Arnold had also to recite it at heme on Sabbath afternoons, directly after dinner. Family worship followed, and the Sabbath ended at sunset, having begun at sundown of Saturday.

Charlie was just going to say he wished Sunday ended at sunset, but he checked himself, for he knew his mother would not like to hear him say that.

“ Does not Miss Clarke explain it to you, Josie? I supposed each one of you had this help from your teachers/’ said Mr. Arnold.

“ We recite it in the class, father/’ said Josie, “ but Miss Clarke never talks to us about it.”

“ Neither does Mr. Phelps,” said Charlie.

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“ But lie tells us Bible-stories ; and I’m sure I like that a great deal better.”

“ You have learned the whole Catechism, Josie,” remarked Mr. Arnold, “and have received a beautiful little Bible from Dr. Dubois ?”

“Yes, father.”

“ And you do not understand any of it?”

“No, father, not very much of it.”

“ I must begin, then, to explain it to you.”

“ I wish you would, George,” said Mrs. Arnold.

“I will begin to-morrow evening and give little sermons on the Catechism.”

“ Yes, do, father !” said Josie.

“ I always like to read my library-books at that time,” said Charlie.

“What do you say, Maggie?” asked her father.

“ Well,” answered Maggie, “ if you’ll promise to have ’em very short I’ll try to like ’em.”

“ But you don’t feel very hungry for papa’s sermons, I see,” said her father.

THE OPENING SCENE.

“ Hungry for sermons! what a funnypapa ! Who ever gets hungry for sermons, I’d like to know?” exclaimed Maggie.

“I don’t!” said Charlie in a most decided tone.

“ I’d like some candy,” said Maggie ; “ I’m hungry for that, if I ain’t hungry for sermons.”

“ You wouldn’t like to eat candy all the while, would you, Maggie?” asked papa.

“ Yes, indeed I would ; try me.”

“ No indeed, I will not,” said her father, speaking in her tone as nearly as he could. “ Mamma and I do not want a sick girl on our hands. Isn’t it your bedtime?”

“ Yes,” answered mamma, “it is time for Maggie and Charlie to go to bed.”

“ Where is Stephen ?” asked papa.

“In the dining-room, father,” answered Josie, “ writing his composition.”

After Maggie and Charlie went up to bed Josephine went into the dining-room to read while Stephen was writing.

When they were alone Mr. and Mrs. Arnold talked about the Catechism. Mr. Arnold said he would not try sermons unless

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all the children wanted him to preach, and Mrs. Arnold said, “ Let us give them the Catechism in the form of sugar-plums.”

“ Maggie will like that,” said Mr. Arnold. “ But, wife, I do not know exactly what you mean.”

“I mean to tell them stories that will help make it plain; and we will talk about the lessons whenever they feel like listening. I will keep a Catechism in my sewing-basket, so that I may not forget it.”

“ And I will try to help you, wife.”

“ Oh, I mean you to do the most of it,” said Mrs Arnold, “ and I will help you”

That night the father and mother prayed God to help them in teaching their children, and the mother thought of several stories before she fell asleep.

Chapter II. A Catechism-lesson

“ T UCRETIA,” said Mr. Arnold the next

Id morning, “ what was the question that made so much trouble last evening?”

“ ‘ Who is the Redeemer of God elect V ” answered Mrs. Arnold, who had overheard the children as they studied it aloud.

“ Why, that is very easy, I am sure.”

“ Yes, it is to you, George, because the Holy Spirit has made it plain.”

Several times while dressing Mr. Arnold looked into the Bible, as if searching for verses, and Mrs. Arnold picked up a little story-book, and became so interested in it that her husband had to tell her she would be late for breakfast if she did not hurry.

When all were gathered round the break-

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fast-table, and God’s blessing bad been asked, Mrs. Arnold said, “ Why is our Catechism like a Crystal Palace?”

“Is it, papa?” asked matter-of-fact Maggie.

“ Papa’s giving conundrums on Sunday !” exclaimed Charlie. “ I like them better than sermons. You won’t preach to us, will you, papa?”

“ No, Charlie. But why is our Catechism like a Crystal Palace ?”

“ It’s like the Catacombs to me,” said Stephen, whose composition happened to be on this subject.

“ Why is it, father ?” asked Josie. “ I’m sure we can’t guess.”

“ Because light from above shines in through every pane — every page, I mean — revealing most beautiful things to me.”

“ I’d like to see them,” said Maggie.

“ I’d like to show them to you,” said papa.

“ I’d like to go through the Catacombs,” said Stephen.

“ So would I,” exclaimed Charlie.

“ What are Catacombs, papa ?” asked Maggie.

A CATECHISM-LESSON.

“ Pshaw, you dummy !” said Charlie ; “ don’t you know ?”

“ You tell her about them, Charlie,” said mamma with a smile.

Charlie was silent.

“ He don’t know either,” said Maggie.

“ Yes, I do.”

“ Well, what are they ?” said Stephen.

“ Oh, they’re dark something or other ; I don’t know — Caves, I guess.”

“ What are they for?” said Stephen, looking very wise.

“ I used to know, but I forget,” said Charlie, very much confused.

All laughed at Charlie when he made this confession, and Mr. Arnold said, “ Stephen will tell us all about them when we come home from church this afternoon. Now, who knows the Catechism lesson for this morning ? — I will begin with Stephen.”

“ I don’t study it any more. Don’t you remember Dr. Dubois gave me a Bible last year because I had learned the whole Catechism ?”

“ Oh yes, I remember it very well. So now you know the whole of it? And I

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happen to know the question for the day ; you can give me the answer: ‘Who is the Redeemer of God’s elect ?’”

Stephen hesitated ; his face grew very red. Twice he began to answer, but Josie stopped him with “ That’s wrong. ” The third time he began, “ ‘ The Redeemer of God’s elect is — is — Christ the Son of God, who — became man by taking — ’ ”

“ No,” said his mother ; “ you are givingpart of the next answer. — You repeat it, Josie.”

Josie recited it without mistake: ‘“The only Redeemer of God’s elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who, being the eternal Son of God, became man, and so was, and continueth to be, God and man, in two distinct natures and one person for ever.’ ”

“ Now, Josie,” asked her father, “ is there anything in that answer you cannot understand ?”

“ No, father. I have been thinking it over word by word since last night, and I believe I understand it all except — well, except the ‘ two distinct natures.’ What does that mean ?”

A CATECHISM-LESSON.

“ Why, daughter, it means that Christ is now both God and man, as he was when on earth,” said Mr. Arnold.

“Is Jesus a man in heaven, papa?” asked Maggie.

“ Certainly.”

“ Was he a man in heaven, papa, before he came down here to die for us?” inquired Charlie. “ I thought he began here a little baby.”

“ So he did, Charlie,” answered papa. “ First he was God ; then he came to earth and took upon him a human nature and was a little baby.”

“ In a manger,” said Maggie.

“ Yes,” replied papa. “ And then he grew up to be a man. But all the while that he was a man be was also God.”

“ God when he was a baby, papa ?” asked Maggie in surprise.

“ Why, yes, Maggie ; did not you know that?”

“No, papa; I always thought he left his God part up in heaven till he began to make sick people well, and all that.”

“ Maggie knew he could not make the sick

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well and raise the dead unless he was God,” remarked her mamma.

“ Yes, mamma ; you’ve often told me that.”

“ I should think God wouldn’t want to be a little baby,” remarked Charlie.

“ That was part of his humiliation, Charlie.”

“ What’s ‘humiliation,’ papa?” inquired Maggie.

“You don’t know much, that’s certain,” said Charlie with an air of superior wisdom.

“How about the Catacombs, Charlie?” asked Stephen.

“Maggie will learn fast,” said her father, “ if she tries to find out the meaning of every word she meets. And if any of you are wise enough to answer her questions, it will be better for you to do it than to make fun of her.”

“ There’s lots of hard words in the Catechism,” remarked Maggie ; “ I don’t know what they mean.”

“You must study Latin,” said Stephen, “and then you’ll find out.”

“ Meanwhile, her big brother will kindly give her the meaning of all the strange words in the Catechism/’ said her papa.

“ But, papa, you didn’t tell what ‘ humiliation ’ meant,” said Maggie.

“ Humilitas ,” said Stephen.

“ That ain’t the way to call it, is it, papa ?” said Maggie, appealing to her father.

“That’s the Latin of it,” said Stephen.

“ And what is the English of it, Stephen ?” asked his father.

“ 4 The state of being humbled,’ ” answered Stephen.

“ I don’t know to-day’s answer yet, and it’s most time to go,” said Charlie.

“Yes,” said their mother, “let us keep at that one answer until you all understand it.”

“ I understand now about the 4 two distinct natures,’” said Charlie, “but I don’t know what ‘ God’s elect ’ means.”

“ Do you know what ‘ Redeemer ’ means ?” asked his mother.

“ No, ma’am.”

“ Or what ‘ ransom ’ means ?”

“ No, ma’am — not exactly.”

“'Ransom-Redeemer’ — that is what Mr.

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Griffin always says in his prayers/’ said Josie.

“ It is a beautiful name for our Saviour,” remarked Mr. Arnold.

Maggie wondered what it meant, but she did not say anything, because after she had asked what “ humiliation ” meant she did not feel any wiser than before.

“Now,” said Mr. Arnold, “if you and Maggie will listen for five minutes I think I can make the answer to-day plain to you. Will you try ?”

Both promised, and their father said: “‘God’s elect’ means — ” He looked at Stephen, who answered “ chosen .” “ Yes,

God has chosen some to be saved. They cannot save themselves. They are by nature in slavery to sin, and somebody must redeem them. — What does the work redeem mean, Stephen ?”

“ To buy back, father.”

“ Yes, or to rescue from bondage,” added his father. “This Jesus does. He gives us our liberty by paying a great price. — What was the price, Josie.”

“ Himself, father ?”

A CATECHISM-LESSON.

“ Yes, he gave himself for us. So he is our Ransom.' ”

“ Look in the dictionary, Josie,” said her mother, “ and see what ransom means.”

Josie soon found it, and read, “ 6 Money or price paid for the redemption of a prisoner or slave.’ ”

“ One Sabbath, years ago,” said Mr. Arnold, “ a minister brought into his church a young woman who was a slave. He placed her before the pulpit, where every one could see her, and asked his people to buy her freedom. A large sum of money was soon raised, and the slave became a free woman.”

“What did they want the money for?” inquired Maggie.

“ To pay her owner for her.”

“ I wouldn’t have paid him a cent !” said Charlie excitedly ; “ I’d just run away with her.”

“ Wouldn’t that have been stealing ?” asked Stephen.

“ I don’t care,” replied Charlie ; “ I’d have done it, any way.”

“ How much did she cost, papa ? — a hundred dollars ?” asked Maggie.

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“ More likely five hundred,” said Stephen.

“ I do not remember how much it was,” said Mr. Arnold, “ but the price set upon her by her owner was paid by the congregation. Her owner had bought her, and now she was bought by those who wished to set her free from bondage ; she was redeemed . The price, or ransom , was paid, and she was for ever free.”

“ That must have been before the war ; there is no more slavery in the United States now.”

“ But there’s the bell !” cried Charlie.

“ And I had a story to tell,” said mother.

“ We’ll have that when we come home,” said father.

“ And the Catacombs,” added mother.

“ Josie will have to hear you say your Catechism by the way till you know every word,” said father to Maggie.

It was hard for Maggie to learn her lesson on the way to school, for Elsie joined them, and they were soon talking about the new dolly, whose eyes were such a beautiful blue and whose name was Eloise.

“ Paugli ! what a name !” grunted Charlie.

Both the little girls thought it was a beautiful name. They wondered what Charlie would have called her. Elsie whispered that mamma said she might invite Maggie to spend Monday afternoon and stay to tea. Maggie could not think of her lessons after that. They whispered so much in the class that Miss Bronk, after trying several times to quiet them, said to the rest of her class, “ Now, girls, shut your Bibles and be very quiet, and Elsie and Maggie will tell you all about the new French doll.”

This made Elsie and Maggie feel very much ashamed, for they well knew that it was not right to talk about dolls while their teacher was trying to explain the lesson.

And the worst of it was that all the other girls laughed to see how ashamed they looked. Even Miss Bronk could not keep back a little smile. She had no more trouble in her class that day.

At dinner-time grandmother took her seat at the table. She had been sick up stairs for two or three days. The children were glad to have her back again, for she was never cross to them, and Maggie lost no

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time in telling her what great fun was in store for Monday afternoon. The rest of the family had heard it before they were out of church.

Grandmother Morris listened with as much interest as if she expected to play with Dolly herself, and when Maggie stopped to take breath she said, “ You should have seen the box of dolls your mother once begged to send to India. How the little girls in our school jumped and danced when the box was opened !”

Maggie had often heard the story, but she did not say so, because her mother had told her that would not be polite to grandmother. Grandmother Morris was growing very forgetful, and said the same things over and over again, and told the same stories until they all knew them by heart. But the children were taught never to make fun of her.

All Maggie did this time was to turn lound to Stephen, who sat next to her, and in what was meant to be a whisper say, “ Some day I’ll be doing it too.”

“ Doing what ?” asked Stephen.

A CATECHISM-LESSON.

* u Telling it over and over again,” said Maggie soberly.

Grandmother caught part of the loud whisper, and said, “ Did I tell you before, child ?”

“ Yes, grandma, but no matter ; I like your stories.”

And really Grandmother Morris’s stories were interesting, for she had been a missionary in India nearly all her life, and had seen many curious things.

“ Where is that story, mother, you were going to tell us ?” inquired Mr. Arnold of his wife. “ I thought you would be late for breakfast, you ^seemed so absorbed in the little book.”

Mother smiled and said, “ It was Maggie’s or Charlie’s Sunday-school book.”

“ Mine , mother,” interrupted Maggie. “ Wasn’t it splendid?”

“ What was it about, Maggie ?” asked her father.

“ Oh, papa, it told about a king who was going to put one of his servants to death ’cause he’d been doing something naughty. And the king’s son went into prison and

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changed clothes with the poor man, and was just walking out to be killed when the king saw it was his own son — and he didn’t — ”

“ That’s like our Redeemer, isn’t it, father?” exclaimed Charlie. “ He was punished for us. Mr. Knox talked about that in the class to-day.”

“ Yes, Charlie, he bore the punishment we deserved.”

“And he didn’t die,” said Maggie, eager to finish her story.

“ Yes, he did too,” said Charlie.

“ No, Charles, for I read it,” said Maggie, who felt sure of what she said. “ The king forgave his son, and the other man had run away somewhere.”

“I meant,” said Charlie, “Jesus did die. So the son in the story wasn’t exactly like Jesus, after all.”

“ Why didn’t you say so, then ?” said Maggie, who had a way of putting on dignity that made everybody laugh. “You must be more ’splicit.”

“ Hi ! hi !” said Stephen ; “ that’s a big one ! Puss slept with her head on the die-

A CATECHISM-LESSON.

Mr. Arnold did not stop the merry laugh that went around the table, and little Maggie hardly knew whether to be proud or ashamed of her little speech.

When they were all quiet Mr. Arnold said, “ So that was mother’s story, told by Maggie?”

“ Yes,” said Mrs. Arnold ; “ I thought it would help make the Catechism-lesson plain.”

“ So it does, mamma,” said Charlie. “I understand it now — don’t you, Mag?”

“ Yes, perfectly,” replied the little maiden.

And then they all began to laugh again. This time their father stopped them, and in a gentle tone said to her, “ Daughter, do you understand how Jesus is our Redeemer ?”

“ Yes, papa. You said we were slaves of sin, and Jesus buys us with himself. And we can’t be Satan’s any more, can we ?”

“No, Maggie; w T e belong to Jesus. He bought us with his own blood. Don’t forget that.”

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“ No, papa.”

“ He redeems us,” said mamma with tears in her eyes ; “ so he is our Redeemer. His life is the price; so he is our Ransom.”

“I should think you wouldn’t feel like crying about that,” said Charlie ; “ it’s enough to make anybody glad.”

“ So it is, Charlie. And remember, Jesus is called the only Redeemer of God’s elect. No one else could save us.”

As they left the table Mr. Arnold said, “ Don’t forget that you are to give us the Catacombs this evening, Stephen.”

“ To read my composition, do you mean, sir?”

“ Well, I did not mean that, but you may do it if you will, and we shall all be glad to hear it.”

Chapter III. The Catacombs

“ * rpHE Catacombs of Home/ ” said Ste- J- phen, unfolding his composition.

“ Stand up and read it, Steve,” said Charlie.

“ No necessity for that,” said Mr. Arnold ; “ and you need not give it to us in so loud a tone.”

Stephen commenced his subject in a lower tone, and read as follows :

“THE CATACOMBS OF HOME.

“ The Catacombs were once stone-quarries, which were worked in order to supply the city of Home with building-material.

“ After the stone was removed the Catacombs stood vacant, and when the persecution of Christians began they afforded good places in which to hide. For three hundred years

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or more all the Christians who died in Rome were buried there. The stone is soft, and it is easy to cut burial-places, like shelves, in the sides of the vaults. The openings of these burial-places were each closed with a thin slab of marble, and on these slabs we see some queer things. The letters are irregular, and often the spelling is bad. Sometimes you see a picture of a shepherd carrying a lamb ; sometimes, a dove with an olivebranch in her mouth ; many times we see the cross, and palms, crowns, flowers, fruits and instruments of torture.”

“ Instruments of torture !” exclaimed Maggie. “ Why, I don’t think they would look very well on tombstones beside flowers and fruits and lambs.”

“ They marked the martyrs’ graves,” her father explained. — 44 Go on, Stephen.”

“ The inscriptions are very quaint. Here are some : 4 Florentius, in peace.’ 4 Vitalis, buried on Saturday, Kalends of August. She lived with her husband ten years and thirty days. In Christ, the First and the Last.’ 4 Primitim, in peace : a most valiant martyr, after many torments. Aged 38.