Elsie at Home | Page 6

I don't want to die, I can't
bear to think of it."

"My poor friend, my heart bleeds for you," said Grandma Elsie in low,
tender tones. "'The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the
law.' But 'Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that
believeth.' He fulfilled its conditions, he bore the penalty God's justice
required against those who had broken it; and now salvation is offered
as his free gift to all who will accept it: 'Even the righteousness of God
which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe:
for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the
glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a
propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for
the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To
declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just and
the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.'"
"Is that all? only to believe in Jesus?" Laura asked with a look of
mingled anxiety, hope, and fear. "But one must repent deeply, sincerely,
and oh, I'm afraid I cannot!"
"He will help you," returned Grandma Elsie in moved tones. "'Him hath
God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give
repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.' Ask him, remembering
his own gracious promise, 'Ask and it shall be given you; seek and ye
shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that
asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh
it shall be opened.'"
"Ah, I see the way as I never did before," said Laura, after a moment's
silence in which she seemed in deep thought. "What wonderful love
and condescension it was for him, the God-man, to die that painful and
shameful death that we--sinful worms of the dust--might live! Oh, I do
begin to love him and to hate and abhor my sins that helped nail him to
the tree." With the last words tears coursed down her cheeks. "I want to
be his, whether I live or die," she added; and from that hour a great
change came over her; her sufferings were borne with patience and
resignation; and when the end came she passed peacefully and quietly
away, leaving her bereaved daughter mourning the separation, but not

as those without hope of a blessed reunion at some future day, in that
land where sin and sorrow, sickness and pain are unknown.
CHAPTER III.
Through all the six long weeks of her mother's illness at Fairview
Evelyn had been a most devoted, tender nurse, scarcely leaving the sick
room for an hour by day or by night. She bore up wonderfully until all
was over and the worn-out body laid to rest in the quiet grave; but then
came the reaction; strength and energy seemed suddenly to forsake her,
and thin, pale, sad, and heavy-eyed, she was but the shadow of her
former self.
Change of air and scene was the doctor's prescription. She was very
reluctant to leave home and friends for a sojourn in new scenes and
among strangers, but receiving an urgent invitation from Captain and
Mrs. Raymond to spend some weeks at Woodburn with her loved
friend Lucilla, and finding that her uncle and aunt--Dr. Conly
also--highly approved, she gladly accepted; all the more so because she
had learned that Grandma Elsie too, whom she loved even better than
ever for her kindness to the dear departed, was about to spend some
days or weeks with her daughter Violet. That was an added attraction to
what Evelyn esteemed one of the most delightful places, and inhabited
by the dearest, kindest, most lovable people anywhere to be found.
She was most heartily welcomed by the entire family, Lucilla and
Grace being particularly joyful over her arrival.
It was delightful spring weather, and family and guests, older and
younger, spent much of the time in the beautiful grounds or in driving
and riding about the country.
The captain pronounced Eva hardly in a fit condition for study, and for
her sake required his daughters Lucilla and Grace to pass only an hour
or two daily in the schoolroom; so that they were able to give to Eva as
much of their society as he considered desirable for her under the
circumstances--seeing that she needed a good deal of quiet rest and
sleep in order to regain the youthful vigour she had lost during the

exhausting nursing of her invalid mother.
His kindness was highly appreciated by all