The Pastors Son | Page 4

so it has been impossible
for father to save the money necessary for our going."
For a moment the boy's face looked sad and grave, and the pastor
swallowed a lump that had risen in his throat, for it hurt the good man
severely to think that he had not the necessary funds to gratify their
every wish, but had already borrowed more than he could pay back in
several years. Still he was willing to make more sacrifices, had his wife
agreed, but she had said on one occasion when they were discussing
this subject, "No, James, I will not leave you again. I think the
separation does us as much harm as the warm climate does good, and I
feel that we have not many more years to be together, so I cannot bear
the thought of being separated from you for another five months. I
think Walter and I will be better off to be at home with you. We need
not go out in the cold very much, and you and I can arrange some way
to entertain and amuse Walter."
The pastor had answered: "Well, Lillian, it may be the better way, for I
must confess that these long separations were very unpleasant to me,
yet I was more than willing to endure them, if thereby you and Walter
could be benefited, still it seems that the change of climate idea did not
prove as beneficial as we had hoped for, but please don't speak in that
hopeless strain again, for you certainly have heard that old saying,
'while there is life there is hope,' so never give up, and remember that
there are many noted physicians and chemists, working day and night
to get a sure cure for tuberculosis, and who knows but that the morrow
will bring it forth. You know that I am constantly on the lookout for
everything that looks promising."
And so the thought of a southern trip had been dismissed.
CHAPTER III
WHAT WALTER FOUND

Dinner over, they all arose from their seats at the table, and the father

asked, "Walter, what part of the Bible shall we start to study first?"
"I hardly know, father," said Walter.
"Well, you can take the old family Bible, look it over and then decide.
As for myself I have very little choice; I have read and studied it so
often that I feel very familiar with all it contains."
"All right; father, may I go up to my room now?"
"Yes, certainly, if you choose, but I should think you would rather be
outside to-day, it is so warm, and there won't be many more days like
this this year."
"I believe I would rather go to my room," said the boy, starting in that
direction.
"Just as you please, son," said the father, as he stepped through the hall
to enter the library. Walter went quickly up stairs to his room, and his
mother wondered greatly at his hurry.
Once in his room he closed the door and quietly locked it, then going to
his trunk, he excitedly pulled forth a little book with a black leather
cover which looked very much like a small Bible. He opened it and
began reading in a low tone. "_Science and Health, with Key to the
Scriptures, by Mary Baker G. Eddy_." "Yes, I am sure it is the same
book that lovely lady down south told me about, and asked mother to
get me one, but mother had said, 'no, we will never try Christian
Science; we are real Christians and believe in God.' I could not hear
everything they said, but I did hear the lady say, 'I don't see how you
can say that you believe that God is all Good, and at the same time
think He made your lovely boy sick.' I did not hear mother's reply, but I
know she was angry. Now I wonder who lost this book? I saw no one
in sight when I picked it up this morning; there is no name in it, so I
can't return it to the owner. I wonder if I ought to read it? I don't need to
believe it if I do read it. Anyway, that lady did not look like a person
that was bad, and she said she read Science and Health every day, and
that it had healed her of a severe sickness."

As he talked he turned a few pages and then read, "Contents, Chapter I,
Prayer. I wonder if that chapter is in favor of prayer or against it. I
suppose though it must be against it by the way mother acted towards
that lady." He laid his head upon his hands and thought silently for
some time, then raised his head