Watch Work Wait | Page 7

life safely, and which wisdom, she told him, was
of more value than gold. She grieved not that his face was imbrowned,
or his hands hardened by labour: toil is man's natural inheritance, and
he is bid to rejoice in his "labour, for it is the gift of God;" but she
rejoiced in the maturing of his heart, and saw that the good seed she
was sowing was taking root.
She had, however, one trouble concerning him, and not being able to
discern clearly what was her duty, it gave her more anxiety than even
her poverty. His love for sketching could not be repressed. She saw that
he shared his father's talent largely, but remembering what her
husband's views in reference to the cultivation of the noble art of
painting had been, the struggle between maternal pride and the natural
yearnings of a mother's heart to gratify a darling and worthy child, in
opposition to what seeming duty demanded, can scarcely be imagined.
Her late husband's opinions, tempered as they always were by
judgment and prudence, had acquired a character of sacredness in her
view; but when William, in showing her his sums, showed also the rude
but spirited sketches he had drawn on the border of his slate, she saw
that the gift was from God, and she could not condemn, although she
dared not praise. She was afraid of entailing misery on him by fostering
a taste beyond what his means would permit him to gratify. He had no
present prospect but that of earning his bread by the sorest labour. Even
if his talent were an extraordinary one, it would take a long time to
cultivate it to a profitable point; and in the meantime, how was he to be
supported?
She told all this to her son; but when he begged her, as his only
recreation (for he never played with any boys except George Herman,

as good a boy as himself), to let him look over his father's portfolio of
sketches, could she deny the favour? or was she wrong? Nor could she
forbid some pen-and-ink sketches, in which she recognised familiar
objects, although she warned him against giving offence by
caricaturing; and while she described to him the wonders of this
glorious earth, with its embosomed treasures of mines and minerals,
and made him read in his Bible how God had created all and called it
good, she also showed him that man was the crowning work;--beloved
of God, notwithstanding his rebellion; made only a little lower than the
angels, crowned with dignity and honour; and so loved by the Saviour,
that he came to save those who otherwise would have been lost; and
still bearing much of the original impress in which he was created. She
explained to him how wrong it is to make game of the peculiarities of
any human being, ridicule his infirmities, or win a reputation by
exhibiting his defects; bidding him always, at the close of her lecture,
to read the sermon delivered on the mount, and to walk by its rule, and
he would not fail to do right.
There were times, however, when the mother's heart would almost
overcome this resolve. In her lonely hours fancy would portray her
son's future; and when does maternal hope discover aught but a
glorious one? She thought of what he might be, could he go abroad to
study the works of the old masters; how, with his genius (for she knew
not that taste was often mistaken for genius) and persevering industry,
her boy might yet win a high place in the world, as many others as poor
as he had done. But she was too sensible to let her thoughts dwell long
on this flattering subject, and resolved to do what she considered right
as present duty, committing the issue to God, in whom she so implicitly
trusted.
Christmas-day came round again, and it was a mournful one in the
home of the widow and fatherless. Margaret had changed much during
the year: her face was deathly pale, silver lines showed themselves
among her dark hair, and her usually placid and subdued expression
was exchanged for a look of pain. A harassing cough troubled her by
day and prevented her resting at night; an accompanying weakness
created some little anxiety as to what its issue might be; but, with the

hoping spirit which is ever attendant on that insidious disease called
consumption, she believed that the coming spring would restore her.
It came with its wealth of sunshine, and renovated the earth to promise
of fruitfulness and beauty,--beautiful type of the resurrection, when
man shall rise to glorious immortality. All nature rejoiced in its
presence; the flowers came forth and filled the air with healthful odours;
the birds warbled