Working in the Shade | Page 6

well imagined, then, with what interest all the villagers, but
especially the Prices, including John himself, as he was propped up in
bed and gazed through the casement, marked the numerous carts
bringing building materials of all kinds to the village. All doubts on the

subject, however, were soon brought to an end by a call from the
colonel at John's house in the early part of November. After a few kind
inquiries about his health and family, Colonel Dawson informed him
that he was going to build at once a school and master's house in
Bridgepath, with a reading-room attached to it, and to place there a
married man of thorough Christian principles; one who would not only
look after the ordinary teaching of the children, but would also, under
the superintendence of the vicar, conduct a simple religious service on
Sundays for the instruction of the villagers.
Bridgepath had from time immemorial been under the special
supervision of the proprietors of Riverton Park, the whole hamlet being
a portion of the property. The parish to which it belonged was
extensive, and the parish church some five miles distant, Bridgepath
being just on the borders of the next parish, in which parish the Park
itself was situated. So, in former days, the chaplain at the house used to
look after the people of the hamlet in a good-natured sort of way, by
taking food and clothing to the sick and destitute, and saying a kind
word, and giving a little wholesome advice, where he thought they
were needed. But being himself unhappily possessed of but little light,
he was unable to impart much to others, and the spiritual destitution of
poor Bridgepath never seemed to occur to his mind at all. But now, for
the last twenty years, neither squire nor chaplain had resided at
Riverton; so that a very occasional visit from the vicar--who had more
on his hands nearer home than he could well accomplish, and who,
with others, was living in constant expectation of some one coming to
the property and bringing about a change--was all that had been done
directly for the scriptural instruction and eternal welfare of the
benighted inhabitants of Bridgepath.
Now, however, a mighty change was coming, and the dwellers in the
hamlet were supposed to be highly delighted, as a matter of course,
with the prospect. And, certainly, the hearts of old John Price and his
wife and daughter did rejoice; but not so the hearts of most of the
inhabitants, for they were thoroughly conscious that much of the goings
on in their village would not bear looking into by those who feared God
and respected human law. Bridgepath had been now for a good many

years a privileged place in the eyes of poachers, gamblers, and Sabbath-
breakers, where the devil's active servants could hold their festivals,
especially on the Lord's day, without fear of interruption from
policeman or preacher. And the women were as bad as the men; they
"loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." So the
new school and reading-room arose amidst the sneers and loudly-
expressed disgust of the majority of the population; the proprietors of
the beer-shops being specially bitter in their denunciations of this
uncalled-for innovation on the good old times and habits, so long the
favoured lot of a primitive and unsophisticated people, who had been
quite content when left to their own devices, and could do perfectly
well without these new-fashioned schemes, if only good people would
just let them alone. The good people, however, saw the matter in a
different light; and so, spite of all the grumbling and outspoken
dissatisfaction, the buildings were completed in the spring, and the new
schoolmaster and his wife took up their abode in Bridgepath.
Colonel Dawson had chosen his man carefully, and duly warned him
that he would find his post at first no bed of roses. To which the master
replied that he was not afraid of encountering his share of thorns; and
that he doubted not but that with prayer, patience, and perseverance,
there would be both flowers and fruit in Bridgepath in due time. As for
opposition, he rather enjoyed a little of it, and trusted to be enabled to
live it down. The colonel was satisfied, for he knew that he had chosen
a man who had already proved himself to be no mere talker. So
Bridgepath looked on in sulky wonder; but soon was constrained to
acknowledge that, in their new schoolmaster, the right man had been
put into the right place.
And now the colonel was very anxious to get the help of some earnest-
hearted Christian lady, who would visit the sick and needy in the
neglected hamlet, carrying with her Christ in her heart