Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

CALLING THE FERRYMAN.

them. If they were murdered, no one knew but those in the castle. Or they might be thrust down into a dark, damp dungeon, far away from the inhabited. part of the castle; and here, though in their sufferings from the cruel tortures of their foes they uttered the loudest and most piercing cries, they were unheard.

How different are the uses to which these castles are now put. I have seen one that has been made into a farm-yard, and cows chew the cud where nobles and fine ladies once walked and chatted together. Merry pic-nic parties gather under the walls of some; and the hearty ringing laugh of boys at play may be heard in the dark holes where once poor prisoners sighed out their lives. The worn-out old cork-screw shaped staircases are capital places for playing hideand-seek; only boys must mind that they do not slip when creeping up these crumbling ruins. Better far that these castles should be places for play than that they should be the homes of Norman robbers.

CALLING THE FERRYMAN.

THEY reached the river, the father and his little daughter, late in the evening. The woods through which they had passed reached to the very brink; and as

CALLING THE FERRYMAN.

the night was cloudy, and very dark, the woods seemed to render the gloom profoundly deep. Far away on the opposite shore was here and there a twinkling light in the small scattered houses; while farther off still were the bright lamps of the great city, whither they were going. The little child was weary and sleepy, and chilled by the evening air. Nothing but urgency would have induced the father to be out with her thus. As they came to the ferry, they found the boat over the other side, where the ferryman lived. So the father shouted and called, but no voice answered; then he would walk to and fro, and speak to his child, and try to comfort her; then he would call again and again. At length they saw a little light move, and heard the moving of the boat. Nearer and nearer the noise came, but it was too dark to see the boat. But it came across, and the travellers entered it. "Father!"

[blocks in formation]

"It's very dark, and I can't see the shore where we are going!"

"No, little one; but the ferryman knows the way, and we shall soon be over, and then soon home in the city, where will be light and a good fire."

"O, I wish we were there, father!"

CALLING THE FERRYMAN.

Slowly and gently the boat swung off in the stream; and though it was dark, and the river seemed to run fast, they were carried safely over, and the child soon forgot her great fear. In a short time after they landed, she reached her home, where loving arms received her where the room was warm with fire, and was flooded with light. On the bosom of love she rested, and her chills and terrors passed away.

Some months after this, the same little child had come to another river, darker, deeper, and more fearful still. It was the River of Death. When she first came near it, the air seemed cold, and darkness covered it, and all seemed like night. The same loving father stood near her, distressed that his child must cross this river, and he not be able to go with her. For days and nights he had been, with her mother, watching over her, and leaving her bedside only long enough to take his meals, and pray for the life of his precious child.

For hours she had been slumbering very quietly, and it seemed as if her spirit was to pass away without her waking again; but, just before the morning watch, she suddenly awoke, with the eye bright, the reason unclouded, and every faculty alive. A sweet smile was playing on the face.

[ocr errors]

Father, I have come again to the river-side, and

CALLING THE FERRYMAN.

am again waiting for the ferryman to come and carry me over."

"Does it seem as dark and cold as it did when we crossed the river?"

66

O, no!

There are no dark, gloomy trees here. The river is not black, but covered with floating silver. The boat coming toward me seems to be made of solid light; and though the ferryman looks dark, I am not afraid of him!"

"Can my child see across the river ?"

"O, yes! but instead of the little twinkling light here and there, as before, I can see a great, beautiful city, flooded with light and glory. I see no sun and no lamp, no moon or stars; but it's full of light. Ah! I hear music, too, coming softly over the river, sweet as the angels could make !"

"Can you see any one on the other bank of the river?"

"Why, why, yes! I see One, the most beautiful form I ever saw!-and what a face! what a smile! And now he beckons me to come. O ferryman, make haste! I know who it is! It is Jesus!-my own blessed Jesus! I shall be received into his arms; I shall rest in his bosom !"

"Is my little daughter afraid ?"

HOW KITTY LEARNT THE MEANING OF "MUST."

6

"Afraid, dear mother? Not a bit. I think of my Psalm, Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.""

And thus she crossed the dark river, made like a silver stream by the presence of the blessed Redeemer. The father and mother wept, but joy and sorrow mingled in their tears. They could almost see the golden gates open to receive their loved one; and they then understood the words of the prophet, "The child shall die an hundred years old."

HOW KITTY LEARNT THE MEANING OF "MUST."

A GREAT cry came from the nursery. It was Kitty's cry. "What can be the matter with Kitty?" thought her mother. Presently Kitty came down stairs sobbing. "I am afraid Kitty has somebody with her," thought her mother.

Kitty pattered along until she put her little curly head into the China closet where her mother was. Her mother saw she was not alone; Ill-humour was with her. Her mother was sorry.

“What is the matter, Kitty ?" she asked.

« AnteriorContinuar »