“Kathie, you did not suspect your teacher of
having such a seething volcano concealed in her breast,
did you?” she observed, sadly.
“What you have told me makes me think of a verse
of ’The Mother’s Evening Prayer,’
in ‘Miscellaneous Writings,’” [Footnote:
By Mary Baker G. Eddy, page 389.] said Katherine,
gently; and she repeated in a low tone:
“Oh! make me glad for every scalding tear,
For hope deferred,
ingratitude, disdain!
Wait, and love more for every hate, and fear
No ill, since God is good, and loss is
gain.”
“Say that again please, clear,” pleaded
Miss Reynolds, with a sudden catch in her breath;
and Katherine went through it the second time.
“Ah! that shows how she has risen to the heights
she has attained,” said Miss Reynolds, in a
reverent tone. “We are to be ‘glad’
for whatever drives us closer to God, to ‘wait’
and ‘love’ through all.”
“And to know that every man is our brother—the
perfect image and likeness of God, and we must not
bind heavy burdens of sin and dishonesty upon him
in resentful thought.”
“Yes, I see; we have to ‘blot it all out,’”
said Miss Reynolds, wearily. “I caught
something of that in my study to-day and that was
what sent me down into the valley, for it seemed such
an impossible thing to do. You could see what
a strong grip it had on me in rehearsing it to you.”
“All wrong thought brings the sting—the
smart of the lash; but love—right thinking—brings
the ‘peace of God,’” said Katherine.
“Ah! it is a case of ‘as ye sow ye shall
also reap,’” said Miss Reynolds, drawing
a long breath. “But, Kathie, do you think
it will be possible for me to so reverse my thought
about that man that I can grow to love him?”
“You do love him now; only error is trying to
make you think that a dear brother is not worthy of
your love,” said the girl, softly.
“Oh, Katherine! we have to come under the rod,
don’t we?” and her voice almost broke.
“There is also the staff,” was the low-voiced
reply. “Truth, the rod, uncovers and smites
the error; then Love, the staff, supports our faltering
steps—’meets every human need.’”
[Footnote: “Science and Health,”
page 494.]
Silence fell between them, during which both were
deeply absorbed in thought, while the fire gradually
faded from the elder woman’s eyes and the scarlet
from her cheeks.
At length she turned with an earnest look to her companion.
“Kathie,” she said, in a clear, resolute
tone, “I have put my ‘hand to the plow,’
and I am not going to ‘look back.’”
“Then everything will come right,” said
the girl, with a brilliant smile, as she bent forward
and kissed her on the lips.
A sophomore racket.
Monday evening, after study hours were over, again
found Katherine in her teacher’s room, for now
that the woman had begun to get an understanding of
the spiritual interpretation of the Scriptures her
desire to know more was insatiable; while our young
Scientist was only too glad to lend her what help
she could along the way.
