Trading Part 45

There is no end to the poor creatures! _I_ say, begin as you are to go on."

"We must take things as we find them," said David. "There is no end to the poor creatures; so the question is a big one."

"What _is_ the question?" said Mrs. Laval.

In answer to which, David told the story of Mrs. Binn and Josh.

"There are hundreds of such people!" said Norton.

"Aunt Zara," said David, "I wanted Norton to agree to submit the question to the Bible. Isn't that fair?"

"Ye-s," said Mrs. Laval cautiously; "I suppose it is. But, my dear Davy, we shouldn't do anything extravagant; the Bible does not require that."

"Shall we see what it does require?"

"Yes; go on," said Mrs. Lloyd. "Let us hear what you children can find about it."

"Among my people it was the law,"--David began, but his utterance of the words "my people" was no longer lofty; rather tender and subdued;--"it was the law, 'When thou dost complete to t.i.the all the t.i.the of thine increase in the third year, the year of the t.i.the, then thou hast given it to the Levite, to the sojourner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, and they have eaten within thy gates and been satisfied;' and in the feast of booths, the feast of ingathering, the sojourner, the fatherless and the widow were to share in the rejoicing."

"The t.i.the is the tenth," remarked Mrs. Laval.

"We always give to all the charitable societies," said Mrs.

Bartholomew; "always."

"Read, Matilda," said David. "I see you are ready." And Matilda read.

"'Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; for this is the law and the prophets.'"

"But, my dear boy!" exclaimed Mrs. Bartholomew.

"What, mamma?"

"You don't mean, you cannot mean, that you want to act that out to the letter?"

"What does it mean, mamma?"

"I always thought it meant that we should be considerate of other people's feelings," said Mrs. Laval; "kind and thoughtful."

"But the words are very plain," said David.

"And you think really that we ought to give to everybody else the things we want for ourselves?"

"Not that exactly, aunt Zara; only to give them what we would like to have given if we were in their place; I mean, what we would _have a right_ to like to have given, if we were in their place."

"According to that, you would carry to that sick child everything that Norton and Matilda had when they were sick."

"Such as?"--inquired David.

"Fruit, and oysters, and flowers, and tea at three dollars a pound."

"Tea at three dollars a pound would be lost upon him, for he would not know the difference between that--and I suppose--lower priced tea. What _can_ you get good tea for, aunt Zara?"

"Tea good for him,--for a dollar, and twelve s.h.i.+llings."

"Tea good for anybody," said Mrs. Lloyd. "I have had it good enough for anybody, for a dollar fifty?"

"The other things," said David, returning to his aunt, "why shouldn't he have them, as well as we, aunt Zara?"

Mrs. Laval was dumb, I suppose with astonishment as well as the inconvenience of finding an answer; and before anybody else began again, Matilda's soft voice gave forth another verse.

"'Blessed is he that considereh the poor; the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.'"

"Of course," said Mrs. Laval; "we _do_ consider the poor."

"Let the child go on," said Mrs. Lloyd. "I want to hear all she has to bring."

Matilda went on with Job's declaration.

"'If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail; or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof; (for from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father, and I have guided her from my mother's womb;) if I have seen any perish for lack of clothing, or any poor without covering; if his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep; if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate: then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.'"

"Who said that?" demanded Mrs. Bartholomew.

"Job."

"I don't see what he has to do with us," said the lady, moving her rosetted slipper impatiently, and so making a soft little rustle with the lilac ruffles of her silk skirt.

"The old fellow had no business to swear, anyhow," said Norton.

"Swear!" said Judy.

"Something very like it," said Norton.

"Go on, Matilda," said Mrs. Lloyd,--"if you have anything more."

"Yes, grandmamma."

"What is David trying to prove?" asked Mrs. Laval.

"We are only trying to find out what the word of the Lord would make us do, aunt Zara."

The two younger ladies looked annoyed; however silence was restored, and Matilda began again.

"'He that despiseth his neighbour sinneth; but he that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he.'"

"Do we despise anybody?" Mrs. Bartholomew asked. No one answered at first.

"_I_ do," said Judy. "Just two or three."

"'He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and that which he hath given will he pay him again.'"