FIRST MOVEMENT.

LOCALITY—The square room of a New England farmhouse.

PRESENT—ISRAEL, head of the family; JOHN, PETER, DAVID, PATIENCE, PRUDENCE, GRACE, MARY, RUTH, and CHILDREN.

THE QUESTION STATED AND ARGUED.

Israel.

Ruth, touch the cradle. Boys, you must be still! The baby cannot sleep in such a noise. Nay, Grace, stir not; she'll soothe him soon enough, And tell him more sweet stuff in half an hour Than you can dream, in dreaming half a year.

Ruth. [Kneeling and rocking the cradle.]

What is the little one thinking about? Very wonderful things, no doubt. Unwritten history! Unfathomed mystery! Yet he laughs and cries, and eats and drinks, And chuckles and crows, and nods and winks, As if his head were as full of kinks And curious riddles as any sphinx! Warped by colic, and wet by tears, Punctured by pins, and tortured by fears, Our little nephew will lose two years; And he'll never know Where the summers go;— He need not laugh, for he'll find it so!

Who can tell what a baby thinks? Who can follow the gossamer links By which the manikin feels his way Out from the shore of the great unknown, Blind, and wailing, and alone, Into the light of day?— Out from the shore of the unknown sea, Tossing in pitiful agony,— Of the unknown sea that reels and rolls, Specked with the barks of little souls— Barks that were launched on the other side, And slipped from Heaven on an ebbing tide! What does he think of his mother's eyes? What does he think of his mother's hair? What of the cradle-roof that flies Forward and backward through the air? What does he thinks of his mother's breast— Bare and beautiful, smooth and white, Seeking it ever with fresh delight— Cup of his life and couch of his rest? What does he think when her quick embrace Presses his hand and buries his face Deep where the heart-throbs sink and swell With a tenderness she can never tell, Though she murmur the words Of all the birds— Words she has learned to murmur well? Now he thinks he'll go to sleep! I can see the shadow creep Over his eyes, in soft eclipse, Over his brow, and over his lips, Out to his little finger-tips! Softly sinking, down he goes! Down he goes! Down he goes!

[Rising and carefully retreating to her seat.]

See! He is hushed in sweet repose!

David. [Yawning.]

Behold a miracle! Music transformed To morphine, and the drowsy god invoked By the poor prattle of a maiden's tongue! A moment more, and we should all have gone Down into dreamland with the babe! Ah, well! There is no end of wonders.

Ruth. None, indeed! When lazy poets who have gorged themselves, And cannot keep awake, make the attempt To shift the burden of their drowsiness, And charge a girl with what they owe to greed.

David.

At your old tricks again! No sleep induced By song of yours, or any other bird's, Can linger long when you begin to talk. Grace, box your sister's ears for me, and save The trouble of my rising.

Ruth.

[Advancing and kneeling by the side of Grace.]

Sister mine. Now give the proof of your obedience To your imperious lord! Strike, if you dare! I'll wake your baby if you lift your hand. Ha! king; ha! poet; who is master now— Baby or husband? Pr'ythee, tell me that. Were I a man,—thank Heaven I am not!— And had a wife who cared not for my will More than your wife for yours, I'd hang myself, Or wear an [***]. See! she kisses me!

David.

And answers to my will, though well she knows I'll spare to her so terrible a task, And take the awful burden on myself; Which I will do, in future, if she please!

Ruth.

Now have you conquered! Look! I am your slave. Denounce me, scourge me, anything but kiss; For life is sweet, and I alone am left To comfort an old man.

Israel. Ruth, that will do! Remember I'm a Justice of the Peace, And bide no quarrels; and if you and David Persist in strife, I'll place you under bonds For good behavior, or condemn you both To solitary durance for the night.

Ruth.

Father, you fail to understand the case, And do me wrong. David has threatened me With an assault that proves intent to kill; And here's my sister Grace, his wedded wife, Who'll take her oath, that just a year ago He entered into bonds to keep the peace Toward me and womankind.

David.

I'm quite asleep.

Israel.

We'll all agree, then, to pronounce it quits.

Ruth.

Till he awake again, of course. I trust I have sufficient gallantry to grant A nap between encounters, to a foe With odds against him.

Israel.

Peace, my daughter, peace! You've had your full revenge, and we have had Enough of laughter since the day began. We must not squander all these precious hours In jest and merriment; for when the sun Shall rise to-morrow, we shall separate, Not knowing we shall ever meet again. Meetings like this are rare this side of Heaven, And seem to me the best mementoes left Of Eden's hours.

Grace.

Most certainly the best, And quite the rarest, but, unluckily, The weakest, as we know; for sin and pain And evils multiform, that swarm the earth, And poison all our joys and all our hearts, Remind us most of Eden's forfeit bliss.

David.

Forfeit through woman.

Grace.

Forfeit through her power;— A power not lost, as most men know, I think, Beyond the knowledge of their trustful wives.

Mary.

[Rising, and walking hurriedly to the window.]

'Tis a wild night without.

Ruth.

And getting wild Within. Now, Grace, I—all of us—protest Against a scene to-night. Look! You have driven One to the window blushing, and your lord, With lowering brow, is making stern essay To stare the fire-dogs out of countenance. These honest brothers, with their honest wives, Grow glum and solemn, too, as if they feared At the next gust to see the windows burst, Or a riven poplar crashing through the roof. And think of me!—a simple-hearted maid Who learned from Cowper only yesterday (Or a schoolmaster, with a handsome face, And a strange passion for the text), the fact, That wedded bliss alone survives the fall. I'm shocked; I'm frightened; and I'll never wed Unless I—change my mind!

Israel.

And I consent.

David.

And the schoolmaster with the handsome face Propose.

Ruth.

Your pardon, father, for the jest! But I have never patience with the ills That make intrusion on my happy hours. I know the world is full of evil things, And shudder with the consciousness. I know That care has iron crowns for many brows; That Calvaries are everywhere, whereon Virtue is crucified, and nails and spears Draw guiltless blood; that sorrow sits and drinks At sweetest hearts, till all their life is dry; That gentle spirits on the rack of pain Grow faint or fierce, and pray and curse by turns; That Hell's temptations, clad in Heavenly guise And armed with might, lie evermore in wait Along life's path, giving assault to all— Fatal to most; that Death stalks through the earth, Choosing his victims, sparing none at last; That in each shadow of a pleasant tree A grief sits sadly sobbing to its leaves; And that beside each fearful soul there walks The dim, gaunt phantom of uncertainty, Bidding it look before, where none may see, And all must go; but I forget it all— I thrust it from me always when I may; Else I should faint with fear, or drown myself In pity. God forgive me! but I've thought A thousand times that if I had His power. Or He my love, we'd have a different world From this we live in.

Israel.

Those are sinful thoughts, My daughter, and too surely indicate A willful soul, unreconciled to God.

Ruth.

So you have told me often. You have said That God is just, and I have looked around To seek the proof in human lot, in vain. The rain falls kindly on the just man's fields, But on the unjust man's more kindly still; And I have never known the winter's blast, Or the quick lightning, or the pestilence, Make nice discriminations when let slip From God's right hand.

Israel.

'Tis a great mystery; Yet God is just, and,—blessed be His name!— Is loving too. I know that I am weak, And that the pathway of His Providence Is on the hills where I may never climb. Therefore my reason yields her hand to Faith, And follows meekly where the angel leads. I see the rich man have his portion here, And Lazarus, in glorified repose, Sleep like a jewel on the breast of Faith In Heaven's broad light. I see that whom God loves He chastens sorely, but I ask not why. I only know that God is just and good: All else is mystery. Why evil lives Within His universe, I may not know. I know it lives, and taints the vital air; And that in ways inscrutable to me— Yet compromising not His soundless love And boundless power—it lives against His will.

Ruth.

I am not satisfied. If evil live Against God's will, evil is king of all, And they do well who worship Lucifer. I am not satisfied. My reason spurns Such prostitution to absurdities. I know that you are happy; but I shrink From your blind faith with loathing and with fear. And feel that I must win it, if I win, With the surrender, not of will alone, But of the noblest faculty that God Has crowned me with.

Israel.

O blind and stubborn child! My light, my joy, my burden and my grief! How would I lead you to the wells of peace, And see you dip your fevered palms and drink! Gladly to purchase this would I lay down The precious remnant of my life, and sleep, Wrapped in the faith you spurn, till the archangel Sounds the last trump. But God's good will be done! I leave you with Him.

Ruth.

Father, talk not thus! Oh, do not blame me! I would do it all, If but to bless you with a single joy; But I am helpless.

Israel.

God will help you, Ruth.

Ruth.

To quench my reason? Can I ask the boon? My lips would blister with the blasphemy. I cannot take your faith; and that is why I would forget that I am in a world Where evil lives, and why I guard my joys With such a jealous care.

David.

There, Ruth, sit down! 'Tis the old question, with the old reply. You fly along the path, with bleeding feet, Where many feet have flown and bled before; And he who seeks to guide you to the goal Has (let me say it, father) stopped far short, And taken refuge at a wayside inn, Whose haunted halls and mazy passages Receive no light, save through the riddled roof, Pierced thick by pilgrim staves, that Faith may lie Upon its back, and only gaze on Heaven. I would not banish evil if I could; Nor would I be so deep in love with joy As to seek for it in forgetfulness, Through faith or fear.

Ruth.

Teach me the better way, And every expiration from my lips Shall be a grateful blessing on your head; And in the coming world I'll seek the side Of no more gracious angel than the man Who gives me brotherhood by leading me Home with himself to heaven.

Israel.

My son, Be careful of your words! 'Tis no light thing To take the guidance of a straying soul.

David.

I mark the burden well, and love it, too, Because I love the girl and love her Lord, And seek to vindicate His love to her And waken hers for Him. Be this my plea: God is almighty—all-benevolent; And naught exists save by His loving will. Evil, or what we reckon such, exists, And not against His will; else the Supreme Is subject, and we have in place of God A phantom nothing, with a phantom name. Therefore I care not whether He ordain That evil live, or whether He permit; Therefore I ask not why, in either case, As if He meant to curse me, but I ask What He would have this evil do for me? What is its mission? what its ministry? What golden fruit lies hidden in its husk? How shall it nurse my virtue, nerve my will, Chasten my passions, purify my love, And make me in some goodly sense like Him Who bore the cross of evil while He lived, Who hung and bled upon it when He died, And now, in glory, wears the victor's crown?

Israel.

If evil, then, have privilege and part In the economy of holiness, Why came the Christ to save us from its power, And bring us restoration of the bliss Lost in the lapse of Eden?

David. And would you Or Ruth 'have restoration of that bliss, And welcome transplantation to the state Associate with it?

Ruth.

Would I? Would I not! Oh, I have dreamed of it a thousand times, Sleeping and waking, since the torch of thought Flashed into flame at Revelation's touch, And filled my spirit with its quenchless fire. Most envious dreams of innocence and joy Have haunted me,—dreams that were born in sin, Yet swathed in stainless snow. I've dreamed, and dreamed, Of wondrous trees, crowned with perennial green, Whose soft still shadows gleamed with golden lamps Of pensile fruitage, or were flushed with life Radiant and tuneful when broad flocks of birds Swept in and out like sheets of living flame. I've dreamed of aisles tufted with velvet grass, And bordered with the strange intelligence Of myriad loving eyes among the flowers, That watched me with a curious, calm delight, As rows of wayside cherubim may watch A new soul, walking into Paradise. I've dreamed of sunsets when the sun supine Lay rocking on the ocean like a god, And threw his weary arms far up the sky, And with vermilion-tinted fingers toyed With the long tresses of the evening star. I've dreamed of dreams more beautiful than all— Dreams that were music, perfume, vision, bliss,— Blent and sublimed, till I have stood inwrapped In the thick essence of an atmosphere That made me tremble to unclose my eyes Lest I should look on God. And I have dreamed Of sinless men and maids, mated in heaven, Ere yet their souls had sought for beauteous forms To give them human sense and residence, Moving through all this realm of choice delights For ever and for aye; with hands and hearts Immaculate as light; without a thought Of evil, and without a name for fear. Oh, when I wake from happy dreams like these, To the old consciousness that I must die, To the old presence of a guilty heart, To the old fear that haunts me night and day, Why should I not deplore the graceless fall That makes me what I am, and shuts me out From a condition and society As much above a sinful maiden's dreams As Eden blest surpasses Eden curst?

David.

So you would be another Eve, and so— Fall with the first temptation, like herself! God seeks for virtue; you for innocence. You'll find it in the cradle—nowhere else— Save in your dreams, among the grown-up babes That dwelt in Eden—powerless, pulpy souls That showed a dimple for each touch of sin. God seeks for virtue, and, that it may live, It must resist, and that which it resists Must live. Believe me, God has other thought Than restoration of our fallen race To its primeval innocence and bliss. If Jesus Christ—as we are taught—was slain From the foundation of the world, it was Because our evil lived in essence then— Coeval with the great, mysterious fact. And He was slain that we might be transformed,— Not into Adam's sweet similitude— But the more glorious image of Himself, A resolution of our destiny As high transcending Eden's life and lot As He surpasses Eden's fallen lord.

Ruth.

You're very bold, my brother, very bold. Did I not know you for an earnest man, When sacred themes move you to utterance, I'd chide you for those most irreverent words Which make essential to the Christian scheme That which the scheme was made to kill, or cure.

David.

Yet they do save some very awkward words, That limp to make apology for God, And, while they justify Him, half confess The adverse verdict of appearances. I am ashamed that in this Christian age The pious throng still hug the fallacy That this dear world of ours was not ordained The theater of evil; for no law Declared of God from all eternity Can live a moment save by lease of pain. Law cannot live, e'en in God's inmost thought, Save by the side of evil. What were law But a weak jest without its penalty? Never a law was born that did not fly Forth from the bosom of Omnipotence Matched, wing-and-wing, with evil and with good, Avenger and rewarder—both of God.

Ruth.

I face your thought and give it audience; But I cannot embrace it till it come With some of truth's credentials in its hands— The fruits of gracious ministries.

David.

Does he Who, driven to labor by the threatening weeds, And forced to give his acres light and air And traps for dew and reservoirs for rain, Till, in the smoky light of harvest time, The ragged husks reveal the golden corn, Ask truth's credentials of the weeds? Does he Who prunes the orchard boughs, or tills the field, Or fells the forests, or pursues their prey, Until the gnarly muscles of his limbs And the free blood that thrills in all his veins Betray the health that toil alone secures, Ask truth's credentials at the hand of toil? Do you ask truth's credentials of the storm Which, while we entertain communion here, Makes better music for our huddling hearts Than choirs of stars can sing in fairest nights? Yet weeds are evils—evils toil and storm. We may suspect the fair, smooth face of good; But evil, that assails us undisguised, Bears evermore God's warrant in its hands.

Israel.

I fear these silver sophistries of yours. If my poor judgment gives them honest weight, Far less than thirty will betray your Lord. You call that evil which is good, and good That which is evil. You apologize For that which God must hate, and justify The life and perpetuity of that Which sets itself against His holiness, And sends its discords through the universe.

David.

I sorrow if I shock you, for I seek To comfort and inspire. I see around A silent company of doubtful souls; But I may challenge any one of them To quote the meanest blessing of its life, And prove that evil did not make the gift, Or bear it from the giver to its hands. The great salvation wrought by Jesus Christ— That sank an Adam to reveal a God— Had never come, but at the call of sin. No risen Lord could eat the feast of love Here on the earth, or yonder in the sky, Had He not lain within the sepulcher. 'Tis not the lightly laden heart of man That loves the best the hand that blesses all; But that which, groaning with its weight of sin, Meets with the mercy that forgiveth much. God never fails in an experiment, Nor tries experiment upon a race But to educe its highest style of life, And sublimate its issues. Thus to me Evil is not a mystery, but a means Selected from the infinite resource To make the most of me.

Ruth.

Thank God for light! These truths are slowly dawning on my soul, And take position in the firmament That spans my thought, like stars that know their place. Dear Lord! what visions crowd before my eyes— Visions drawn forth from memory's mysteries By the sweet shining of these holy lights! I see a girl, once lightest in the dance, And maddest with the gayety of life, Grow pale and pulseless, wasting day by day, While death lies idly dreaming in her breast, Blighting her breath, and poisoning her blood. I see her frantic with a fearful thought That haunts and horrifies her shrinking soul, And bursts in sighs and sobs and feverish prayers; And now, at last, the awful struggle ends, A sweet smile sits upon her angel face, And peace, with downy bosom, nestles close Where her worn heart throbs faintly; closer still As the death shadows gather; closer still, As, on white wings, the outward-going soul Flies to a home it never would have sought, Had a great evil failed to point the way. I see a youth whom God has crowned with power, And cursed with poverty. With bravest heart He struggles with his lot, through toilsome years,— Kept to his task by daily want of bread, And kept to virtue by his daily task,— Till, gaining manhood in the manly strife,— The fire that fills him smitten from a flint— The strength that arms him wrested from a fiend— He stands, at last, a master of himself, And, in that grace, a master of his kind.

David.

Familiar visions these, but ever full Of inspiration and significance. Now that your eyes are opened and you see, Your heart should take swift cognizance, and feel. How do these visions move you?

Ruth.

Like the hand Of a strong angel on my shoulder laid, Touching the secret of the spirit's wings. My heart grows brave. I'm ready now to work— To work with God, and suffer with His Christ; Adopt His measures, and abide His means. If, in the law that spans the universe (The law its maker may not disobey), Virtue may only grow from innocence Through a great struggle with opposing ill; If I must win my way to perfectness In the sad path of suffering, like Him The over-flowing river of whose life Touches the flood-mark of humanity On the white pillars of the heavenly throne, Then welcome evil! Welcome sickness, toil, Sorrow and pain, the fear and fact of death.

Israel

And welcome sin?

Ruth.

Ah, David! welcome sin?

David.

The fact of sin—so much;—it must needs be Offenses come; if woe to him by whom, Then with good reason; but the fact of sin Unlocked the door to highest destiny, That Christ might enter in and lead the way. God loves not sin, nor I; but in the throng Of evils that assail us, there are none That yield their strength to Virtue's struggling arm With such munificent reward of power As great temptations. We may win by toil Endurance; saintly fortitude by pain; By sickness, patience; faith and trust by fear; But the great stimulus that spurs to life, And crowds to generous development Each chastened power and passion of the soul, Is the temptation of the soul to sin, Resisted, and re-conquered, evermore.

Ruth.

I am content; and now that I have caught Bright glimpses of the outlines of your scheme, As of a landscape, graded to the sky, And seen through trees while passing, I desire No vision further till I make survey In some good time when I may come alone, And drink its beauty and its blessedness. I've been forgetful in my earnestness, And wearied everyone with talk. These boys Are restive grown, or nodding in their chairs, And older heads are set, as if for sleep. I beg their pardon for my theft of time, And will offend no more.

David.

Ruth, is it right To leave a brother in such a plight as this— Either to imitate your courtesy, Or by your act to be adjudged a boor?

Ruth.

Heaven grant you never note a sin of mine Save of your own construction!

Israel.

Let it pass! I see the spell of thoughtfulness is gone, Or going swiftly. I will not complain; But ere these lads are fastened to their games, And thoughts arise discordant with our theme, Let us with gratitude approach the throne And worship God. I wish once more to lead Your hearts in prayer, and follow with my own The leading of your song of thankfulness. Then will I lease and leave you for the night To such divertisement as suits the time, And meets your humor.

[They all arise and the old man prays.]

Ruth.

[After a pause.]

David, let us see Whether your memory prove as true as mine. Do you recall the promise made by you This night one year ago,—to write a hymn For this occasion?

David.

I recall, and keep. Here are the copies, written fairly out. Here,—father, Mary, Ruth, and all the rest; There's one for each. Now what shall be the tune?

Israel.

The old One Hundredth—noblest tune of tunes! Old tunes are precious to me as old paths In which I wandered when a happy boy. In truth, they are the old paths of my soul, Oft trod, well worn, familiar, up to God.

THE HYMN.

[In which all unite to sing.]

For Summer's bloom and Autumn's blight, For bending wheat and blasted maize, For health and sickness, Lord of light, And Lord of darkness, hear our praise!

We trace to Thee our joys and woes— To Thee of causes still the cause,— We thank Thee that Thy hand bestows; We bless Thee that Thy love withdraws.

We bring no sorrows to Thy throne; We come to Thee with no complaint; In Providence Thy will is done, And that is sacred to the saint

Here on this blest Thanksgiving Night; We raise to Thee our grateful voice; For what Thou doest, Lord, is right; And thus believing, we rejoice.

Grace.

A good old tune, indeed, and strongly sung; But, in my mind, the man who wrote the hymn Had seemed more modest, had he paused a while. Ere by a trick he furnished other tongues With words he only has the heart to sing.

David.

Oh, Grace! Dear Grace!

Ruth.

You may well cry for grace, If that's the company you have to keep.

Grace.

I thought you convert to his sophistry. It makes no difference to him, you know, Whether I plague or please.

Ruth.

It does to you.

Israel.

There, children! No more bitter words like those! I do not understand them; they awake A sad uneasiness within my heart. I found but Christian meaning in the hymn; Aye, I could say amen to every line, As to the breathings of my own poor prayer. But let us talk no more. I'll to my bed. Good-night, my children! Happy thoughts be yours Till sleep arrive—then happy dreams till dawn!

All.

Father, good-night!

[ISRAEL retires.]

Ruth.

There, little boys and girls— Off to the kitchen! Now there's fun for you. Play blind-man's-buff until you break your heads; And then sit down beside the roaring fire, And with wild stories scare yourselves to death. We'll all be out there, by and by. Meanwhile, I'll try the cellar; and if David, here, Will promise good behavior, he shall be My candle-bearer, basket-bearer, and— But no! The pitcher I will bear myself. I'll never trust a pitcher to a man Under this house, and—seventy years of age.

[The children rush out of the room with a shout, which wakes the baby.]

That noisy little youngster on the floor Slept through theology but wakes with mirth— Precocious little creature! He must go Up to his chamber. Come, Grace, take him off— Basket and all. Mary will lend a hand, And keep you company until he sleeps.

[GRACE and MARY remove the cradle to the chamber, and DAVID and RUTH retire to the cellar_.]

John.

[Rising and yawning]

Isn't she the strangest girl you ever saw?

Prudence.

Queer, rather, I should say. Grace, now, is strange. I think she treats her husband shamefully. I can't imagine what possesses her, Thus to toss taunts at him with every word. If in his doctrines there be truth enough, He'll be a saint.

Patience.

If he live long enough.

John.

Well, now I tell you, such wild men as he,— Men who have crazy crotchets in their heads,— Can't make a woman happy. Don't you see? He isn't settled. He has wandered off From the old landmarks, and has lost himself I may judge wrongly; but if truth were told There'd be excuse for Grace, I warrant ye. Grace is a right good girl, or was, before She married David.

Patience.

Everybody says He makes provision for his family, Like a good husband.

Peter.

We can hardly tell. When men get loose in their theology The screws are started up in everything. Of course, I don't apologize for Grace. I think she might have done more prudently Than introduce her troubles here to-night, But, after all, we do not know the cause That stirs her fretfulness.

Well, let it go! What does the evening's talk amount to? Who Is wiser for the wisdom of the hour? The good old paths are good enough for me. The fathers walked to heaven in them, and we, By following mekly where they trod, may reach The home they found. There will be mysteries; Let those who like, bother their heads with them. If Ruth and David seek to fathom all, I wish them patience in their bootless quest. For one, I'm glad the misty talk is done, And we, alone.

Patience.

And I.

John.

I, too.

Prudence.

And I.