THE ONE MOSS-ROSE.

[3]

THE ONE MOSS-ROSE.

BY

REV. P. B. POWER, M.A.

[5][4]

THE ONE MOSS-ROSE.

The great, and, indeed, almost the only pleasure upon which the labourer allowed himself to spend any time, was the little flower garden in front of the house. The garden was Dobbin's pride; and the pride of the garden was a moss-rose tree, which was the peculiar treasure of the labourer's little crippled son, who watched it from the window, and whenever he was well enough, crept out to water it, and pick off any stray snail which had ventured to climb up its rich brown leaves. No mother ever watched her little infant with more eager eyes than Jacob Dobbin did his favourite rose; and no doubt he thought all the more of it because he had so few pleasures in life. Jacob Dobbin had no fine toys, he could not take any long walks, nor could he[7] play at cricket, or any such games, therefore his rose tree was all the more precious; in fact, in his estimation there was nothing to compare with it in the world.

There was a great difference between poor Jacob's lot and that of Squire Courtenay's son. James Courtenay had plenty of toys; he had also a pony, and a servant to attend him whenever he rode out; when the summer came, he used often to go out sailing with the squire in his yacht; and there was scarce anything on which he set his heart which he was not able to get.

With all these pleasures, James Courtenay was not, however, so happy a youth as poor Jacob Dobbin. Jacob, though crippled, was contented—his few pleasures were thoroughly enjoyed, and "a contented mind is a continual feast;" whereas James was[8] spoiled by the abundance of good things at his command; he was like the full man that loatheth the honeycomb; and he often caused no little trouble to his friends, and, indeed, to himself also, by the evil tempers he displayed.

Many a time did James Courtenay's old nurse, who was a God-fearing woman, point out to him that the world was not made for him alone; that there were many others to be considered as well as himself; and that although God had given him many things, still he was not of a bit more importance in His sight than others who had not so much. All this the young squire would never have listened to from any one else; but old Aggie had reared him, and whenever he was laid by with any illness, or was in any particular trouble, she was the one to whom he always[9] fled. "God sometimes teaches people very bitter lessons," said old Aggie one day, when James Courtenay had been speaking contemptuously to one of the servants; "and take care, Master James, lest you soon have to learn one."

Jacob Dobbin had been for some time worse than usual, his cough was more severe, and his poor leg more painful, when his father and he held a long conversation by the side of their scanty fire.

Leonard had made the tea in the old black pot with the broken spout, and Jacob lay on his little settle, close up to the table.

"Father," said Jacob, "I saw the young squire ride by on his gray pony to-day, and just then my leg gave me a sore pinch, and I thought, How strange it is that there should be such a difference between folk;[10] he's almost always galloping about, and I'm almost always in bed."

"Poor folk," answered Jacob's father, "are not always so badly off as they suppose; little things make them happy, and little things often make great folk unhappy; and let us remember, Jacob, that whatever may be our lot in life, we all have an opportunity of pleasing God, and so obtaining the great reward, which of his mercy, and for Christ's sake, he will give to all those who please him by patient continuance in well-doing. The squire cannot please God any more than you."

"Oh," said Jacob, "the squire can spend more money than I can; he can give to the poor, and do no end of things that I cannot: all I can do is to lie still on my bed, and at times keep myself from almost cursing and swearing when the pain is very bad."[11]

"Exactly so, my son," answered Leonard Dobbin; "but remember that patience is of great price in the sight of God; and he is very often glorified in the sufferings of his people."

"The way I should like to glorify God," said Jacob, "would be by going about doing good, and letting people see me do it, so that I could glorify him before them, and not in my dull little corner here."

"Ah, Jacob, my son," replied old Leonard Dobbin, "you may glorify God more than you suppose up in your little dull corner—what should you think of glorifying him before angels and evil spirits?"

"Ah, that would be glorious!" cried Jacob.

"Spirits, good and bad, are ever around us," said old Leonard, "and they are watching us; and how much[12] must God be glorified before them, when they see his grace able to make a sufferer patient and gentle, and when they know that he is bearing everything for Christ's sake. When a Christian is injured, and avenges not himself; when he is evil spoken of, and answers not again; when he is provoked, yet continues long-suffering: then the spirits, good and bad, witness these things, and they must glorify the grace of God."

That night Jacob Dobbin seemed to have quite a new light thrown upon his life. "Perhaps," said he to himself, as he lay upon the little settle, "I'm afflicted in order that I may glorify God. I suppose he is glorified by his people bearing different kinds of pain; perhaps some other boy is glorifying him with a crippled hand, while I am with my poor crippled leg: but I should like to be[13] able even to bear persecution from man for Christ's sake, like the martyrs in father's old book; as I have strength to bear such dreadful pain in my poor leg, I daresay I might bear a great deal of suffering of other kinds."

The spring with its showers passed away, and the beautiful summer came, and Jacob Dobbin was able to sit at his cottage door, breathing in the pure country air, and admiring what was to him the loveliest object in nature—namely, one rich, swelling bud upon his moss-rose tree. There was but one bud this year upon the tree,—the frosts and keen spring winds had nipped all the rest; and this one was now bursting into beauty; and it was doubly dear to Jacob, because it was left alone. Jacob passed much of his time at[14] the cottage door, dividing his admiration between the one moss-rose and the beautiful white fleecy clouds, which used to sail in majestic grandeur over his head; and often he used to be day-dreaming for hours, about the white robes of all who suffered for their Lord.

While thus engaged one day, the young squire came running along, and his eye fell upon Jacob's rose. "Hallo," cried he with delight—"a moss-rose! Ha, ha!—the gardener said we had not even one blown in our garden; but here's a rare beauty!" and in a moment James Courtenay had bounded over the little garden gate, and stood beside the rose bush. In another instant his knife was out of his pocket, and his hand was approaching the tree.

"Stop, stop!" cried Jacob Dobbin;[15] "pray don't cut it,—'tis our only rose; I've watched it I don't know how long; and 'tisn't quite come out yet,"—and Jacob made an effort to get from his seat to the tree; but before the poor little cripple could well rise from his seat, the young squire's knife was through the stem, and with a loud laugh he jumped over the little garden fence, and was soon lost to sight.

The excitement of this scene had a lamentable effect upon poor Jacob Dobbin. When he found his one moss-rose gone, he burst into a violent fit of sobbing, and soon a quantity of blood began to pour from his mouth—he had broken a blood-vessel; and a neighbour, passing that way a little time after, found him lying senseless upon the ground. The neighbouring doctor was sent for, and he gave it as his opinion that Jacob could never get[16] over this attack. "Had it been an ordinary case," said the doctor, "I should not have apprehended a fatal result; but under present circumstances I fear the very worst; poor Jacob has not strength to bear up against this loss of blood."

For many days Jacob Dobbin lay in a darkened room, and many were the thoughts of the other world which came into his mind; amongst them were some connected with the holy martyrs. "Father," said he to his aged parent as he sat by his side, "I have been learning a lesson about the martyrs. I see now how unfit I was to be tried as they were; if I could not bear the loss of one moss-rose patiently for Christ's sake, how could I have borne fire and prison, and such like things?"

"Ah, Jacob," said the old man, "'tis in little common trials such as[17] we meet with every day, that, by God's grace, such a spirit is reared within us as was in the hearts of the great martyrs of olden time;—tell me, can you forgive the young squire?"

"The blessed Jesus forgave his persecutors," whispered Jacob faintly, "and the martyrs prayed for those who tormented them—in this at least I may be like them. Father, I do forgive the young squire; and, father," said Jacob, as he opened his eyes after an interval of a few minutes' rest, "get your spade, and dig up the tree, and take it with my duty to the young squire. Don't wait till I'm dead, father; I should not feel parting with it then; but I love the tree, and I wish to give it to him now. And if you dig up a very large ball of earth with it, he can have it planted in his garden at once; and—;" but poor Jacob could say no more; he[18] sank back quite exhausted, and he never returned to the subject again, for in a day or two afterwards he died.

When old Leonard Dobbin appeared at the great house with his wheel-barrow containing the rose tree and its ball of earth, there was no small stir amongst the servants. Some said that it was fine impudence in him to come troubling the family about his trumpery rose, bringing the tree, as if he wanted to lay Jacob Dobbin's blood at their young master's door; others shook their heads, and said it was a bad business, and that that tree was an ugly present, and one that they should not care to have; and as to old Aggie, she held her tongue, but prayed that the child she had reared so anxiously might yet become changed, and grow up an altered man.[19]

Old Leonard could not get audience of the squire or his son; but the gardener, who was in the servants' hall when he arrived with his rose, told him to wheel it along, and he would plant it in Master James's garden, and look after it until it bloomed again; and there the rose finally took up its abode.

Meanwhile the young squire grew worse and worse; he respected no one's property, if he fancied it himself; and all the tenants and domestics were afraid of imposing any check upon his evil ways. He was not, however, without some stings of conscience; he knew that Jacob Dobbin was dead—he had even seen his newly-made grave in the churchyard on Sunday; and he could not blot out from his memory the distress of poor Jacob when last he saw him alive; moreover, some of the whisperings of the[20] neighbourhood reached his ears; and all these things made him feel far from comfortable.

As day after day passed by, James Courtenay felt more and more miserable: a settled sadness took possession of his mind, varied by fits of restlessness and passion, and he felt that there was something hanging over him, although he could not exactly tell what. It was evident, from the whispers which had reached his ears, that there had been some dreadful circumstances connected with poor Jacob Dobbin's death, but he feared to inquire; and so day after day passed in wretchedness, and there seemed little chance of matters getting any better.

At length a change came in a very unexpected way. As James Courtenay was riding along one day, he saw a pair of bantam fowls picking up the[21] corn about a stack in one of the tenants' yards. The bantams were very handsome, and he felt a great desire to possess them; so he dismounted, and seeing the farmer's son hard by, he asked him for how much he would sell the fowls.

"They're not for sale, master," said the boy; "they belong to my young sister, and she wouldn't sell those bantams for any money,—there isn't a cock to match that one in all the country round."

"I'll give a sovereign for them," said James Courtenay.

"No, not ten," answered Jim Meyers.

"Then I'll take them, and no thanks," said the young squire; and so saying, he flung Jim Meyers the sovereign, and began to hunt the bantams into a corner of the yard.

"I say," cried Jim, "leave off[22] hunting those bantams, master, or I must call my father."

"Your father!" cried the young squire; "and pray, who's your father? You're a pretty fellow to talk about a father; take care I don't bring my father to you;" and having said this, he made a dart at the cock bantam, that he had by this time driven into a corner.

"Look here," said Jim, doubling his fists. "You did a bad job, young master, by Jacob Dobbin; you were the death of him, and I won't have you the death of my little sister, by, maybe, her fretting herself to death about these birds, so you look out, and if you touch one of these birds, come what will of it, I'll touch you."

"Who ever said I did Jacob Dobbin any harm?" asked James Courtenay, his face as pale as ashes; "I never laid a hand upon the brat."[23]

"Brat or no brat," answered Jim Meyers, "you were the death of him; you made him burst a blood-vessel, and I say you murdered him." This was too much for James Courtenay to bear, so without more ado, he flew upon Jim Meyers, intending to pommel him well; but Jim was not to be so easily pommelled; he stood upon his guard, and soon dealt the young squire such a blow between the eyes that he had no more power to fight.

"Vengeance! vengeance!" cried the angry youth. "I'll make you pay dearly for this;" and slinking away, he got upon his pony and rode rapidly home.

It may be easily imagined that on the young squire's arrival at the Hall, in so melancholy a plight, the whole place was in terrible confusion. Servants ran hither and thither, old Aggie went off for some ice, and the[24] footman ran to the stable to send the groom for the doctor, and the whole house was turned upside down.

In the midst of all this, James Courtenay's father came home, and great indeed was his rage when he heard that his son had received this beating on his own property, and from the hands of a son of one of his own tenantry; and his rage became greater and greater as the beaten boy gave a very untrue account of what had occurred. "I was admiring a bantam of Meyers," said he to his father, "and his son flew upon me like a tiger, and hit me between the eyes."

Squire Courtenay determined to move in the matter at once, so he sent a groom to summon the Meyers—both father and son. "I'll make Meyers pay dearly for this," said the squire; "his lease is out next Michael[25]mas, and I shall not renew it; and, besides, I'll prosecute his son."

All this delighted the young squire, and every minute seemed to him to be an hour, until the arrival of the two Meyers, upon whom ample vengeance was to be wreaked; and the pain of his eyes seemed as nothing, so sweet was the prospect of revenge.

In the course of an hour the two Meyers arrived, and with much fear and trembling were shown into their landlord's presence.

"Meyers," cried the squire, in great wrath, "you leave your farm at Michaelmas; and as to that young scoundrel, your son, I'll have him before the bench next bench-day, and I'll see whether I can't make him pay for such tricks as these."

"What have I done," asked old Meyers, "to deserve being turned adrift? If your honour will hear the[26] whole of the story about this business, I don't believe you'll turn me out on the cold world, after being on that land nigh-hand forty years."

"'Hear!' I have heard enough about it; your son dared to lift a hand to mine, and—and I'll have no tenant on my estate that will ever venture upon such an outrage as that;—it was a great compliment to you for my son to admire your bantams, or anything on your farm, without his being subjected to such an assault."

"I don't want to excuse my boy," said old Meyers, "for touching the young squire; and right sorry I am that he ever lifted a hand to him; but begging your honour's pardon, the young squire provoked him to it, and he did a great deal more than just admire my little girl's bantams.—Come, Jim, speak up, and tell the squire all about it."[27]

"Ay, speak up and excuse yourself, you young rascal, if you can," said the angry squire; "and if you can't, you'll soon find your way into the inside of a prison for this. Talk of poaching! what is it to an assault upon the person?"

"I will speak up, then, your honour, since you wish it," said Jim Meyers, "and I'll tell the whole truth of how this came about." And then he told the whole story of the young squire having wanted to buy the bantams, and on his not being permitted to do so, of his endeavouring to take them by force. "And when I wouldn't let him carry away my sister's birds, he flew on me like a game cock, and in self-defence I struck him as I did."

"You said I murdered Jacob Dobbin," interrupted James Courtenay.

"Yes, I did," answered Jim Meyers, "and all the country says the same,[28] and I only say what every one else says; ask anybody within five miles of this, and if they're not afraid to speak up, they'll tell just the same tale that I do."

"Murdered Jacob Dobbin!" ejaculated the squire in astonishment; "I don't believe my son ever lifted a hand to him,—you mean the crippled boy that died some time ago?"

"Yes, he means him," said Jim Meyers' father; "and 'tis true what the lad says, that folk for five miles round lay his death at the young squire's door, and say that a day will come when his blood will be required of him."

"Why, what happened?" asked the squire, beginning almost to tremble in his chair; for he knew that his son was given to very violent tempers, and was of a very arbitrary disposition; and he felt, moreover, within[29] the depths of his own heart, that he had not checked him as he should. "What is the whole truth about this matter?"

"Come, speak up, Jim," said old Meyers; "you were poor Jacob's friend, and you know most about it;" the squire also added a word, encouraging the lad, who, thus emboldened, took courage and gave the squire the whole history of poor Jacob Dobbin's one moss-rose. He told him of the cripple's love for the plant, and how its one and only blossom had been rudely snatched away by the young squire, and how poor Jacob burst a blood vessel and finally died.

"And if your honour wants to know what became of the tree, you'll find it planted in the young squire's garden," added Jim, "and the gardener will tell you how it came there."[30]

The reader will easily guess what must have been the young squire's feelings as he heard the whole of this tale. Several times did he endeavour to make his escape, under the plea that he was in great pain from his face, and once or twice he pretended to faint away; but his father, who, though proud and irreligious, was just, determined that he should remain until the whole matter was searched out.

When Jim Meyers' story was ended, the squire bade him go into the servants' hall, and his father also, while old Dobbin was sent for; and as to James, his son, he told him to go up to his bed-room, and not come down until he was called.

Poor old Leonard Dobbin was just as much frightened as Jim Meyers and his father had been, at the summons to attend the squire. He had a[31] clear conscience, however; he felt that he had not wronged the squire in anything; and so, washing himself and putting on his best Sunday clothes, he made his way to the Hall as quickly as he could.

"Leonard Dobbin," said the squire, "I charge you, upon pain of my worst displeasure, to tell me all you know about this story of your late son's moss-rose tree. You need not be afraid to tell me all; your only cause for fear will be the holding back from me anything connected with the matter."