p. 9 | AN UNEXPECTED PRIZE by Mrs. F. A. Reynolds

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 6, 1893

"AN UNEXPECTED PRIZE."

By Mrs. F. A. Reynolds

CHAPTER VI.—"THE LAWN PARTY."

"A LETTER, mamma!" cried Hope, dancing up the walk to the piazza, where Mrs. Manton sat sewing. "And I believe I know what it is too, mamma," she added, as her mother opened the envelope.

"Well, what is it?" asked Mrs. Manton smiling, as she held the folded letter covered in her lap.

"Grace Noble is to have a sort of lawn party Wednesday evening, and she said her mother had written to ask me to attend—Paul too, I believe. Her cousin Alice is to come to-day, and it is to introduce her. Grace graduates from the A grade next week, you know, and Alice comes to see her. They are going away to school together next year, and—but I am right?" she exclaimed interrogatively, as her mother opened the note.

"Yes, dear."

"And we may go?"

"Yes, if you will arrange to prepare your lessons properly, as usual."

"Oh, yes, I'll get them before I go! It will be just lovely—full moon—Chinese lanterns, and"—

Mrs. Manton laughed.

"It seems rather absurd to mention Chinese lanterns in the same sentence with the evening lamp God has hung in the sky. However, I suppose they are ornamental and somewhat useful."

"Yes, indeed. And, mamma, what shall I wear?"

"Your white dress, I presume; you have nothing more suitable."

"But, mamma, it is so plain, and I've worn it so much, and—and—Bertha Allen is going to wear—such a pretty new pink silk net. Why can't I have one like it, or blue, or anything but that old white?"

"Hope," said Mrs. Manton severely, "I never knew you to rebel before. It would be sufficient for me to express my desire, but I will explain why you must wear the white. In the first place, we are obliged just at present to avoid extra expense, as papa is just about to pay off the last of the mortgage resting upon our pretty home, and it will take all he can command. So you see it is impossible to buy a new dress now. But if I had thousands of dollars to spare, I do not think I could buy you a more suitable dress to wear to such a gathering than the one you have. Plain white is always pretty and becoming to girls of your age."

Hope's face wore a very discontented look. It was evident she did not agree with her mother.

"The girls will all know it is my old white dress," she muttered, with tears gathering in her eyes.

"Run and wash your face, dear," said her mother, "and then come out and read your history lesson over to me."

Hope obeyed, but she was not her usual sweet self.

About six o'clock Mr. Manton and Paul appeared, both looking very happy.

"Hurrah!" cried Paul, waving his hat. "Ivy Lodge is free," he added, lowering his voice.

Mrs. Manton looked inquiringly at her husband.

"Yes, I made a collection to-day I was not expecting to, and made up the amount, so I went around and settled up, and our home is ours again."

"Thank God!" murmured Mrs. Manton.

"Yes, and with his help we will not run in debt again," added Mr. Manton.

Hope said nothing. Even the knowledge that her home was free from mortgage was just then of less importance than a pink silk net dress.

The next day was Friday, and when Hope came home, her eyes were bright with some new idea.

"Mamma, several of the girls are going to wear white, with lovely new Roman sashes. Now can I have a sash? It won't cost nearly so much as a dress, and it will make my old dress seem almost new."

Mrs. Manton shook her head.

"My dear, I told you there must be no extra expense just now. We are obliged to eat, and our food and fuel are all we can afford for a month or two."

I am sorry to say that Hope became really sulky.

Mrs. Manton paid no attention to her daughter's naughtiness, and so Hope made herself quite wretched until Monday evening, when she appeared more like herself.

With her mother's permission she went out to walk after school, and returning she slipped up quietly to her room, coming down to dinner just as the rest were gathering at the table.

"Mamma," said Paul, "I've been thinking about the tenth commandment, 'Thou shalt not covet,' you know; I looked up the word 'covet' in Webster, and he says, 'To wish for earnestly, to desire inordinately,' etc. Now of course it is not right to want wrong things, but if I see something pretty and nice—something that would not hurt me, why is it wrong to wish for it earnestly?"

"It is not always wrong, Paul. We are told to 'covet earnestly the best gifts.' But I think Webster gives another definition, 'To desire unlawfully.' You have a right to desire to get for yourself all that is good, noble, beautiful, but you must be willing to get them by proper means, and you must never allow yourself to long for, inordinately, anything that belongs to a neighbor. There are good reasons for that command."

"In longing for what you cannot get, because someone else has it, you make yourself wretched. And, besides, in coveting, you are preparing yourself to violate the eighth commandment."

"Thou shalt not steal,'" repeated Paul slowly.

"I don't know about that," he added; "I hardly believe I would steal, even if I did really covet."

"Christ teaches that a strong desire to do a wrong act is, in God's sight, really committing the deed, so if you say to yourself: 'Oh! that pony is so nice; I wonder why I can't have one as well as Arthur! I do wish I had it,' the thought becomes an intense desire, until you would take it for your own if you could do so without exposure. One may break the tenth commandment without stealing, but one will seldom steal without a covetous desire. In any case, one cannot indulge in covetousness without being miserable, and running a risk of further wrongdoing."

The conversation was turned at that point by the entrance of the girl with the fruit, and Hope, whose face had crimsoned with some emotion, seemed to recover her usual self-possession. They all noticed she did not talk, and Paul, boy-like, teased her until his father quieted him.

Paul and Hope studied ahead Wednesday noon and after school, and about six o'clock were ready to go to Mrs. Noble's.

Hope's white dress had been nicely done up, and her mother had arranged her bonny brown hair its prettiest.

"I shall put on my sash and flowers after I get there, mamma," said Hope, as she showed a light box under her cloak.

"Very well, my dear. I wish you could have had a new sash, but your blue one is very nice still."

Hope kissed her mother and went out to the gate, where Paul impatiently waited.

Arrived at the house, Hope was shown to the dressing room, where she very soon made ready to join her friends.

When she was dressed, it was not her pretty blue sash but a gaudy Roman sash that girded her waist and hung in long loops against her white skirt.

When she went below, the girls gathered around her, and admired and criticised the new sash.

"Very pretty, my dear," observed Mrs. Noble quietly, "but I like your blue one much better."

Hope murmured a confused reply, and they all went out upon the lawn, where already a number were flitting about under the trees in the light of the swinging Chinese lanterns.

It was a beautiful scene. Everybody seemed gay and happy, yet Hope could not enjoy herself, and was glad when they began to disperse. Mrs. Manton met them at the door and said kindly, "Did you have a pleasant time?"

"Yes, indeed!" they both responded, and Hope added, "Only my head aches, and I guess I'll go to bed and let Paul tell you about it."

So Hope went upstairs, after kissing her parents good-night, and Paul described with boyish enthusiasm the details of the party.

Next morning Hope looked pale and ill, and her father said parties did not agree with schoolgirls, but at the table Paul brought it up again.

Suddenly he said: "And say, Hope, where did you get your rainbow sash? Thought yours was a blue one."

Hope's face burned crimson. She had trusted to Paul's lack of observation in matters of dress to prevent discovery at home.

Mrs. Manton looked with surprise at her daughter, and said, "Surely, Hope, you didn't borrow finery!"

"Oh, no, mamma," interrupted Paul, "it was hers! I heard her tell the girls how much it cost and where she got it, and I thought it was funny I hadn't heard of it at home. I usually do hear of such things."

"Did anyone give—?" began Mr. Manton,

but again Paul cried, "Of course not! She told the girls she got it, and Bertha Allen said she thought it wasn't Mrs. Manton's taste."

"Hope," said her mother, "where did you get the money to buy the sash? When we talked of it and I told you we could not afford it, you did not say you had any money to get it with, and if you had, it would have been better to have told mamma and had her judgment in the buying. And then—I am sure you told me you sent your last dollar for those books."

Hope burst into tears and ran from the room.

Mrs. Manton finished her breakfast in grave silence, and then went to Hope's room. The door was locked, but Hope slowly unfastened it when her mother spoke.

Mrs. Manton sat down in a low chair and said quietly, "Now, dear, tell me all about it."

Hope threw herself on her knees, buried her head in her mother's lap, and sobbed out, "Oh, I am so unhappy!"

"Why, dear? Was it not quite so nice as you thought it would be to have your own way at any rate?"

"O mamma, it was worse than that! I stole!"

Mrs. Manton involuntarily jumped, but restrained herself, and, sitting down, asked, "What can you mean?—stole the sash?"

"Not exactly that, but it amounts to the same thing. You know baby Ora's gold piece that Uncle Roy gave her! I—I took it to buy the sash."

Mrs. Manton sat still in utter astonishment, and after a little Hope went on: "It was—was just as you said, mamma. I coveted a sash, and I stole to get one. I did not think it was that when I took it; I just didn't think until I heard you and Paul say it right out. I've been so miserable since, and I did—did not enjoy it a bit last night."

"The way of the transgressor is hard," quoted Mrs. Manton.

"Oh, it is, mamma! I'll tell papa, but must I tell Paul?"

"He already knows you did something wrong—wouldn't it be best?"

"Send him up now, mamma."

Hope and Paul had a long talk, and Paul said, as he kissed his sister, "God had a reason for it all."

(To be continued.)