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AN UNEXPECTED PRIZE

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Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 13, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 2.

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"AN UNEXPECTED PRIZE."

By Mrs. F. A. Reynolds

CHAPTER VI.—"CHRIST'S LAW."

HOPE could hardly bear to face the family after her confession, but when she thought of going to school and meeting the girls, who would be sure to talk of her new Roman sash, she quivered in every nerve.
"Ought I to tell the girls, mamma?" she asked.
"I think not, my dear," replied Mrs. Manton. "Your sin was against God and your mother, and you have confessed to them. You have not wronged or deceived the girls in any way."
"But, mamma, you know they might think you knew and approved of my getting the sash, and I know some of the ladies thought it did not seem like your taste."
"Well, just as you please, child."
As Hope anticipated, one of the girls mentioned her new sash almost the first thing.
"See here, girls," cried Hope, with her eyes full of tears, and her voice broken by rising sobs, "I am disgusted with myself. I bought that sash myself, just as I said, but it was without mamma's consent or knowledge. She wanted me to wear my blue sash, and I did very wrong to disobey her."
Just here the bell rang, and the mortified girl escaped to her seat.
As she was coming out of the schoolhouse at night, the girls seemed to be clustered around something near the gate.
"O Hope!" called one as she approached, "what do you think has happened?"
"I don't know," said Hope.
"There has been a murder," cried one.
"Right down town," exclaimed another.
"But who—" began Hope.
"That's the awful part of it," said another. "It isn't anyone you would think—that is, none of the roughs, but Mr. Sanders—just think of that—killed his partner!—A quarrel about their business."
"Horrible!" cried Hope. "Isn't it terrible for Mrs. Sanders and Rose?"
"Why not terrible for Mrs. Cleveland and her children?"
"It is, but I should rather my father would be murdered than a murderer," exclaimed Hope vehemently.
Discussing the subject in all its details, the girls walked slowly homeward. Full of it, Hope ran up the walk and began eagerly to talk to her mother.
"Yes," said Mrs. Manton sadly, "I just heard of it."
"I did not think we should see the sixth commandment broken before Mr. Gordon came back," said Hope with a shudder.
"I presume it has been broken many times before this," replied her mother. "You know what Christ said of the commandments shows that they cover more than outward deeds; they take into consideration the thoughts of the heart. I presume hundreds have felt angry enough to murder—perhaps have been conscious of a desire to kill—so in God's sight they are as guilty as Mr. Sanders is."
"Oh, dear! I should not think so, mamma," said Hope.
The conversation was broken off at this point, leaving Hope with a new thought to ponder.
Paul came in breathless with excitement. "I didn't think it of Mr. Sanders," he cried.
"I presume Mr. Sanders did not think it of himself," said Mrs. Manton. "It was not premeditated murder; it was giving way to an ungoverned temper."
"That isn't as bad, do you think, mamma?"
"What, dear?"
"Why, to kill one in a passion is not so bad as to deliberately plan murder."
"The result is the same, isn't it?" asked Mrs. Manton.
"Yes, but a man would have to be awfully mean to plan a murder, while a really good man might, in an instant of passion, kill one."
"There is no one good, no, not one. And one would never get angry enough to kill, if he had not allowed his temper to run away with him many times before. To allow one's self to become very angry is sin."
"How can one help getting angry when things and people go contrary?"
"Only by following Jesus closely," said his mother.
"Then no one can be good-natured unless he is a Christian," said Paul doubtfully.
"I did not say that," said Mrs. Manton. "There are many people who are not Christians who are very good-natured and pleasant, and, I am sorry to say, many professing Christians who are irritable. I say no one can be sure he will be right from one moment to another, unless he is following Jesus closely. The defects in the lives of all professing Christians are due to living too far from our Pattern."
Well, the murder was the principal theme of conversation for several days, and Paul Manton watched himself closely to see that he did not give way to anger. He was thoroughly frightened to see what uncontrolled temper led to.
Evidently all the mothers had not made the same impression on their children, as was proved very soon.
One recess as the children were out in the yard, some playing and some talking, a group were standing on the steps, discussing an entertainment several of them had attended the evening before.
"Didn't Miss Lonsdale sing beautifully?" cried Amy Atwell.
"Yes, indeed," said Louise Keene, "and what a lovely green dress she had on!"
"Green? You mean blue. It was the very sweetest blue I ever saw. Sister May had a piece of it."
"Pshaw! if it wasn't green you may eat me," cried Louise scornfully.
"Don't you know blue looks green in the evening?" asked one of the other girls.
"Don't ask her," said Amy with a laugh.
"She's color blind, anyhow. She don't know red from yellow."
"You are—" began Louise vehemently, but finished her sentence by dealing a blow with her clenched fist straight at Amy's chest. She staggered and fell backward down the steps. She did not get up, but lay stretched out as if dead. The girls all crowded around her, Louise first, her anger all gone, as she cried remorsefully:—
"Oh, I've killed her! I didn't mean to! Amy! Amy! speak to me!"
The teachers were very soon there, and Amy was raised up and carried into the house. A doctor was sent for and was soon on the spot. He looked very grave when he heard of the accident.
"She may recover soon, and she may have lasting ill effects if she lives," he commented, as he worked to restore her consciousness.
She opened her eyes and looked bewildered, then she complained that her head ached, and began to cry in a hysterical fashion. The doctor quieted her, and soon after she was taken home, and school went on.
Inquiry in the evening showed she was able to sit up, but she was very pale, and it was several days before she was able to go back to school. In fact, it was examination day when she took her place again. She would not allow Louise to be blamed.
"I was aggravating," she acknowledged.
"But to think I might have been a murderer!" said Louise.
"Wasn't she, anyway?" asked Paul.