menu_book Chapter 21

chapter twenty one of mag and margaret a story for girls mag's wages it took but a few weeks for mag jessup to become thoroughly acquainted with school routine and settle down to hard work life was not altogether blissful to her if she had supposed that girls who went every day to school had nothing to mar their complete enjoyment it was probably as well that she was undeceived margaret lancaster without being exactly ugly or at least meaning to be could not forgive poor meg for being undeniably a favorite of the duane's moreover as the weeks went by and meg grew used to reciting before others it became very apparent indeed that she knew more about english history and talked more understandingly about it than did any girl in the class she had not lived among the chief characters and personated them in her little attic room all winter for nothing now margaret lancaster before mag's advent had been the leader in this class and as she liked to lead the history hour had been to her the pleasantest one in the day all this was past when mag jessup took her acknowledged place in the class

for a girl of margaret's temperament to be outshown by little mag jessup was bitter indeed the indifference with which she had meant to regard the young girl began to deepen into positive dislike and she omitted no opportunity to say little hateful things about mag loud enough many of them for the girl to overhear mag had not been long at school before an incident occurred that gave margaret a chance to indulge in no end of sarcasm at her expense an incident which was in itself so funny that many who would not otherwise have ridiculed mag found themselves laughing heartily at her mistake in order for you to understand it it will be necessary to remember that mag although she had considering her opportunities learned a great deal she was still very ignorant of many matters that other girls seemed to learn by a sort of instinct and was inclined to be what people call credulous about a great many things it was a custom in this school for the pupils to recite bible verses at the opening exercises mrs garland sat on the little platform near the piano and herself called the name of any young lady whom she chose to have recite

there was no rule about this at least none that was known to the scholars the same girl might be called upon five or six mornings in succession for all that she knew to the contrary the directions were that each pupil must always be ready to recite when called upon it was astonishing to the girls to see what a wonderful memory mrs garland had if a scholar gave the same verse twice in the course of a week she was sure to hear from the platform in smoothest tones is that verse a special favorite of yours miss smith or my dear miss jones that is a very choice verse but there are others equally so you have given it to us several times i believe the consequence was that the girls prepared their bible verses with care and learned many of them in the course of the year at school one morning mag who enjoyed this part of the day very much and who chose her verse with great care stood near little alice west's seat waiting for the piano to sound the strains that meant be seated while she waited she took up a neat little black book that lay on alice's table small books will probably always have a special attraction for mag because they remind her of her dear little pillows

behold the tiny handsomely bound gilt-edged book was a part of the bible the book of proverbs bound by itself how delightful mag had often wished that she had a bible so tiny that it could be carried about in her pocket she opened this one eagerly more than once she had stopped thoughtfully over the book of proverbs in her bible and studied some of the strange quaint verses she had already learned from the wise man some keen truths but this morning her eyes were held to the words that first met them it never rains but it pours what could the words mean certainly not exactly what they said for that very morning a slow gentle rain was falling such a rain as reminded the grass and trees that spring was on its way but there was nothing about it that suggested the word poor and in mag's experience nothing was more common than those soft silent rainy days of course she had by this time learned that there was such a thing as figurative meanings and being an imaginative girl had had no difficulty in grasping that idea but what this particular verse was intended to teach she could not imagine while she stood considering the warning strains from the piano were heard and all the girls were marching to their seats keeping step with the music

before mag had had time to collect her thoughts she heard her name called by mrs garland and knew that her verse was waited for the beautiful one that she had prepared for that morning's possible use had for the moment slipped from her never mind she could use this new strange one although she liked to know what words meant before she spoke them in the utter silence that awaited her the young girl's voice clearly sounded through the room it never rains but it pours to her dismay the recitation was followed by a very distinct ripple of laughter and even mrs garland let an amused smile flit over her face as she said you have made a remarkable selection this morning miss jessup then she touched the little silver bell at her side and order was instantly restored throughout the service that followed poor margaret sat with downcast eyes blushing and wondering what was there so strange in her recitation to be sure it did not especially fit the occasion at least she supposed it did not though when she could not yet imagine what it meant how was she to be certain

still other girls recited verses that were not even so appropriate as this for it certainly rained this morning and they had not laughed even when little louise ellis repeated sihon king of the amorites and og king of bashan she could not understand it and it troubled her so that she lost most of the verses and could not join in the singing but mrs garland's prayer quieted and helped her it was nearly an hour afterwards that the lady called her to the desk and after giving her some general directions about the morning's work laid her hand kindly on her arm as she said my dear there are girls in my schoolroom whom i should have suspected of a bad joke if one of them had recited at prayers the words you gave us but i believe i know you better will you explain to me what it all means margaret looked steadily at the open grammar in her hand and struggled with her voice to keep it from quivering as she said i hardly know how to explain ma'am

i saw the verse a moment before in alice west's bible and i thought it a very strange one and could not imagine what it meant then when you called my name first the verse i had learned did not come to me but this one did and so i said it mrs garland's face wore a look of bewilderment you found the words in alice west's bible she repeated yes mrs garland just this morning i never saw them before and i wanted to remember them to ask mrs duane what they meant my dear will you go to alice's table and get her bible for me to look at mag turned at once to do so little alice was at that hour in her recitation room with the younger pupils but the small black book that had attracted mag lay on her table she returned with it to mrs garland's desk it is only a piece of the bible ma'am she said as she passed it to her but there is the verse on the first page light broke over the puzzled teacher's face my dear she said i understand you thought this was quotations from the book of proverbs in the bible i suppose you have not met before the word proverb used in any other way

it was a most natural mistake but not a word of this little volume is taken from the bible instead it is the supposed wise sayings of many different men gathered from all classes of books but what can it mean asked mag her face ablaze with mortification over her mistake yet unable to let this opportunity for acquiring information slip away it often rains without pouring it does this morning yes said mrs garland smiling a kind indulgent smile on her ignorant young pupil it simply means to express the idea that when a bit of marked good or ill fortune come to one others of like nature are apt to follow at least such has so often been the case that it seemed natural to somebody to put the thought into this phrase poor mag before the day was done and indeed for many following days she had occasion to realize the truth of the proverb thus explained the discomfort that she felt because of her blunder was deepened and increased tenfold by the manner in which the girls received it

had she dealt with only the refined and sweet-hearted mrs garland the whole subject would soon have been forgotten but margaret lancaster and those who copied her took care that mag should not forget the moment she appeared in the halls at recess or crossed the grounds in the morning or passed out of the great gateway at night somebody was sure to shout after her take care mag jessup you'll get wet or oh oh don't you want to borrow an umbrella it is going to pour i think or some other arrangement of her unfortunate proverb nothing was said about all this at home mag having decided very early in her school experience that people who had been so very very kind as mrs and mr duane deserved to hear only the best and brightest news from there but her own pretty little room could have told the story of some very bitter tears had it been trained to speak i have given you only an illustration of her trials none of them large nor serious in any way none of them worth complaining about to teachers or special friends at least so mag thought but nevertheless most of them were hard to bear and shadowed what else would have been a perfectly bright winter to the orphan girl yet among those schoolgirls i suppose there was scarcely one but would have opened her eyes wide in amazement and indignantly denied the charge of cruelty to their schoolmate

most of them were simply thoughtless and fun-loving it is worth thinking about what heartaches one can make in the world by simply being thoughtless and selfish meantime i am sure there are those who are anxious to know just how mag jessup treated her schoolmates in return and when i tell them that she was steadily patient and meek toward them i am sure there are some who will say oh nonsense i don't believe anything of the kind a girl who had any spirit and was treated as she was would have given her schoolmates a piece of her mind at least she couldn't help almost hating them i want to assure you that mag jessup was a girl of spirit and that she treated every one of her schoolmates as kindly as she knew how and so far from hating them tried in every way to be kind and helpful you are mistaken in supposing such a course impossible that very few people meet ill-treatment in this way only goes to prove that very few people try jesus christ's way

mag jessup remember had fought her battle and conquered once for all rather she had discovered just what the lord jesus whose servant she was expected of her and also that he had said to her my grace is sufficient and i will with the temptation provide a way of escape so that you may be able to bear it and she had taken him at his word with every annoyance though it was no more than a pinprick she went straight to jesus christ and he was true to his word as he always is and she was able to bear it you think her a very unusual girl i grant that i am sorry to have to admit it but it is a sad fact that only an occasional girl even among those who say that jesus christ has given them new hearts and that they mean to serve him seem to believe exactly what he says and trust him to help them keep their word if i can help those who read this story to realize that mag jessup was unlike other girls simply because she believed and tried and not because of anything wonderful in the girl herself i shall have accomplished a great deal

if i can in addition to that induce others to ask themselves why should not we be unusual girls and boys and to resolve then and there to try every day to live up to the rules that jesus has given i shall have accomplished that for which above all other objects i write i am sure that the grave trouble with the lives of many young christians grows out of the fact that they do not consider selfishness and occasional ill-temper and a nursing of the spirit that cries for petty revenge for ill-treatment very bad faults instead they think of them as states of mind that as one girl expressed it can't be helped anyhow whether they are very bad or not because they are so perfectly natural that you've got to feel them what we want is not natural fruit but that which grows after jesus has become the lord of the heart garden so i want you to understand that despite the petty troubles of her school life and the tears she was occasionally obliged to shed mag was for the most part a happy girl she sang over her work at home in a way that pleased mrs duane and she managed her schoolwork in a way to astonish and delight her teachers for that she made really remarkable progress in her studies even the schoolgirls who liked her least admitted

during these days in speaking of mrs duane's house meg always called it home she did not study her own heart to find out the reason she had never spoken so of mrs perkins's house she had by no means been adopted by the duanes she waited at table each day with painstaking care and was most conscientious in performing the other duties that fell to her share she remembered that she was an orphan and expected and wanted to earn her living yet without planning to do so her heart and lips said lovingly home whenever there was occasion meantime there was no question of wages between them although mag was led to think about it once mag jessup called out margaret lancaster one morning when mag stood with a group of girls telling them exactly how she had fixed certain troublesome dates in her memory mag jessup what do the duanes pay you for your work i suppose they give you good wages don't they they are awfully rich she had meant to hurt the girl's feelings or at least to remind her that she was by no means the equal of the young people to whom she was so eagerly talking but mag was too simple-hearted to catch her meaning

wages she said breaking off abruptly in her explanation as if to consider an entirely new idea then her face lightening in a way that it had when a new and pleasant thought struck her why they do they pay me very large wages indeed the girl shouted aren't you glad you know margie one of them cried in the midst of their laughter and mag moved away her eyes still bright it had really come to her like a new thought what wonderful wages she was receiving for the first time since she could remember she had a home chapter twenty one