"Yet surely, Mr. Dinwiddie, there come desolations into
people's lives too."
"By the same reason."
"Surely without it sometimes."
"Nay," he said. " 'The Lord redeemeth the soul of His servants;
and none of them that trust in Him shall be desolate.' "
"But their lives are empty sometimes?"
"That they may be more full, then. Depend on it, the promise
is sure, - they shall not want any good I thing."
"One must let the Lord judge then," I said somewhat
sorrowfully, "what are the good things."
"Will we not?" said Mr. Dinwiddie. "Do we know? We must agree
to his judgment, too; and then we shall find there is no want
to them that fear him. The Lord is my Shepherd! - I shall not
want. But the sheep follow the shepherd, and never dream of
choosing out their own pasture, Miss Daisy."
My voice choked a little and I could not answer. And all the
rest of the day I could not get back my quiet. The talk of
leaving the choice of my life out of my own hands, had roused
my hands to cling to their choice with a terrible grasp lest
it should be taken away from them. The idea that Thorold and I
might be parted from each other, made my heart leap out with
inexpressible longing to be with him. It was not till we got
home to the Mount of Olives again, and I was watching the
glory of the sunset, turning Jerusalem to gold and bringing
out rosy and purple and amethyst hues from the Moab mountains,
that my heart leapt back to its rest and I heard the voice of
nature and God again above the din of my own heart.
As soon as the season was far enough advanced, and Mr.
Dinwiddie could make his arrangements to be with us, we left
Jerusalem and its surroundings and set off northwards. It was
hard to go. Where many a sorrowful traveller has left his
little mound of farewell stones on Scopus, I stood and looked
back; as long as papa would wait for me. Jerusalem looked so
fair, and the thought and prospect of another Jerusalem lay
before me, fairer indeed, but so distant. And I fancied storms
and some rough travelling between. And here, in the actual
Jerusalem, my life had been very sweet; peaceful with a whole
flood tide of peacefulness. I resolved I would not lose nor
forget this ungratefully; but as long as I could I would be
happy. So I turned my face at last to enjoy every foot of the
way to Nablous.
During our stay at Jerusalem and on the Mount of Olives, of
course letters and papers had been received regularly; and
sometimes a bit of news from America had made all our hearts
stir. Mine, with a new throb of hope and possible exultation;
for what we heard was on the side of Northern successes.
Still, papa and Mr. Dinwiddie agreed these were but the
fortune of war, and could not - in the nature of things last.
The South could not be overcome. So they said, and I feared.
But a thrill of possible doubt came over me when I heard of
Fort Donelson, and the battle of Pea Ridge, and the prowess of
the little iron-clad Monitor. And a great throb of another
kind heaved my heart, when we got the news of President
Lincoln's Message, recommending that assistance should be
given by Congress to every Southern State which would abolish
slavery. A light broke in upon the whole struggle; and from
that time the war was a different thing to me. Papa and Mr.
Dinwiddie talked a great deal about it, discussing the subject
in almost all its bearings. I sat by and said nothing.