Chapter 6
The ground is thick with sleet, and still it falls! The atmosphere is plunging like the sea Against the woods, and pouring on the night The roar of breakers, while the blinding spray O'erleaps the barrier, and comes drifting on In lines as level as the window-bars. What curious visions, in a night like this, Will the eye conjure from the rocks and trees And zigzag fences! I was almost sure I saw a man staggering along the road A moment since; but instantly the shape Dropped from my sight. Hark! Was not that a call-- A human voice? There's a conspiracy Between my eyes and ears to play me tricks, Else wanders there abroad some hapless soul Who needs assistance. There he stands again, And with unsteady essay strives to breast The tempest. Hush! Did you not hear that cry? Quick, brothers! We must out, and give our aid. None but a dying and despairing man Ever gave utterance to a cry like that. Nay, wait for nothing. Follow me!
_Ruth_.
Alas! Who can he be, who on a night like this, And on this night, of all nights in the year, Holds to the highway, homeless?
_Prudence_.
Probably Some neighbor, started from his home in quest Of a physician; or, more likely still, Some poor inebriate, sadly overcome By his sad keeping of the holiday. I hope they'll give him quarters in the barn; If he sleep here, there'll be no sleep for me.
_Patience_.
I'll not believe it was a man at all; David and Ruth are always seeing things That no one else sees.
_Ruth_.
I see plainly now What we shall all see plainly, soon enough. The man is dead, and they are bearing him As if he were a log. Quick! Stir the fire, And clear the settle! We must lay him there. I will bring cordials, and flannel stuffs With which to chafe him; open wide the door.
[_The men enter bearing a body apparently lifeless, which they lay upon the settle.]
_David_.
Now do my bidding, orderly and swift; And we may save from death a fellow-man. Peter, relieve him of those frozen shoes, And wrap his feet in flannel. This way, Ruth! Administer that cordial yourself. John, you are strong, and that rough hand of yours Will chafe him well. Work with a will, I say!
* * * * *
My hand is on his heart, and I can feel Both warmth and motion. If we persevere, He will be saved. Work with a will, I say!
* * * * *
A groan? Ha! That is good. Another groan? Better and better!
_Ruth_.
It is down at last!-- A spoonful of the cordial. His breath Comes feebly, but is warm upon my hand.
_David_.
Give him brisk treatment, and persistent, too; And we shall be rewarded presently, For there is life in him.
* * * * * He moves his lips And tries to speak.
* * * * *
And now he opes his eyes. What eyes! How wandering and wild they are!
[_To the stranger_.]
We are your friends. We found you overcome By the cold storm without, and brought you in. We are your friends, I say; so be at ease, And let us do according to your need. What is your wish?
_Stranger_.
My friends? O God in Heaven! They've cheated me! I'm in the hospital. Oh, it was cruel to deceive me thus! No, you are not my friends. What bitter pain Racks my poor body!
_David_.
Poor man, how he raves! Let us be silent while the warmth and wine Provoke his sluggish blood to steady flow, And each dead sense comes back to life again, O'er the same path of torture which it trod When it went out from him. He'll slumber soon, And, when he wakens, we may talk with him.
_Prudence_.
[Sotto voce_.]
Shall I not call the family? I think Mary and Grace must both be very cold; And they know nothing of this strange affair. I'll wait them at the landing, and secure Their silent entrance.
_David_.
If it please you--well.
[PRUDENCE _retires, and returns with_ GRACE _and_ MARY.]
_Mary_.
Why! We heard nothing of it--Grace and I:-- What a cadaverous hand! How blue and thin!
_David_.
At his first wild awaking he bemoaned His fancied durance in a hospital; And since he spoke so strangely, I have thought He may have fled a mad-house. Matters not! We've done our duty, and preserved his life.
_Mary_.
Shall I disturb him if I look at him? I'm strangely curious to see his face.
_David_.
Go. Move you carefully, and bring us word Whether he sleeps.
[MARY _rises, goes to the settle, and sinks back fainting _]
Why! What ails the girl? I thought her nerves were iron. Dash her brow, And bathe her temples!
_Mary_.
There--there,--that will do. 'Tis over now.
_David_.
The man is speaking. Hush!
_Stranger_.
Oh, what a heavenly dream! But it is past, Like all my heavenly dreams, for never more Shall dream entrance me. Death has never dreams, But everlasting wakefulness. The eye Of the quick spirit that has dropped the flesh May close no more in slumber.
* * * * *
I must die! This painless spell which binds my weary limbs-- This peace ineffable of soul and sense-- Is dissolution's herald, and gives note That life is conquered and the struggle o'er. But I had hoped to see her ere I died; To kneel for pardon, and implore one kiss, Pledge to my soul that in the coming heaven We should not meet as strangers, but rejoin Our hearts and lives so madly sundered here, Through fault and freak of mine. But it is well! God's will be done!
* * * * *
I dreamed that I had reached The old red farmhouse,--that I saw the light Flaming as brightly as in other times It flushed the kitchen windows; and that forms Were sliding to and fro in joyous life, Restless to give me welcome. Then I dreamed Of the dear woman who went out with me One sweet spring morning, in her own sweet spring, To--wretchedness and ruin. Oh, forgive-- Dear, pitying Christ, forgive this cruel wrong, And let me die! Oh let me--let me die! Mary! my Mary! Could you only know How I have suffered since I fled from you.-- How I have sorrowed through long months of pain, And prayed for pardon,--you would pardon me.
_David_.
[_Sotto voce_]
Mary, what means this? Does he dream alone, Or are we dreaming?
_Mary_.
Edward, I am here! I am your Mary! Know you not my face? My husband, speak to me! Oh, speak once more! This is no dream, but kind reality.
_Edward_.
[_Raising himself, and looking wildly around_.]
You, Mary? Is this heaven, and am I dead? I did not know you died: when did you die? And John and Peter, Grace and little Ruth Grown to a woman; are they all with you? 'Tis very strange! O pity me, my friends! For God has pitied me, and pardoned, too; Else I should not be here. Nay, you seem cold, And look on me with sad severity. Have you no pardoning word--no smile for me?
_Mary_.
This is not Heaven's, but Earth's reality; This is the farm-house--these your wife and friends. I hold your hand, and I forgive you all. Pray you recline! You are not strong enough To bear this yet.
_Edward_.
[_Sinking back_.]
O toiling heart! O sick and sinking heart! Give me one hour of service, ere I die! This is no dream. This hand is precious flesh, And I am here where I have prayed to be. My God, I thank thee! Thou hast heard my prayer, And, in its answer, given me a pledge Of the acceptance of my penitence. How have I yearned for this one priceless hour! Cling to me, dearest, while my feet go down Into the silent stream; nor loose your hold, Till angels grasp me on the other side.
_Mary_.
Edward, you are not dying--must not die; For only now are we prepared to live. You must have quiet, and a night of rest. Be silent, if you love me!
_Edward_.
If I love? Ah, Mary! never till this blessed hour, When power and passion, lust and pride are gone, Have I perceived what wedded love may be;-- Unutterable fondness, soul for soul; Profoundest tenderness between two hearts Allied by nature, interlocked by life. I know that I shall die; but the low clouds That closed my mental vision have retired, And left a sky as clear and calm as Heaven. I must talk now, or never more on earth; So do not hinder me.
_Mary_.
[_Weeping_.]
Have you a wish That I can gratify? Have you any words To send to other friends?
_Edward_.
I have no friends But you and these, and only wish to leave My worthless name and memory redeemed Within your hearts to pitying respect. I have no strength, and it becomes me not, To tell the story of my life of sin. I was a drunkard, thief, adulterer; And fled from shame, with shame, to find remorse. I had but few months of debauchery, Pursued with mad intent to damp or drown The flames of a consuming conscience, when My body, poisoned, crippled with disease, Refused the guilty service of my soul, And at midday fell prone upon the street. Thence I was carried to a hospital, And there I woke to that delirium Which none but drunkards this side of the pit May even dream of.
But at last there came, With abstinence and kindly medicines, Release from pain and peaceful sanity; And then Christ found me, ready for His hand. I was not ready for Him when He came And asked me for my youth; and when He knocked At my heart's door in manhood's early prime With tenderest monitions, I debarred His waiting feet with promise and excuse; And when, in after years, absorbed in sin, The gentle summons swelled to thunderings That echoed through the chambers of my soul With threats of vengeance, I shut up my ears; And then He went away, and let me rush Without arrest, or protest, toward the pit. I made swift passage downward, till, at length, I had become a miserable wreck-- Pleasure behind me; only pain before; My life lived out; the fires of passion dead, Without a friend; no pride, no power, no hope; No motive in me e'en to wish for life. Then, as I said, Christ came, with stern and sad Reminders of His mercy and my guilt, And the door fell before Him.
I went out, And trod the wildernesses of remorse For many days. Then from their outer verge, Tortured and blinded, I plunged madly down Into the sullen bosom of despair; But strength from Heaven was given me, and preserved Breath in my bosom, till a light streamed up Upon the other shore, and I struck out On the cold waters, struggling for my life. Fainting I reached the beach, and on my knees Climbed up the thorny hill of penitence, Till I could see, upon its distant brow, The Saviour beck'ning. Then I ran--I flew-- And grasped His outstretched hand. It lifted me High on the everlasting rock, and then It folded me, with all my griefs and tears, My sin-sick body and my guilt-stained soul, To the great heart that throbs for all the world.
_Mary_.
Dear Lord, I bless Thee! Thou hast heard my prayer, And saved the wanderer! Hear it once again, And lengthen out the life Thou hast redeemed!
_Edward_.
Mary, my wife, forbear! I may not give Response to such petition. I have prayed That I may die. When first the love Divine Received me on its bosom, and in mine I felt the springing of another life, I begged the Lord to grant me two requests: The first that I might die, and in that world Where passion sleeps, and only influence From Him and those who cluster at His throne Breathes on the soul, the germ of His great life, Bursting within me, might be perfected. The second, that your life, my love, and mine Might be once more united on the earth In holy marriage, and that mine might be Breathed out at last within your loving arms. One prayer is granted, and the other waits But a brief space for its accomplishment.
_Mary_.
But why this prayer to die? Still loving me,-- With the great motive for desiring life And the deep secret of enjoyment won,-- Why pray for death?
_Edward_.
Do you not know me, Mary? I am afraid to live, for I am weak. I've found a treasure only life can steal; I've won a jewel only death will keep. In such a heart as mine, the priceless pearl Would not be safe. That which I would not take When health was with me,--which I spurned away So long as I had power to sin, I fear Would be surrendered with that power's return And the temptation to its exercise. For soul like mine, diseased in every part, There is but one condition in which grace May give it service. For my malady The Great Physician draws the blood away That only flows to feed its baleful fires; For only thus the balsam and the balm May touch the springs of healing.
So I pray To be delivered from myself,--to be Delivered from necessity of ill,-- To be secured from bringing harm to you. Oh, what a boon is death to the sick soul! I greet it with a joy that passes speech. Were the whole world to come before me now,-- Wealth with its treasures; Pleasure with its cup; Power robed in purple; Beauty in its pride, And with Love's sweetest blossoms garlanded; Fame with its bays, and Glory with its crown,-- To tempt me lifeward, I would turn away, And stretch my hands with utter eagerness Toward the pale angel waiting for me now, And give my hand to him, to be led out, Serenely singing, to the land of shade.
_Mary_.
Edward, I yield you. I would not retain One who has strayed so long from God and heaven, When his weak feet have found the only path Open for such as he.
_Edward_.
My strength recedes; But ere it fail, tell me how fares your life. You have seen sorrow; but it comforts me To hear the language of a chastened soul From one perverted by my guilty hand. You speak the dialect of the redeemed-- The Heaven-accepted. Tell me it is so, And you are happy.
_Mary_.
With sweet hope and trust I may reply, 'tis as you think and wish. I have seen sorrow, surely, and the more That I have seen what was far worse; but God Sent His own servant to me to restore My sadly straying feet to the sure path; And in my soul I have the pledge of grace Which shall suffice to keep them there.
_Edward_.
Ah, joy! You found a friend; and my o'erflowing heart, Welling with gratitude, pours out to him For his kind ministry its fitting meed. Oh, breathe his name to me, that my poor lips May bind it to a benison, and that, While dying, I may whisper it with those-- Jesus and Mary--which I love the best. Name him, I pray you.
_Mary_.
You would ask of me To bear your thanks to him, and to rehearse Your dying words?
_Grace_.
He asks your good friend's name; You do not understand him.
_Mary_.
It is hard To give denial to a dying wish; But, Edward, I've no right to speak his name. He was a Christian man, and you may give Of the full largess of your gratitude All, without robbing God, you have to give, And fail, e'en then, of worthy recompense.
_Edward_.
Your will is mine.
_Grace_.
Nay, Mary, tell it him! Where is he going he should bruit the name? Remember where he lies, and that no ears Save those of angels--
_Mary_.
There are others here Who may not hear it.
_Ruth_.
We will all retire. It is not proper we should linger here, Barring the sacred confidence of hearts Parting so sadly.
_David_.
Mary, you must yield, Nor keep the secret longer from your friends,
_Mary_.
David, you know not what you say.
_David_.
I know; So give the dying man no more delay.
_Mary_.
I will declare it under your command. This stranger friend--stranger for many months-- This man, selectest instrument of Heaven, Who gave me succor in my hour of need, Snatched me from ruin, rescued me from want, Counseled and cheered me, prayed with me, and then Led me with careful hand into the light, Was he now bending over you in tears-- David, my brother!
_Edward_.
Blessed be his name! Brother by every law, above--below!
_Grace_.
[_Pale and trembling_,]
David? My husband? Did I hear aright? You are not jesting! Sure you would not jest At such a juncture! Speak, my husband, speak! Is this a plot to cheat a dying man, Or cheat a wife who, if it be no plot, Is worthy death? What can you mean by this?
_Mary_.
Not more nor less than my true words convey.
_Grace_.
Nay, David, tell me!
_David_.
Mary's words are truth. _Grace_.
O mean and jealous heart, what hast thou done! What wrong to honor, spite to Christian love, And shame to self beyond self-pardoning! How can I ever lift my faithless eyes To those true eyes that I have counted false; Or meet those lips that I have charged with lies; Or win the dear embraces I have spurned? O most unhappy, most unworthy wife! No one but he who still has clung to thee,-- Proud, and imperious, and impenitent,-- No one but he who has in silence borne Thy peevish criminations and complaints Can now forgive thee, when in deepest shame Thou bowest with confession of thy faults. Dear husband! David! Look upon your wife! Behold one kneeling never knelt to you! I have abused you and your faithful love, And, in my great humiliation, pray You will not trample me beneath your feet. Pity my weakness, and remember, too, That Love was jealous of thee, and not Hate-- That it was Love's own pride tormented me. My husband, take me once more to your arms, And kiss me in forgiveness; say that you Will be my counselor, my friend, my love; And I will give myself to you again, To be all yours--my reason, confidence, My faith and trust all yours, my heart's best love, My service and my prayers, all yours--all yours!
_David_.
Rise, dearest, rise! It gives me only pain That such as you should kneel to such as I. Your words inform me that you know how weak I am whom you have only fancied weak. Forgive you? I forgive you everything; And take the pardon which your prayer insures. Let this embrace, this kiss, be evidence Our jarring hearts catch common rhythm again, And we are lovers.
_Ruth_.
Hush! You trouble him. He understands this scene no more than we. Mary, he speaks to you.
_Edward_.
Dear wife, farewell! The room grows dim, and silently and soft The veil is dropping 'twixt my eyes and yours, Which soon will hide me from you--you from me. Only one hand is warm; it rests in yours, Whose full, sweet pulses throb along my arm, So that I live upon them. Cling to me! And thus your life, after my life is past, Shall lay me gently in the arms of Death. Thus shall you link your being with a soul Gazing unveiled upon the Great White Throne.
Dear hearts of love surrounding me, farewell! I cannot see you now; or, if I do, You are transfigured. There are floating forms That whisper over me like summer leaves; And now there comes, and spreads through all my soul. Delicious influx of another life, From out whose essence spring, like living flowers, Angelic senses with quick ultimates, That catch the rustle of ethereal robes, And the thin chime of melting minstrelsy-- Rising and falling--answered far away-- As Echo, dreaming in the twilight woods, Repeats the warble of her twilight birds. And flowers that mock the Iris toss their cups In the impulsive ether, and spill out Sweet tides of perfume, fragrant deluges, Flooding my spirit like an angel's breath.
* * * * *
And still the throng increases; still unfold With broader span and more elusive sweep The radiant vistas of a world divine. But O my soul! what vision rises now! Far, far away, white blazing like the sun, In deepest distance and on highest height, Through walls diaphanous, and atmosphere Flecked with unnumbered forms of missive power, Out-going fleetly and returning slow, A Presence shines I may not penetrate; But on a throne, with smile ineffable, I see a form my conscious spirit knows. Jesus, my Saviour! Jesus, Lamb of God! Jesus who taketh from me all my sins, And from the world! Jesus, I come to thee! Come thou to me! O come, Lord, quickly! Come!
_David_.
Flown on the wings of rapture! Is this death? His heart is still; his beaded brow is cold; His wasted breast struggles for breath no more; And his pale features, hardened with the stress Of Life's resistance, momently subside Into a smile, calm as a twilight lake, Sprent with the images of rising stars, We have seen Evil in his countless forms In these poor lives; have met his armed hosts In dread encounter and discomfiture; And languished in captivity to them, Until we lost our courage and our faith; And here we see their Chieftain--Terror's King! He cuts the knot that binds a weary soul To faithless passions, sateless appetites, And powers perverted, and it flies away Singing toward heaven. He turns and looks at us, And finds us weeping with our gratitude-- Full of sweet sorrow,--sorrow sweeter far Than the supremest ecstasy of joy.
And this is death! Think you that raptured soul Now walking humbly in the golden streets, Bearing the precious burden of a love Too great for utterance, or with hushed heart Drinking the music of the ransomed throng, Counts death an evil?--evil, sickness, pain, Calamity, or aught that God prescribed To cure it of its sin, or bring it where The healing hand of Christ might touch it? No! He is a man to-night--a man in Christ. This was his childhood, here; and as we give A smile of wonder to the little woes That drew the tears from out our own young eyes, The kind corrections and severe constraints Imposed by those who loved us--so he sees A father's chastisement in all the ill That filled his life with darkness; so he sees In every evil a kind instrument To chasten, elevate, correct, subdue, And fit him for that heavenly estate-- Saintship in Christ--the Manhood Absolute!
L'ENVOY.
Midnight and silence! In the West, unveiled, The broad, full moon is shining, with the stars. On mount and valley, forest, roof, and rock, On billowy hills smooth-stretching to the sky, On rail and wall, on all things far and near, Cling the bright crystals,--all the earth a floor Of polished silver, pranked with bending forms Uplifting to the light their precious weight Of pearls and diamonds, set in palest gold. The storm is dead; and when it rolled away It took no star from heaven, but left to earth Such legacy of beauty as The Wind-- The light-robed shepherdess from Cuban groves-- Driving soft showers before her, and warm airs, And her wide-scattered flocks of wet-winged birds, Never bestowed upon the waiting Spring. Pale, silent, smiling, cold, and beautiful! Do storms die thus? And is it this to die?
Midnight and silence! In that hallowed room God's full-orbed peace is shining, with the stars. On head and hand, on brow, and lip, and eye, On folded arms, on broad unmoving breast, On the white-sanded floor, on everything Rest the pale radiance, while bending forms Stand all around, loaded with precious weight Of jewels such as holy angels wear. The man is dead; and when he passed away He blotted out no good, but left behind Such wealth of faith, such store of love and trust, As breath of joy, in-floating from the isles Smiled on by ceaseless summer, and indued With foliage and flowers perennial, Never conveyed to the enchanted soul. Do men die thus? And is it this to die?