CHAPTER I

WANTING WORK

"I never before thought of the making of the Tabernacle being a 'pleasure' to the Israelites," observed Agnes. "I always wondered at so many chapters in the Bible being filled with descriptions of curtains, silver loops, and gold ornaments, which are of no interest at all to us now."

"My dear, it is our ignorance which makes us think any part of the Bible of no interest," observed Mrs. Temple. "If you remember the readiness with which, as we know, the Israelites brought their precious things for the Tabernacle, and if you can realize the eager pleasure with which, after the long idleness which had ended in grievous sin, men and women set to work, you will feel that the order to make a beautiful place for worship must have been the opening of a spring of new delight to the children of Israel. They had the Lord's own pattern to work from, so there was no room for disputes about form or style; and it was a pattern admirably suited to give pleasant employment to numbers of people, and to women as well as to men. Fancy how listless languor must have been suddenly changed to animation; the murmurs of discontented idlers to the hum of cheerful workers; and how vanity and foolish gossip amongst the girls must have been checked while they traced out their rich patterns and plied their needles; and instead of decking their own persons, gave their gold and jewels freely to God!"

"I wish that we'd a Tabernacle to make here," exclaimed Lucius, whose restless fingers had again opened his dangerous plaything.

Mrs. Temple raised her hand to her brow: a thought had just occurred to her mind. "We might possibly manage to make a model of the Tabernacle," she said, after a moment's reflection.

"Ah, yes! I'd do all the carving part—all the hard part," cried Lucius eagerly.

"Do, do let us make a model!" exclaimed his sisters.

"It would be a long work—a difficult work; I am not sure whether we could succeed in accomplishing it," said Mrs. Temple. "And after all our labour, if we did manage to make a fair model, to what use could we put it? We had better consider all these matters before we begin what must be a tedious and might prove an unprofitable work."

"Ah, a model would be of great use, mamma!" cried Dora. "At Christmas-time, when this tiresome infection is over, and we go to our aunt at Chester, we could show it to all her friends."

"And to her school children—her Ragged School children!" interrupted Lucius, with animation. "We've let them see our magic-lantern for three Christmases running, and if the children are not tired of the slides of lions, bears, and peacocks, I'm sure that I am; besides, I smashed half the slides by accident last winter. A model of the Tabernacle would be something quite new to please the ragged scholars, and Aunt Theodora would draw so many good lessons from it."

"And could we not do with the model what we did with the magic-lantern," suggested Dora, "make of it a little exhibition, letting aunt's friends come and see it for sixpenny tickets, and so collect a little money to help on the Ragged School?"

"That would be so nice!" cried Amy.

"That would be famous!" exclaimed little blue-eyed Elsie, clapping her hands.

"Let's set to work this minute!" said Lucius, and he rapped the table with his knife.

Dora threw the doll's apron into her workbox, eager to have some employment more worthy of the clever fingers of a young lady of more than eleven years of age.

Mrs. Temple smiled at the impetuosity of her children. "I must repeat, let us consider first," she said. "Possibly not one amongst you has any idea of the amount of labour and patience required to complete a model of the Tabernacle which was made by the children of Israel."

"Of course our Tabernacle would be much smaller than the real one was," remarked Dora.

"Supposing that we made it on the scale of one inch to two cubits, I wonder what its length would be," said Mrs. Temple. "Just bring me the Bible, Lucius. I will turn over to the description of the Tabernacle, which we will find in the Book of Exodus."

"I do not know what a cubit is," said little Elsie, while her brother ran for the Bible.

"Don't you remember what mamma told us when we were reading about the size of the Ark?" said Agnes. "A cubit is the length of a man's arm from the elbow to the end of his middle finger, just about half of one of our yards."

"Eighteen inches, or, as some think, twenty," observed Mrs. Temple, as she opened the Bible which Lucius had just placed on the table before her.

"Let's count a cubit as exactly half a yard, mamma," said Lucius, "and then one inch's length in the model would go for a yard's length in the real Tabernacle. If we reckon thus, how long would our model need to be?"

"The outer court of the Tabernacle was one hundred cubits long by fifty broad," replied Mrs. Temple; "that, in such a model as we propose making, would be a length of four feet and two inches, by a breadth of two feet and one inch."

"Just large enough to stand comfortably on this side table!" cried Lucius. "There will be room enough on this table, and I'll clear it of the books, workbox, and flower jar in a twinkling."

"Stop a minute, my boy!" laughed his mother, as Lucius appeared to be on the point of sweeping everything off, including the green cloth cover. "We have not even decided on whether this model should be made at all. And if we do begin one, months may pass before we shall need that table on which to set it up."

"Oh, do, do let us make a model!" again the young Temples cried out.