FullReads

The assembled people wished the children luck; and taking the picture, which was not large, both sisters hurried out of the gallery.

“O mother,” they cried, as they entered the neat little living room of their home, “we have had great good luck. The wish you have so long expressed is at last fulfilled. See, here is a picture painted by our beloved father.”

The mother looked at it for a long time in deep silence, and at last broke forth in tears of joy and homesick longing.

“Yes,” said she, “the picture is his, though I cannot remember ever having seen him work at it. But I know his art, his beautiful thoughts and his delicate colorings. It is an exquisite landscape. Notice the evening glow over the wooded hill, behind which the sun has just disappeared; the huts, from whose chimneys the light-blue smoke ascends; the distant village, with the old church tower which the last rays of the declining sun still illumine; and the rosy, hazy light which spreads over all. It is beautiful beyond description, and stirs within me memories of the past. Such scenes have I ofttimes viewed in company with your father. But how did you ever get this picture?”

Lottie related the incidents leading up to its purchase, and said: “Louise and I are perfectly willing to wear our old clothes.”

“We certainly have a treasure in the house now, in comparison with which all the grandeur of the world counts as nothing,” said the mother. “You are, indeed, good children, and I appreciate your self-sacrificing spirit. I consider that more acceptable than a great collection of paintings. The love which you have shown for your departed father and for me affords me unbounded joy. Come now, let us hang the picture at once.”

Often all three would stand before the painting and gather from it such joy and strength that the work of the day seemed lightened and brightened.

“When you study with exactness the details of a beautiful landscape,” said the mother, “you will find more and more to admire at each view. So it is with reading. We learn much that may befall us in life from books, and by thinking and reviewing the good and the beautiful in the lives of others we may better know how to act under the changing scenes of life.”

Chapter III

The Discovery

With the returning spring, the mother received an urgent letter from her best friend, a widow, who lived in the country. This friend had been seriously ill for some time, and her life was despaired of. She was particularly desirous of seeing Mrs. Laurier about making a few final arrangements.

The mother made hasty preparations, and at break of day started on her journey, her two daughters accompanying her a short distance from the house.

The mother gave them a parting injunction to work diligently and to remain at home. “Within two or three days, I shall return,” she said. “I know that my friend has much to tell me, and will not hear of my going sooner. Behave yourselves in such a manner that when I return, I may be so pleased with your conduct that my troubles will be the lighter to bear.”

As the two girls returned to the house, Lottie said to her sister: “Do you know, dear Louise, our rooms have become somewhat dingy during our stay here. Let us, while mother is absent, have them painted. We could launder the curtains and polish the floors. These bright spring days seem to demand it. Then, when mother returns, steps into the house, and sees its whitened walls, its beautiful fresh draperies and its brightened aspect, what a pleasure it will give her. What do you think about it?”

Louise clapped her hands in joy, and said: “You always have the cleverest ideas. Yes, let us send for the painter at once.”

The girls then worked industriously for two days, and everything seemed to glide along swiftly and entirely to their satisfaction.