Part 22 (2/2)
”I'll have a great deal to tell Miss Agnes and the girls when I go home--sha'n't I, mamma?”
Some new members joined the mountain band, and by the last of August it numbered twenty-one. Ruth said she wished very much that before Mrs.
Thurston left they might have her meet with the band. She thought they would all take greater interest in mission work if they could hear something of it from one who had spent so many years in the midst of it.
Mrs. Thurston said she would be very happy to attend a meeting and talk with the members. So arrangements were made to have her do so.
It would be impossible for her to reach the grove, as she could not walk so far, and the drive from the hotel to Mr. Campbell's was very rough and quite long.
”Mother,” said Almira, when they were trying to settle the matter, ”couldn't we have a meeting here? It would be easier for Mrs. Thurston to get here, and convenient enough for everybody else.”
”Why, of course they may meet here,” her mother replied. ”Our parlor's a plenty big enough to hold 'em.”
”Oh! dear Mrs. Stokes,” protested Marty, ”don't let us meet in the house when there's so much lovely out-of-doors. That gra.s.sy place in the garden near the currant-bushes would be just an elegant place for a meeting.”
”I vote with Marty for out-of-doors,” said Ruth. ”We'll have enough times for in-door meetings after a while.”
”Suit yourselves,” said kind Mrs. Stokes. ”You're welcome to any place I've anything to do with.”
”And may some of the rest of us from the hotel come?” asked Miss f.a.n.n.y, who happened to be present when this talk was going on.
”Yes, indeed. The more the--.” Mrs. Stokes was just going to say, as she so often did, ”the more the merrier,” when she recollected that it would be Sunday and the meeting a religious one. But she let them all know she would like them to come. Mrs. Ashford and Ruth had great difficulty in persuading her not to bake a quant.i.ty of cake on Sat.u.r.day and serve refreshments to the band.
”You must remember, dear Mrs. Stokes,” said Ruth, ”it isn't a party, and n.o.body will expect anything to eat. Now you must not think of going to any trouble.”
”The idee of having a lot of people come to your house and not give 'em a bite of anything!” exclaimed Mrs. Stokes.
Sunday afternoon chairs were carried out to the gra.s.sy spot Marty had selected, among them a comfortable arm-chair for Mrs. Thurston. Marty insisted on farmer Stokes' special arm-chair being carried out for him, and with the help of Wattie Campbell contrived to get it there. Hiram, before he drove down to the hotel for the ladies, made a couple of benches of boards placed on kegs. These were for the girls. The boys, he said, could sit on the ground, and that is where he sat himself.
Mrs. Thurston brought with her a cloth map of India which the young ladies fastened to two trees. She also had some photographs of people and places in India which were pa.s.sed around among the company. Mr.
Stokes was particularly struck with the beautiful scenery these pictures showed.
”Well,” he said, ”I never knew much about India, but I had no idea it was such a handsome place.”
”Oh, yes,” said Mrs. Thurston, ”the scenery in some parts of these tropical countries is very fine, the foliage is so luxuriant, the flowers so gorgeous, the skies so brilliant. Indeed, a photograph only gives the merest hint of the beauties.”
She described certain mountain and forest views, also some parks and gardens she had visited.
”Don't you remember those lines in the missionary hymn, Mr. Stokes,”
Miss Dora asked,
”'Where every prospect pleases, And only man is vile'?”
Mrs. Thurston told them that the people in India do not live on farms as many do in this country, but crowd together in towns and villages, going out from there to work in the fields. She briefly described the large city of Madras, with its mingled riches and poverty, its streets crowded with all sorts of people, some of them with hardly any clothing on, its temples and bazaars, or shops. Then she spoke of Madura, where her home had been so long.
It was hard to get her listeners, as they sat in this cool, shady garden, fanned by mountain breezes, to understand how hot it is in India, especially Southern India. They thought the _punkahs_, or huge fans, that are in all the churches and larger houses, and which a man works constantly to cool the air, must be very queer contrivances. The idea of having to stay indoors during the middle of the day, keeping very still, lying down, perhaps, did not strike Mrs. Stokes very favorably.
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