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IN his new, clean quarters Chubb steadily improved. He made
Jonas tell him all about the fish he brought in, where and when he caught
them, and also where he shot the ducks and partridges, or snared the
rabbits. He was eager to hear of his escapades with poachers of his
Majesty’s game, for Jonas was one of the Warden’s best men. Chubb never
tired of hearing Jonas describe his journey to Sandy Bay to get Mr. Horace
Fitzgerald to save Mr. Hewitt from the grip of the law.
During his convalescence, Jonas and the teacher brought Chubb’s tools and
chemicals, and also his partly-stuffed bear, over to the Parsonage. To
Chubb’s great satisfaction the teacher finished the work for him, giving
Chubb, as he did it, many valuable hints in taxidermy. Chubb’s delight was
nearly complete when the teacher affixed in the bear’s head a couple of
greenish-coloured glass eyes. Mr. Green had many a merry tale to tell about
school, but none pleased Chubb so much as the teacher’s description of the
commotion caused by his bringing a porcupine to school.
Still, above the others, the boy’s interest grew in the young preacher. His
kindly touch was a surprise to Chubb. He had never before known such a
thing. He was much impressed with the work and manner in which his amateur
physician examined and treated him; then the way in which he measured and
poured out his decoctions interested Chubb greatly. It was a great thing,
thought the patient, to ‘doctor’ the skins of birds, and stuff a bear; but
to pour out medicines to make a sick boy well! To kill and ‘cure’ was great;
but to make one feel good was greater. To destroy was in the natural
wildness of things; to build up and redeem was something above the common
order of events. Thus the preacher came into a large place in Chubb’s heart.
One day, when the preacher was quietly reading his Bible beside his patient,
Chubb said—
‘Mr. Hewitt, read again for me what the Book says about, “the bear and the
cow shall feed together.”
‘All right, Chubb, I will.’
He hoped that he could make the passage clear to him, to-day. So he read the
latter part of the sixty-fifth chapter of Isaiah, telling about the ‘ new
heaven and new earth, ’wherein‘ the wolf and the lamb shall feed together.’
‘Wished I’d begun with a wolf,’ said Chubb.
‘Did you ever catch one?’
‘No; but a pack nearly caught me and my father. It was when I was very
little, and we toted a load of hay in to a lumber camp, and we was late
getting home. The wolves broke into pa’s sheep-pen two winters ago, and
cleaned out all our sheep. I don’t believe that they are any better than
bears with cows,’ added Chubb, disgustedly.
In spite of himself, Mr. Hewitt had to laugh.
‘That man’s crazy who wrote that,’ said Chubb, sturdily. ‘I don’t believe a
word of it.’
‘Don’t decide too quickly, Chubb. Isaiah is not writing of things as they
are naturally found, either in his day or ours. He says that all this is to
take place in the “new heavens, and the new earth,” where righteousness,
love, and truth dwell. It is a prophecy of a better day; but it may begin in
our midst now. Love will cast out hatred and murder from our hearts. This
beginning with us will go through all creation until murder is known no
more; when even the wolf will change his murderous nature, and become as
docile as a lamb. But this is not all that this great writer says about
animals. Let me read the other chapter.’
Then the preacher read the eleventh chapter, Chubb putting in a whistling
comment as the animals were told off to enjoy themselves in peace. When the
reader had finished, Chubb lay in silence for some time. Mr. Hewitt waited
for him to speak.
‘The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,’ he muttered. ‘The cow shall feed with
the bear, and their young ones shall lie down together. A little child shall
lead them.’
After repeating these passages over to himself, he suddenly raised himself
in his bed, and turning to Mr. Hewitt, he said earnestly—
'Say, that’s great. I’d like to hunt ’em, like Jonas. I’d like to know of
’em and stuff ’em, like the teacher; but I’d like best of all to lead ’em.’
‘You may lead them some day, Chubb,’ said the young preacher, with a look
into the boy’s eyes that was a prayer and a hope.
‘How?’ asked the boy, eagerly.
‘By knowing the Great Leader, and being like Him.’
‘Who? Isaiah?’
‘The one of whom Isaiah wrote; the one on whom rested, as Isaiah says, the
spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the
spirit of knowledge, and the fear of the Lord. Jonas knows,’ continued the
preacher, ‘where the ducks fly, and where the fish swim; so he' applies his
knowledge. He goes, catches and kills them to make us food. That is one man.
On him rests the spirit of knowledge and might. The teacher can take lines
and figures, letters and words, and can find lessons and laws of God for us
to learn. On him rests the spirit of understanding and counsel. That is
another man. But it takes a third man to make the perfect child of God, the
one who is to lead the rest; and this man has not only knowledge and counsel
and might, but also the fear of the Lord, which buds forth into a passionate
love for God, for man, for all created things.’
‘That’s you,’ said Chubb, following the preacher intently.
‘I hope I have some of this fear and love, Chubb, but Jonas is learning it,
and I believe the teacher has much of it. You remember he tore his own shirt
up to make bandages for you. His fear lest you should suffer and his love
for you made him do it.’
‘And I love him for it,’ said Chubb, as grateful tears sprang into his eyes.
‘So in most men three men seem to exist, though they do not all get equal
development. There is the hunter, who delights to chase and kill; but a man
who becomes no better than this will be little better than a bear or a wolf.
He will live only a brute’s life. The man of knowledge, the one who delights
to analyze, compare, and draw conclusions, may be satisfied to see things as
they are, and not help to make them any better. His soul may be as black as
midnight, and he may be cruel and vicious.’
‘And the third man,’ said Chubb, impatient to hear of the last of the three
men who all live in one man.
‘The third one is the man of aspiration, the man whose eye is on God, who,
seeking peace in his own soul, would teach all things to be at peace amongst
themselves. He fears God; and, Chubb, you may have this fear too.'
‘What? Fear? Fear makes cowards. Jonas isn't a coward; no more am I.'
‘No more is the teacher; no more is Jesus Christ; or “the child who shall
lead them.” One kind of fear—fear of man, of animals, fear of getting
yourself hurt—makes cowards; but fear of God—fear of doing wrong—is a fear
causes you to forget yourself, and makes you as brave as a lion.’
‘Then I want that fear.’
‘That’s right, Chubb. Desire it, ask God for it, and you shall have it. That
fear means the best that is in man. Yes, it is better than is in man. It
comes from God’s Spirit being in man, and He teaches us to love God, and to
love everything God has made; He teaches us to fear to treat anything
wrongly or unkindly. It will be the effort of our lives to know men and
serve them, to know animals and to master them by being a means of blessing
to them.’
‘Blessing to a bear!’ exclaimed Chubb in surprise. ‘Why, a bear nearly
killed me. I wished that I had killed it.’
‘There are worse bears, Chubb, than those that have fur coats on.’
The preacher looked meaningly at the boy.
‘Do you mean my father and my mother?’ said Chubb, his eyes flashing, ‘for
if you do I’ll get right up and go home! ’
‘Did I mention any names?'
‘No.’
‘Well, then, whenever you meet any one, whether father or mother or any one
else who treats you unkindly, remember that the bravest
thing is not to fight back, but to patiently suffer, pray to God, and try to
find out some way to be a blessing to them.’
‘But shouldn’t men fight and kill anything?’
‘If you and I met a bear, we would not hesitate to kill it as quickly as we
could. But I was going to tell you that in calling to your assistance the
three men who, I said, lived in every man, you should begin with the man of
prayer, the man after God’s own heart. If you can conquer your enemy by
love, you have won a great victory. But if your man of knowledge tells you
that life is dependent upon your efforts, whether to get food or to preserve
life, then you should call your hunter, and send him to work with all his
powers.'
‘I’d kill wolves too. They killed all my father’s sheep, the vermin. I’d
kill every one of them if I could!’
‘But, Chubb, if man had done so at the beginning you would have had no
collie dog, like your Duncan. On every farm where there is a sheep and a
dog, the prophecy “the wolf shall dwell with the lamb” is to that extent
fulfilled.'
‘True for you, Mister Hewitt. The dog is a tame wolf, for sure!’ said Jonas,
as he entered and dropped a bag of game inside of the door.
‘That was your “Amen” Jonas.' laughed the preacher.
‘Thus, you see,’ continued Mr. Hewitt to Chubb, ‘that the sheep’s worst
enemy has been turned by wisdom, love, and training into being his best
friend and protector. There are other animals to be won. “A child shall lead
them,” Chubb; why not you?’
'Much good luck this week, Jonas?’ asked the preacher, formally greeting his
Indian friend.
‘Ah, huh,’ was the laconic reply.
‘Can you stay a little while with Chubb?’ ‘Ah, huh,’ said Jonas, and smiled
with pleasure.
Then, seizing his opportunity, Mr. Hewitt left Chubb in Jonas’ care while he
hurried away to fulfil some of his pastoral duties. |
