Elsie at Nantucket Read online

  CHAPTER IV.

  "There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we mustbe saved."--_Acts_ 4: 12.

  It was down on the beach Max had been telling his story; the evening wasbeautiful, warm enough to make the breeze from the sea extremelyenjoyable, and the whole family party were gathered there, some sittingupon the benches or camp-chairs, others on rugs and shawls spread uponthe sand.

  Max seemed to have finished what he had to say about the day's exploits,and Gracie rose and went to her father's side.

  He drew her to his knee with a slight caress. "What has my little girlbeen doing all day?"

  "Playing in the sand most of the time, papa. I'm so glad those horridsharks didn't get a chance to bite you or anybody to-day. Such big,dreadful-looking creatures Maxie says they were."

  "Not half so large as some I have seen in other parts of the world."

  "Oh, papa, will you tell us about them? Shall I call Max and Lulu tohear it?"

  "Yes; if they wish to come, they may."

  There was scarcely anything the children liked better than to hear thecaptain tell of his experiences at sea, and in another moment his ownthree. Rosie, Walter, and several of the older people were gatheredaround him, expecting quite a treat.

  "Quite an audience," he remarked, "and I'm afraid I shall disappoint youall, for I have no yarn to spin, only a few items of information to givein regard to other varieties of sharks than are to be found on thiscoast.

  "The white shark, found in the Mediterranean and the seas of many of thewarmer parts of the world, is the largest and the most feared of any ofthe monsters of the deep. One has been caught which was thirty-sevenfeet long. It has a hard skin, is grayish-brown above and whitish on theunder side. It has a large head and a big wide mouth armed with aterrible apparatus of teeth--six rows in the upper jaw, and four in thelower."

  "Did you ever see one, papa?" asked Grace, shuddering.

  "Yes, many a one. They will often follow a ship to feed on any animalmatter that may be thrown or fall overboard, and have not unfrequentlyfollowed mine, to the no small disturbance of the sailors, who have asuperstitious belief that it augurs a death on board during the voyage."

  "Do you believe it, captain?" queried little Walter.

  "No, my boy, certainly not; how should a fish know what is about tohappen? Do you think God would give them a knowledge of the future whichHe conceals from men? No, it is a very foolish idea which only anignorant, superstitious person could for a moment entertain. Sharksfollow the ships simply because of what is occasionally thrown into thewater. They are voracious creatures, and sometimes swallow articleswhich even their stomachs cannot digest. A lady's work-box was found inone, and the papers of a slave-ship in another."

  "Why, how could he get them?" asked Walter.

  "They had been thrown overboard," said the captain.

  "Do those big sharks bite people?" pursued the child.

  "Yes, indeed; they will not only bite off an arm or leg when anopportunity offers, but have been known to swallow a man whole."

  "A worse fate than that of the prophet Jonah," remarked Betty. "Do thesailors ever attempt to catch them, captain?"

  "Sometimes; using a piece of meat as bait, putting it on a very largehook attached to a chain; for a shark's teeth find no difficulty ingoing through a rope. But when they have hooked him and hauled him onboard they have need to be very careful to keep out of reach of both histeeth and his tail; they usually rid themselves of danger from thelatter by a sailor springing forward and cutting it above the fin with ahatchet.

  "In the South Sea Islands they have a curious way of catching sharks bysetting a log of wood afloat with a rope attached, a noose at the end ofit; the sharks gather round the log, apparently out of curiosity, andone or another is apt soon to get his head into the noose, and isfinally wearied out by the log."

  "I think that's a good plan," said Grace, "because it doesn't putanybody in danger of being bitten."

  No one spoke again for a moment, then the silence was broken by thesweet voice of Mrs. Elsie Travilla: "To-morrow is Sunday; does any oneknow whether any service will be held here?"

  "Yes," replied Mr. Dinsmore; "there will be preaching in the parlors ofone of the hotels, and I move that we attend in a body."

  The motion was seconded and carried, and when the time came nearly everyone went. The service occupied an hour; after that almost everybodysought the beach; but though some went into the surf--doubtless lookingupon it as a hygienic measure, therefore lawful even on the Lord'sday--there was not the usual boisterous fun and frolic.

  Harold, by some manoeuvring, got his mother to himself for a time,making a comfortable seat for her in the sand, and shading her from thesun with an umbrella.

  "Mamma," he said, "I want a good talk with you; there are somequestions, quite suitable for Sunday, that I want to ask. And see,"holding them up to view, "I have brought my Bible and a smallconcordance with me, for I know you always refer to the Law and to theTestimony in deciding matters of faith and practice."

  "Yes," she said, "God's Word is the only infallible rule of faith andpractice. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and isprofitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction inrighteousness!"

  "Yes, mamma, I have the reference here; Second Timothy, third chapter,and sixteenth verse. And should not the next verse, 'That the man of Godmay be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works,' stir us up tomuch careful study of the Bible?"

  "Certainly, my dear boy; and, oh what cause for gratitude that we havean infallible instructor and guide! But what did you want to ask me?"

  "A question that was put to me by one of our fellows at college, andwhich I was not prepared to answer. The substance of it was this: 'Ifone who has lived for years in the service of God should be suddenly cutoff while committing some sin, would he not be saved, because of hisformer good works?'"

  "Is any son or daughter of Adam saved by good works?" she asked, with alook and tone of surprise.

  "No, mother, certainly not; how strange that I did not think ofanswering him with that query. But he maintained that God was too justto overlook--make no account of--years of holy living because of perhapsa momentary fall into sin."

  "We have nothing to hope from God's justice," she replied, "for itwholly condemns us. 'There is none righteous, no, not one.... Thereforeby the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight.'

  "But your friend's question is very plainly answered by the prophetEzekiel," opening her Bible as she spoke. "Here it is, in the eighteenthchapter, twenty-fourth verse.

  "'But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness andcommitteth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations thatthe wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hathdone shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed,and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.'"

  "Nothing could be plainer," Harold said. "I shall refer my friend tothat passage for his answer, and also remind him that no one can besaved by works.

  "Now, mamma, there is something else. I have become acquainted with ayoung Jew who interests me greatly. He is gentlemanly, refined,educated, very intelligent and devout, studying the Hebrew Scripturesconstantly, and looking for a Saviour yet to come.

  "I have felt so sorry for him that I could not refrain from talking tohim of Jesus of Nazareth, and trying to convince him that He was and isthe true Messiah."

  Elsie looked deeply interested. "And what was the result of yourefforts?" she asked.

  "I have not succeeded in convincing him yet, mamma, but I think I haveraised doubts in his mind. I have called his attention to the propheciesin his own Hebrew Scriptures in regard to both the character of theMessiah and the time of His appearing, and shown him how exactly theywere all fulfilled in our Saviour. I think he cannot help seeing that itis so, yet tries hard to shut his eyes to the truth.

  "He tells me he believes Jesus was a
good man and a great prophet, butnot the Messiah; only a human creature. To that I answer, 'He claimedto be God, saying, "I and My Father are One;" "Verily, verily, I sayunto you, before Abraham was I am;" and allowed himself to be worshippedas God; therefore either He was God or He was a wretched impostor, noteven a good man.'

  "But, mamma, I have been asked by another, a professed Christian, 'Whydo you trouble yourself about the belief of a devout Jew? he is notseeking salvation by works, but by faith; then is he not safe, eventhough he looks for a Saviour yet to come?' How should you answer thatquestion, mamma?"

  "With the eleventh and twelfth verses of the fourth chapter of Acts:'This is the stone which was set at naught of you builders, which isbecome the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other;for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby wemust be saved.'

  "That name is the name of Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified One. He isthe only Saviour. We speak--the Bible speaks of being saved by faith,but faith is only the hand with which we lay hold on Christ.

  "'A Saviour yet to come?' There is none; and will faith in a myth savethe soul? No; nor in any other than Him who is the Door, the Way, theTruth, the Life.

  "'He is mighty to save,' and He alone; He Himself said, 'No man comethunto the Father, but by Me.'

  "And is it not for the very sin of rejecting their true Messiah, killingHim and imprecating His blood upon them and on their children, that theyhave been scattered among the nations and have become a hissing and abyword to all people?"

  "True, mamma, and yet are they not still God's own chosen people? Arethere not promises of their future restoration?"

  "Yes, many, in both the Old Testament and the New. Zechariah tells us,'They shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mournfor Him as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness forhim, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born;' and Paul speaks ofa time when the veil that is upon their hearts shall be taken away, andit shall turn to the Lord.

  "Let me read you the first five verses of the sixty-second chapter ofIsaiah--they are so beautiful.

  "'For Zion's sake will I not hold My peace, and for Jerusalem's sake Iwill not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness,and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.

  "'And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thyglory; and thou shalt be called by a new name which the mouth of theLord shall name.

  "'Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and aroyal diadem in the hand of thy God.

  "'Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any morebe termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy landBeulah: for the Lord delighted in thee, and thy land shall be married.

  "'For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee:and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoiceover thee.'"

  Mr. and Mrs. Dinsmore sat together not many paces distant, each with abook; but hers was half closed while she gazed out over the sea.

  "I am charmed with the quiet of this place," she remarked presently;"never a scream of a locomotive to break it, no pavements to echo to thefootsteps of the passer-by, no sound of factory or mill, or rumble ofwheels, scarcely anything to be heard, even on week-days, but thethunder of the surf and occasionally a human voice."

  "Except the blast of Captain Baxter's tin horn announcing his arrivalwith the mail, or warning you that he will be off for Nantucket inprecisely five minutes, so that if you have letters or errands for himyou must make all haste to hand them over," Mr. Dinsmore said, with asmile.

  "Ah, yes," she assented; "but with all that, is it not the quietestplace you ever were in?"

  "I think it is; there is a delightful Sabbath stillness to-day. I cannotsay that I should desire to pass my life here, but a sojourn of someweeks is a very pleasant and restful variety."

  "I find it so," said his wife, "and feel a strong inclination to be downhere, close by the waves, almost all the time. If agreeable to the restof our party, let us pass the evening here in singing hymns."

  "A very good suggestion," he responded, and Elsie and the others beingof the same opinion, it was duly carried out.