AS soon as all the visitors had arrived, tea was handed round. I managed to get near Mrs. D’Aubrey, and she talked so kindly to me, and so very much as mother would have done, that I loved her better than ever. When tea was over we all went into the schoolroom; the visitors took their seats on the platform, and the prize-giving began. Miss Maynard first read out the result of the different examinations. I had done much better than I expected in most of them, and Miss Maynard gave me several kind words of praise, as she read out the lists.
Then came the prizes. What a splendid row of handsomely bound books was standing on the table Which of us would be so happy as to find her name written in any of them? I did not think that I should get a prize at all, but to my great surprise I was called up to the platform no less than three times, to receive a most beautiful book. The second science prize, the good conduct prize, and the attention prize, were all mine. The attention prize is given to the one who has worked most diligently in every subject throughout the term.
Oh, how pleased mother will be when she gets the letter, to tell her of this, and she would have been still more pleased if she had been present, and could have heard what Miss Maynard said to me, as she gave me the books.
Mary Conder had no less than five prizes; poor Flora had not one. I felt very sorry for her, and she was so humble and quiet, and bore it so very differently from what she would have done a little time before, that I could not help going up to her at the end, and giving her a kiss. ‘Thank you, Olive darling,’ she said; ‘if it had not been for you, I should not have been here today.’
Then I asked Miss Maynard if I might tall Mary’s prizes to her, and I said goodnight to Mrs. D’Aubrey, and left the room. It was a little bit hard, just for one moment, as I saw the girls clearing the room for a round game; but a thought of poor Mary alone in her room, and a thought of the motto over my bed, made me quickly turn my back upon it all and run upstairs as fast as I could.
‘Oh, have you really come?’ said Mary, when I went in. ‘It is good of you, Olive.’
Then we looked at our prizes together, and I told her what visitors were downstairs, and described the schoolroom and the prize-giving, and afterwards I read one of her prizes aloud to her. It was a very interesting story, and the time passed very quickly as we read it. We were quite surprised when we heard them going down to supper, and knew that it must be ten o’clock.
Miss Maynard sent us our supper upstairs, and I spread it on a little table by Mary’s bed, and I ran down to the schoolroom for some flowers to put round the plates, and Mary said it was the prettiest little set-out she had ever seen! As we were eating our supper, Mary asked, ‘What makes you so different from other people, Olive?’
‘Oh, Mary,’ I said, laughing, ‘what do you mean ? I am not different from other people.’
‘Yes, you are,’ she said. ‘No one but you would ever have thought of stopping with me tonight, and I have often noticed, Olive, that you have done things I never could do—right things, I mean. And sometimes I wish I was like you. What makes you so different?’
‘Oh; Mary, I am not different,’ I answered. ‘I am often very bad and selfish. But mother gave me a question to hang up in my room: “What would Jesus do?” and if ever I do anything right, I think it is because I ask myself that question, and try to act out the answer.’
‘I suppose it is, said Mary thoughtfully. I think I must illuminate a card like that, and hang it up in my room. But no, that would not do!’ she went on. ‘There must be something more than that, Olive. I am afraid my just asking myself that question would never make me do the right thing; it might tell me what I ought to do, but then, very likely, I should not be able to make up my mind to do it.’
‘Yes,’ I said, ‘I see what you mean. I do not think the motto would help you much, unless you really wanted to follow Christ’s footsteps. Don’t you think we must learn to love Him first, before we shall want to follow Him. Mother says Jesus has given us two commands: “Come unto Me,” and “Follow Me;” and that it is of no use trying to keep the second till we have obeyed the first. It is of no use trying to follow His steps till we have come to Him as our Saviour.’
‘I see,’ said Mary. ‘Please, Olive, will—’
~~~
I was turning out my drawers and closets last night as I was preparing to pack, when I came across this poor old book, stowed away in a corner, and covered with dust. It is the book mother gave me before she left home, in which I was to write my little school journal. I find I have not written a single word since the midsummer holidays of my first year at school. The two years of which I wrote on the first page of my journal, and which I thought would never pass away, are now gone, and they seem to have passed away as quickly as a dream, just av mother told me they would do. Now I am packing up to go out to India, to father and mother, and I am nearly wild with joy at the thought of seeing them again.
How good God has been to me all the time I have been at school! That first half-year, of which I wrote in this book, was my hardest time, but He helped me out of all my troubles, and, from that time, my school life was very bright and happy; everyone was so good to me, and they all seemed to be determined to spoil me with kindness.
I see that my journal leaves off in the middle of a sentence, and what Mary asked me to do that night I cannot remember. Only I know that, from that time, we had many a long talk together about my school motto, and I had good reason to believe that, before very long, Mary Conder had obeyed both our Lord’s commands; that she had come to Him to be saved from her sin, and that she was earnestly endeavouring to follow His steps.
And now my school days are done, and I am to begin quite a new stage of my life.
Oh that I may never forget all the lessons God has been teaching me ! Oh that, by His grace, I may go out to India, determined to be a comfort to my father and mother, and to glorify God, and to serve Him with all my heart and with all my mind.
I have just finished my packing, and have wrapped my row of prizes carefully in paper, that mother may see them in all their beauty. But there is nothing I possess that I have packed more carefully, nor with greater thankfulness and love, than my school motto:
‘WHAT WOULD JESUS DO?’