Ester Ried | Page 8

been reading, but her book had
fallen idly in her lap, and she seemed lost in thought Sadie, too, was
there, carrying on a whispered conversation with Minnie, who was
snugged close in her arms, and merry bursts of laughter came every few
minutes from the little girl. The idea of Sadie keeping quiet herself, or
of keeping any body else quiet, was simply absurd.
"But I say unto you that ye resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite
thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also," read Julia, slowly
and thoughtfully. "Alfred, what do you suppose that can mean?"
"Don't know, I'm sure," Alfred said. "The next one is just as queer:
'And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let
him have thy cloak also.' I'd like to see me doing that. I'd fight for it, I
reckon."
"Oh, Alfred! you wouldn't, if the Bible said you mustn't, would you?"
"I don't suppose this means us at all," said Alfred, using, unconsciously,
the well-known argument of all who have tried to slip away from
gospel teaching since Adam's time.
"I suppose it's talking to those wicked old fellows who lived before the
flood, or some such time."
"Well, anyhow," said Julia, "I should like to know what it all means. I
wish mother would come home. I wonder how Mrs. Vincent is. Do you
suppose she will die, Alfred?"
"Don't know--just hear this, Julia! 'But I say unto you, Love your
enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you and

pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you.' Wouldn't
you like to see anybody who did all that?"
"Sadie," said Julia, rising suddenly, and moving over to where the
frolic was going on, "won't you tell us about our lesson? We don't
understand a bit about it; and I can't learn any thing that I don't
understand."
"Bless your heart, child! I suspect you know more about the Bible this
minute than I do. Mother was too busy taking care of you two, when I
was a little chicken, to teach me as she has you."
"Well, but what can that mean--'If a man strikes you on one cheek, let
him strike the other too?'"
"Yes," said Alfred, chiming in, "and, 'If anybody takes your coat away,
give him your cloak too.'"
"I suppose it means just that," said Sadie. "If anybody steals your
mittens, as that Bush girl did yours last winter, Julia, you are to take
your hood right off, and give it to her."
"Oh, Sadie! you don't ever mean that."
"And then," continued Sadie, gravely, "if that shouldn't satisfy her, you
had better take off your shoes and stockings, and give her them."
"Sadie," said Ester, "how can you teach those children such nonsense?"
"She isn't teaching me any thing," interrupted Alfred. "I guess I ain't
such a dunce as to swallow all that stuff."
"Well," said Sadie, meekly, "I'm sure I'm doing the best I can; and you
are all finding fault. I've explained to the best of my abilities Julia, I'll
tell you the truth;" and for a moment her laughing face grew sober. "I
don't know the least thing about it--don't pretend to. Why don't you ask
Ester? She can tell you more about the Bible in a minute, I presume,
than I could in a year."

Ester laid her book on the window. "Julia, bring your Bible here," she
said, gravely. "Now what is the matter? I never heard you make such a
commotion over your lesson."
"Mother always explains it," said Alfred, "and she hasn't got back from
Mrs. Vincent's; and I don't believe anyone else in this house can do it."
"Alfred," said Ester, "don't be impertinent. Julia, what is that you want
to know?"
"About the man being struck on one cheek, how he must let them strike
the other too. What does it mean?"
"It means just that, when girls are cross and ugly to you, you must be
good and kind to them; and, when a boy knocks down another, he must
forgive him, instead of getting angry and knocking back."
"Ho!" said Alfred, contemptuously, "I never saw the boy yet who
would do it."
"That only proves that boys are naughty, quarrelsome fellows, who
don't obey what the Bible teaches."
"But, Ester," interrupted Julia, anxiously, "was that true what Sadie said
about me giving my shoes and stockings and my hood to folks who
stole something from me?"
"Of course not. Sadie shouldn't talk such nonsense to you. That is about
men going to law. Mother will explain it when she goes over the lesson
with you."
Julia was only half satisfied. "What does that verse mean about doing