Pine Needles Read online

  CHAPTER II.

  A fire was the first thing. Meredith and Maggie gathered dry pinebranches and dead leaves, and Meredith built a nice place for the kettlewith some stones. Then they found they had no matches.

  "We _always_ forget something," cried Maggie. "Now, I'll run home andfetch a box."

  Meredith went too. It was only a little more walk. Then the fire was setagoing, and the kettle filled and put over. Maggie sat by to keep up theflame, which being fed with light material needed constant supply.Meredith threw himself down on the mossy bank and opened his book. For alittle while there was silence.

  "What are you reading, Ditto?" Maggie asked at length. She kept as goodwatch of Meredith as of the fire.

  "You would not understand if I told you. It is a German book."

  "Is it very interesting?"

  "Yes."

  "I knew it was. I could see by your face; when you pull your browstogether in that way, I always know you are ever so much interested."

  "Well, I am," said Meredith smiling.

  "Would it interest me?"

  "I think, perhaps, it would."

  "Ah, Ditto, don't you want to try? Read us some of it. What is itabout?"

  "It is a Mission Magazine."

  "Missionary! Oh, then, we _shouldn't_ like it," said Esther. "I don'tbelieve we should."

  "And in it are stories," Meredith continued.

  "What sort of stories? about heathen?"

  "I like stories about heathen," said Maggie.

  "Stories about heathen and Christian, which a certain Pastor Harms usedto tell to his people, and which he put in the magazine."

  "Did he write the magazine?"

  "Yes."

  "Who was Pastor Harms?"

  "A wonderful, beautiful man, who loved God with all his heart, andserved Him with all his strength."

  "Why, there are a great many people, Ditto, who do that," said hissister.

  "Most people that I have seen keep a little of their strength forsomething else," remarked Meredith dryly.

  "Was he a German?" Maggie asked.

  "He was a German; and he was the minister of a poor country parish inHanover; and the minister and the people together were so full of thelove of Christ that they did what rich churches elsewhere don't do."

  "And does that book tell what they did?"

  "Partly; what they did, and what other people have done."

  "_I_ should like to hear some of it," was Maggie's conclusion.

  "Well, you shall. We'll try, after dinner. Flora and Esther may shuttheir ears, if they will."

  "If you won't read something else," said Flora, "I suppose I wouldrather hear that than nothing. I can get on with my work better."

  "And worsted work is the chief end of woman, everybody knows," remarkedher brother. "The kettle is boiling, Maggie!"

  All was lively activity at once. Even the afghan and the worstedembroidery were laid on the moss, and the two elder girls bestirredthemselves to get out the plates and dishes from the baskets and arrangethem; while Maggie made the tea, and Meredith set about his omelet.Maggie watched him with intense satisfaction, as he broke and beat hiseggs and put them over the fire; watched till the cookery wasaccomplished and the omelet was turned out hot and brown and savoury.The girls declared it was the best thing they had ever tasted, and Florathought the tea was the best tea, and Meredith that the bread and butterwas the best bread and butter. Maggie privately thought it was the bestdinner altogether that ever she had eaten in the woods; but I think shejudged most by the company. It was a long dinner! Why should they usehaste? The October sun was not hot; the sweet air gave an appetite; thethousand things they had to talk about gave zest to the food. They werenot in a hurry with their tea, and they lingered over their apple-pie.

  When at last they were of a mind to seek a change of diversion, andreally the dinner was done--for talk as much as you will you yet muststop eating some time--the plates and remnants were quickly put back inthe baskets and set again in the cart, tea-kettle and napkins clearedaway, and the mossy dining-room looked as if no company had been there.

  "This is first rate," exclaimed Meredith, stretching himself on the warmmoss.

  "And now, Ditto, you are going to read to us."

  "Am I?"

  "Yes, for you said so."

  "An honourable man always keeps his promises," said Meredith. But he laystill.

  The two elder girls got out their work again. Maggie sat by and silentlystroked the hair on Meredith's temples.

  "This is good enough, without reading," he presently went on. "The mossis spicy, the sky is blue, I see it through a lace-work of pine needles;the air is like satin. I cannot imagine anything much better than to liehere and look up."

  "But you can feel the air, and see the sky, and smell the moss, too,while you are reading, Ditto."

  "Can I? Well! your ten fingers are so many persuaders that I cannotwithstand. Let's go in for Pastor Harms!"

  So he raised himself on one elbow, no further, and laid his book open onthe moss before him.

  "But it is in German!" cried Maggie, looking over to see.

  "Never mind, I will give it to you in English--I told you it wasGerman."

  "What is the first story about?"

  "You will find that out as I go on. Now, you understand it is PastorHarms who is speaking, only he was a famous hand at story-telling, andto hear him would have been quite a different thing from hearing me."And Meredith began to read.

  "'I will go back now a thousand years, and tell you a mission story thatI am very fond of. I found it partly in the parish archives ofHermannsburg, and partly in some old Lueneburg chronicles. I say I amvery fond of it; for after the fact that I am a Christian, comes thefact that I am a Lueneburger, body and soul; and there is not a countryin the whole world, for me, that is better than the Lueneburg heath'"----

  "Oh, stop, Ditto, please," cried Maggie, "what is a 'heath'? and whereis Lueneburg?"

  "Ah! there we come with our questions. Lueneburg heath isn't likeanything in America, that I know, Maggie. It is a strange place. Thereyou'll see acres and miles of level land covered with heather, whichturns purple and beautiful in the latter part of the season; but in themidst of this level country you come suddenly here and there to a lovelylittle valley with houses and grain-fields and fruit and running water;or to a piece of woods; or to a hill with a farmhouse perched up on itsside, and as much land cultivated as the peasant can manage. So thepeople of the parishes are scattered about over a wide track, exceptwhere the villages happen to be. And for _where_ it is--Lueneburg is inHanover, and Hanover is in Germany. You must look on the map when you gohome. Now I will go on--

  "'And next to the fact that I am a Lueneburger, comes the fact that I ama Hermannsburger; and for me Hermannsburg is the dearest and prettiestvillage on the heath. My mission story touches this very belovedHermannsburg. From my youth up I have been a sort of a bookworm; andwhenever I could find something about Germany, still more somethingabout the Lueneburg heath, and yet more anything about Hermannsburg, thenI was delighted. Even as a boy, when I could just understand the book ofthe Roman writer Tacitus about old Germany, I knew no greater pleasurethan with my Tacitus in my pocket to wander through the heaths and moorsand woodlands, and then in the still solitude to sit down under a pinetree or an oak and read the account of the manners and customs of ourold heathen forefathers. And then I read how our old forefathers were sobrave and strong that merely their tall forms and their fiery blue eyesstruck terror into the Romans; and that they were so unshakably true totheir word, once it was given, that a simple promise from one of themwas worth more than the strongest oath from a Roman. I read how theywere so chaste and modest that breaking of the marriage vow was almostan unknown crime; so noble and hospitable, that even a deadly enemy, ifhe came to one of their houses, found himself in perfect security, andmight stay until the last morsel had been shared with him; and then hishost would go with him to the next house to prepare him a reception
there.

  "'But my heart bled too, when I read of their crimes and misdeeds, theirinhuman worship of idols, when even human beings were slaughtered onbloody altars of stone, or drowned in deep, hidden, inland lakes; when Iread how insatiable the thirst for war and plunder among our forefatherswas, how fearful their anger, how brutish their rage for drink and play;and when I read further, how the whole of heathen Germany was an almostunbroken wood and moorland, without cities or villages, where men ranabout in the forests almost naked, at the most, clothed with the skin ofa beast, like wild animals themselves; and got their living only by thechase, or from wild roots, with acorns and beechmast; then, even as aboy, I marvelled at the wonderful workings of Christianity. Only onething I could not understand; how there should be nowadays in ChristianGermany so much lying, unfaithfulness, and marriage-breaking, while ourheathenish ancestors were such true, honest, chaste, and loyal men; italways seemed to me as if a German Christian must stand abashed beforehis heathen forefathers. And when I observed further, how many Germansnowadays are cowardly-hearted, while among our heathen ancestors such areproach was reckoned the fearfullest of insults, it was past mycomprehension how a Christian German, who believes in everlasting life,can be a coward, and his heathenish ancestors, who yet knew nothingabout the blessed heaven, have been so valiant and brave.'"

  "Ditto," said Maggie, interrupting him, "do you think that is all true?"

  "Pastor Harms would not have lied to save his right hand."

  "And--but--Ditto, do you think people in America are so bad as that?"

  Meredith smiled and hesitated.

  "Yes, Ditto," said Flora; "you know they are not."

  "I don't know anything about it," said Meredith. "There are not anybetter soldiers, I suppose, in the world than the Germans, nor anywheresuch a band of army officers, for knowledge of their business andability to do it. But there are some cowards in every nation, I reckon;and as there, so here. But among those old Saxons, it appears, therewere none. As to truth"--Meredith hesitated--"There are not a great manypeople I know whose word I would take through and through, if they werepinched."

  There was a chorus of exclamations and reproaches.

  "And as to marriage-breaking," he went on, "it is not at all an uncommonthing here for people to separate from their wives or their husbands, orget themselves divorced."

  "Why do they do that, Ditto?" Maggie asked.

  "Because they are not true, and do not love each other."

  "So you make it out that the heathen are better than the Christians!"said Esther.

  "I do not make out anything. I am only stating facts. What is called a'Christian nation' has but comparatively a few Christians in it, youmust please to remember. But I do think those old Saxons wereextraordinary people. I like to think that I am descended from them."

  "You, Ditto!" exclaimed Maggie in the utmost astonishment.

  "Why, yes, certainly. Don't you know so much history as that? Don't youremember that the Saxons went over and conquered England, and Englandwas peopled by them, and ruled by them, until the Norman Invasion?"

  "Oh!" said Maggie with a long-drawn note of surprise and intelligence."But I didn't know those Saxons were like these."

  "No, nor did I. It interests me very much. Shall I go on with PastorHarms?

  "'The older I grew, the more eager I was to learn about Germany, andespecially about my dear Lueneburg country, with its most beautifulheaths, moors, and woodlands. I cannot express the joy I took in thegreat fights and battles which the German Prince Herman fought with themighty Romans. Herman was prince of the Cheruski; so the dwellersbetween the Elbe and the Weser at that time were called. In his time thenever-satisfied Romans were bent upon subjugating all Germany, and senttheir most powerful armies into the country, clad in iron mail, armedwith helmets, bucklers, lances, and swords, and led by their bravestgenerals. But Herman, with his almost naked Germans, fell upon them,fighting whole days at a stretch, and beat them out of the land. Seenow, thought I to myself, there were Lueneburg people along with him, for_they_ live between the Elbe and the Weser. Or, when others of ourforefathers, who were in general called Saxons, boldly sailed over thesea in their ships, and chased the proud Romans, together with the Pictsand Scots, out of England, and took the beautiful land in possession andruled it; then I was glad again and thought with secret delight--"ourLueneburg people were there too, for those ships sailed from the mouthsof the Elbe and the Weser."

  "'But what adoration moved my heart, when I read that these very Saxons,who conquered England, there came to the knowledge of Christianity andreceived it into their hearts; and now from England, from the convertedSaxons, came numbers of Gospel messengers back to the German country, toturn it also to the Lord Jesus. Among them was Winfried, the strong infaith, who baptized more than 300,000 Germans, and was called theapostle of Germany; there were the two brothers Ewald, who bothheroically died a martyr's death, being sacrificed by our forefathers totheir idols. After them others carried on the work, especially Willehadand Liudgar, and the good emperor Charles the Great helped them, untilat last all Germany was Christianised, and became through the Gospelwhat it is now. And I have often thought, how stupid are the unbelieverswho follow the new fashion of despising Christianity. We have to thankChristianity for everything we are or have. Science, art, agriculture,handicrafts, cities, villages, houses, all have come to us in the firstplace through Christianity; for before that, as I said, our forefathersran about naked in the woods like wild beasts, and fed on roots andacorns; and I used to think the best thing would be, to drive theinfidels and the scornful contemners of Christianity into the woods andforests, draw a hedge about them, and let them eat acorns and roots inthe woods till they come to their senses. In young people's heads agreat many queer fancies spring up, which yet are not entirely unworthyof regard; and I still believe that would be the best medicine forinfidels.'"

  "But, Meredith," said Flora, "the Greeks and Romans had cities andvillages, and sciences, too, and arts, without Christianity."

  "Quite true, but the Saxons didn't."

  "Perhaps, they would."

  "Perhaps, they wouldn't. The Greeks and Romans were wonderful people,and so were the ancient Egyptians; but though they had arts, and builtcities, they had very little science. And science and Christianity havechanged the face of the Christian world. Well, let us have PastorHarms.

  "'But I must go back to my story. Whenever I happened upon an oldlibrary, I searched it through to see if I could find something aboutGermany, and especially about Lueneburg. And I do not regret thequantities of dust I have swallowed in my way; although I did oftenlament aloud to see so many fine old manuscripts almost eaten up withdust and mice, about which nobody had troubled himself for who knows howmany years? But also I found many a one that repaid the trouble of thesearch. From the sound MSS. I made extracts diligently. But I had a goodmany vexations, too. For example, I have come to cities and villages, inwhich last there were baronial manors. There I sought to come at thebooks and MSS. of the olden time. And would one believe it? Oldcollections of books had been sold entire, by the hamperful, totrades-people for wrapping their cheese in. I was baffled. So much themore precious became my extracts. From them I will tell you somethingnow, which I found about my beloved Hermannsburg.

  "'I may say in the first place to our dear country people, that thewhole of Northern Germany in early times was called the country of theSaxons. How wide that was, may best be seen by the language. So far aslow German is spoken, so far extends the land of the Saxons; for lowGerman is their proper mother-tongue. So I am never ashamed of the lowGerman in our country; it is the true mother-tongue of our land andpeople; my heart always swells when I hear low German spoken. Thisentire Saxon nation was divided into three tribes. One tribe, whichdwelt for the most part towards the west, that is, in the Osnabrueckregion and further west as far as the Rhine, was called theWestphalians. The second tribe, which dwelt mostly at the east, as faras the Elbe and further, was called the Eastp
halians. Between the twolived the third tribe, called the Enger or the Angles; for Enger andAngle are all one. We here in Lueneburg belong to the Eastphalians. Thename is said to have come from the bright or pale yellow hair of ourforefathers. For clear yellow or pale yellow was called "fal." Ourancestors wore this bright yellow hair long and hanging down, somethinglike a lion's mane; what so many young people nowadays would esteem asplendid adornment. These forefathers of ours in the time of Charlemagnewere yet mere heathen and held to their heathen idol worship withextraordinary tenacity and devotion. They were further a wild, bold,stiffnecked people, with an unbending spirit, holding fast to everythingold, and with that, loving freedom above all else. They had no rulers,properly speaking; each house-father was a despotic prince in his ownhouse, and lived alone upon his territory, just that he might be freeand rule his realm independently. Their common name, Saxon, came from apeculiar weapon, the sachs; a stone war-mallet or battle-axe, which wasmade fast to a longer or shorter wooden handle. In the strong hands ofthe Saxons this was a fearful weapon, with which they rushed fearlesslyupon the foe, hastening to come to a hand-to-hand fight; for they likedto be at close quarters with their enemies.

  "'Wild and terrible as their other customs were, was also their idolworship. Their principal deity was called Woden, in whose honour menwere slaughtered upon great blocks of stone; their throats being cutwith stone knives. Not far off, some two or three hours fromHermannsburg, are still what are called the seven _stone-houses_; inother words, blocks of granite set up in a square, upon which a greatgranite block lies like a cover. The men to be sacrificed were slainupon these blocks of granite. Quite near our village too, there stoodformerly some such sacrificial altars. How fearful and bloody thesesacrifices were, appears from what an old writer relates; that it wasthe custom of the Saxons, when they returned home from their warlikeexpeditions, to sacrifice to their idols every tenth man among thecaptives; the rest they shared among themselves for slaves. And uponspecial occasions, for instance, if they had suffered severe losses inthe war, the whole of the captives would be consecrated to Woden andsacrificed. That's the Woden we call one day of the week after.'"

  "We? One day of the week!" exclaimed Maggie; while Flora looked up andsaid, "Oh yes! Wednesday."

  "Wednesday?" repeated Maggie.

  "Woden's-day," said Meredith.

  "Is it Woden's-day? Wednesday? But how come we to call it so, Ditto?"

  "Because our fathers did."

  "But that is very strange. I don't think we ought to call itWoden's-day."

  "The Germans do not call it so, who live at this time round those oldstone altars; they say Mittwoche, or Mid-week. But the English Saxonsseem to have kept up the title."

  "Are those stone altars standing now, Ditto?"

  "Some of them, Pastor Harms says; and what is very odd, it seems theycall them stone _houses_; and don't you recollect Jacob called his stonethat he set up at Bethel, 'God's house'?"

  "Well, Ditto, go on please," said Maggie.

  "You don't care for archaeology. Well--'The German emperor Charlemagne,who reigned from 768 to 814, was a good Christian. He governed thekingdom of the Franks; and that means the whole of central and southernGermany, together with France and Italy; and all these, his subjects,had been already Christian a long time. On the north his empire wasbordered by our heathen ancestors, the Saxons, and they were the swornfoes of Christianity. Whenever they could, they made a rush uponCharlemagne's dominions, plundered and killed, destroyed the churchesand put to death the Christian priests; and were never quiet. SoCharlemagne determined to make war upon the Saxons, partly to protecthis kingdom against their inroads, and partly with the intent to convertthem with a strong hand to the Christian religion. Then arose a fearfulwar of thirty-three years' length, which by both sides was carried onwith great bitterness. The Saxons had, in especial, two valiant,heroic-hearted leaders, called "dukes" because they led the armies. Theword "duke," therefore, means the same as army-leader. The one of themin Westphalia was named Wittekind; the other in Eastphalia was namedAlbion, also called Alboin. Charlemagne was in a difficult position. Ifhe beat the Saxons, and thought, now they would surely keep the peace,and he went off then to some more distant part of his great empire,immediately the Saxons broke loose again, and the war began anew.Charlemagne was made so bitter by this, that once when he had beaten theSaxons at Verden on the Aller, and surrounded their army, he ordered4500 captive Saxons to be cut to pieces, hoping so to give adisheartening example. But just the contrary befell. Wittekind andAlbion now gathered together an imposing army to avenge the cruel deed;and fought two bloody battles, at Osnabrueck and Detmold, with suchfurious valour that they thrust Charlemagne back, and took 4000prisoners; and these prisoners, as a Lueneburg chronicle says, theyslaughtered--part on the Blocksberg, part in the Osnabrueck country, andpart on the "stone-houses;" where the same chronicle relates thatWittekind, on his black war-horse, in furious joy, would have gallopedover the bleeding corpses which lay around the stone-houses: but hishorse shied from treading on the human bodies, and making a tremendousleap, struck his hoof so violently against one of the stone-houses thatthe mark of the hoof remained. Wittekind elsewhere in the chronicle isdescribed as a noble, magnanimous hero; and this madness of war in himis explained on the ground of his hatred of Christians, and revenge forthe death of the Saxons at Verden.

  "'At last, in the year 785, Wittekind and Albion were baptized, andembraced the Christian religion. Thereupon came peace among that part ofthe Saxons which held them in consideration, for the most distinguishedmen by degrees followed their example; and it was only in the otherportions of the country that the war lasted until the year 805; when atlast the whole country of the Saxons submitted to Charlemagne, renouncedheathenism, and accepted Christianity. So hard did it go with ourforefathers before they could become Christians; but once Christians,they became so zealous for the Christian faith that their landafterwards was called "Good Saxony" as before it had been known as "WildSaxony." Charlemagne, however, was not merely at the pains to subdue theSaxons, and to compel them into the Christian faith, but as a trulypious emperor, he also took care that they should be instructed; andwherever he could he established bishoprics and churches. For example,the sees of Minden, Osnabrueck, Verden, Bremen, Muenster, Paderhorn,Halberstadt, and Hildesheim, all situated in the Saxon country, owetheir origin to him. At all these places there were missionestablishments, from which preachers went out into the whole land, topreach the Gospel to the heathen Saxons.

  "'Among those Willehad and Liudgar were distinguished for their zeal.With untiring faithfulness, with steadfast faith, and greatself-sacrifice, they laboured, and their works were greatly blessed ofthe Lord. Willehad finally became bishop in Bremen and Liudgar bishop ofMuenster. They may with justice be called the apostles of the Saxons. Ina remarkable manner the conversion of our own parts hereabouts proceededfrom the mission establishment in Minden. Liudgar had lived there a longwhile, and his piety and his ardour had infected the young monksassembled there with a live zeal for missions. One of these monks, whothe chronicle tells came from Eastphalia, and had been converted toChristianity through Liudgar's means, was called Landolf. Now whenWittekind and Albion had received holy baptism, and so a door was openedin the Saxon land to the messengers of salvation, Landolf could stand itno longer in Muenden, but determined to go back to his native Eastphaliaand carry the sweet Gospel to his beloved countrymen. He had no rest daynor night; the heathen Eastphalians were always standing before him andcalling to him, "Come here and help us!"'"

  "There!" said Meredith pausing, "that's how I feel."

  Every one of the three heads around him was lifted up.

  "You, Ditto?" exclaimed Maggie, but the others only looked.

  "Yes," said Meredith, "I feel just so."

  "About whom?" said his sister abruptly.

  "All the heathen. Nobody in particular, Everybody who doesn't know theLord Jesus."

  "You had better begin at home!" said Flora
with an accent of scorn.

  "I do," said her brother gravely; and Flora was silent, for she knew hedid.

  "But why, dear Ditto?" said Maggie, with a mixture of anxiety andcuriosity.

  "I am so sorry for them, Maggie." And watching, she could see thatMeredith's downcast eyes were swimming. "Think--_they do not knowJesus_; and what is life worth without that?"

  "But it isn't everybody's place to go preaching," said Flora after aminute.

  "Can you prove it? I think it is."

  "Mine, for instance, and Maggie's?"

  "What is preaching, in the first place? It is just telling other peoplethe truth you know yourself. But you must know it first. I don't thinkit is your place to tell what you do not know. But the Bible says, 'Lethim that heareth say, Come!' and I think we, who have heard, ought tosay it. And I think," added Meredith slowly, "if anybody is as glad ofit himself as he ought to be, he cannot help saying it. It will burn inhis heart if he don't say it."

  "But what do you want to do, Ditto?" Maggie asked again.

  "I don't know, Maggie. Not preach in churches; I am not fit for that.But I want to tell all I can. People seem to me so miserable that do notknow Christ. So miserable!"

  "But, Ditto," said Maggie again, "you can give money to sendmissionaries."

  "Pay somebody else to do my work?"

  "You can tell people here at home."

  "Well--" said Meredith with a long breath, "let us see what Landolf theSaxon did."