Effie Maurice - Or What do I Love Best

Fanny Forester

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• Publié par: arra
• Publié le: 01 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 38
• Langue: English

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Title: Effie Maurice  Or What do I Love Best Author: Fanny Forester Release Date: January 5, 2006 [EBook #17467] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EFFIE MAURICE ***

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"Give it to the poor woman with the sick baby," whispered Effie— p. 23.

E FFIE M AURICE OR

What do I Love Best A T ALE

London G ALL   AND I NGLIS , 25 P ATERNOSTER S QUARE ; AND EDINBURGH .

CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. THE FIRST COMMANDMENT. 5 CHAPTER II. PLANS PROPOSED. 10 CHAPTER III. NEW YEAR'S DAY. 15 CHAPTER IV. THE MISER. 35 CHAPTER V. THE POOR WIDOW. 43 CHAPTER VI. GENEROSITYAND JUSTICE. 52 CHAPTER VII. THE NEW BOOK. 58 CHAPTER VIII. ANOTHER OF MR. MAURICE'S LESSONS. 69 CHAPTER IX. THE FUNERAL. 76

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CHAPTER I. 'Thou shalt have no other gods before me.' 'Mother,' said little Effie Maurice, on a Sabbath evening in winter, 'Mr L—— said to-day that we are all in danger of breaking the first commandment,—do you think we are?' 'Did not Mr L. give you his reasons for thinking so?' 'Yes, mother. ' 'Didn't you think he gave good reasons?' 'I suppose he did, but I could not understand all he said, for he preached to men and women. Perhaps he thought children were in no danger of breaking it.' 'Well, bring your Bible—' [Pg 6] 'O mother, I can say all the commandments, every word. The first is, Thou shalt have no other gods before " me." I thought this was for the Burmans and Chinese, and all those who worship idols where the missionaries go.' 'The poor heathen are not the only idolaters in the world, my child; we have many of them in our own Christian land.' 'What! here , mother? Do people worship idols in this country?' 'Yes, my dear, I fear we do.' ' We do, mother? You don't mean to say that you, and papa, and Deacon Evarts, and all such good people, worship idols?' 'Do you suppose, Effie, that all the idols or false gods in the world are made of wood and stone?'   'Oh no, mother, I read in my Sunday-school book of people's worshipping animals, and plants, and the sun, and moon, and a great many of the stars.' 'And gold and silver, and men, women and children, did you not?'   'Yes mother.' 'Well, if a man loves gold or silver better than he loves God, does it make any difference whether he has it [Pg 7] made into an image to pray to, or whether he lays it away in the shape of silver dollars and gold eagles?'

Effie sat for a few moments in thought, and then suddenly looking up, replied,—'Men don't worship dollars and eagles. ' 'Are you sure?' inquired Mrs Maurice. 'I never heard of any one who did.' 'You mean you never heard of one who prayed to them; but there are a great many people who prefer money to anything else, and who honour a fine house, fine furniture, and fine dress, more than the meek and quiet spirit which God approves.' 'And then money is the god of such people, I suppose, and they are the ones that break the first commandment?' 'Not the only ones, my dear; there are a great many earthly gods, and they are continually leading us away from the God of heaven. Whatever we love better than Him, becomes our God, for to that we yield our heart- worship.' 'I never thought of that before, mother. Yesterday, Jane Wiston told me that her mother didn't visit Mrs Aimes because she was poor; and when I told her that you said Mrs Aimes was very pious, she said it did not make any difference, ladies never visited there. Is Mrs Wiston's god money?' 'If Mrs Wiston, or any other person, honours wealth more than humble, unaffected piety, she disobeys the first commandment. But in judging of others, my dear, always remember that you cannot see the heart , and so, however bad the appearance may be, you have a right to put the best possible construction on every action.' 'How can I believe that Mrs Wiston's heart is any better than her actions, mother?' 'In the first place, Jane might have been mistaken, and money may have nothing to do with her mother's visits; and if she is really correct, Mrs Wiston may never have considered this properly, and so at least she deserves charity. I desire you to think a great deal on this subject, and when you understand it better, we will talk more about it ' . 'I think I understand it now, mother. Every thing we love better than the God of heaven becomes our god, and if we don't bow down to pray to it, we give it our heart-worship , as you said, and that is quite as wicked. But after all, mother, I don't think there is any danger of my breaking the first commandment.' 'Do you remember the text Harry repeated at the table this morning? "Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall."' Effie looked very thoughtful for a moment, and then laying her face in her mother's lap, she said: 'It is not because I am so good that I think so, mother; I know I am very wicked, but I am sure that I love my heavenly Father better than any thing else.' 'I am glad to believe you do,' said Mrs Maurice, drawing the child nearer to her and kissing her cheek. 'I am persuaded that calmly and deliberately you would not prefer the world to Him. But perpetual distrust of self, with constant trust in God, is your only ground of safety. Those who do not fall, may for a moment slip, and you with all the rest of us must watch and pray.'

CHAPTER II. PLANS PROPOSED. The conversation that Effie Maurice had had with her mother made a very deep impression on her mind; but still, with all the confidence of one who has had but few trials, she was grieved that any one should suppose she could for a moment forget her heavenly Father, or prefer any thing to His glory and honour. She repeated what her mother had said to her brother Harry, and he increased her self-confidence by recalling a great many little sacrifices she had made, which he was quite sure other young persons would not do. 'And now, Effie,' said the kind-hearted brother, 'we will talk no more about this, for it makes you very sober. Remember that to-morrow is New Year's day, and we've got the money to spend that Aunt Norton sent us, so we must be out early, or all the prettiest things will be sold. I went by Mr T.'s shop to-night, and it was all lighted up so that I could see great sticks of candy, almost as big round as my wrist, and jars of sweetmeats, and there was a rocking horse all saddled and bridled, and the neatest little whip you ever did see, and such  a little rifle—but I forgot, girls don't mind those things; let me think—I dare say there were dolls, though I didn't look for them, and then such a pretty little rocking-chair all cushioned with purple silk, just about big enough for dolly, and heaps of other nice things—so we must be out early, Effie.' 'Harry ' — 'What is it, Effie?' 'I was thinking—' 'What about? Do ou want somethin I haven't mentioned? I dare sa it is there.'

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CHAPTER III. NEW YEAR'S DAY.

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 d'I'tonan wtot ees  rM s'.Tohs p, that would beg iogni  nht eaw no k'ton Iatthw na deen ot wen y 'Whe ys.' u sen yoT '. erMpo'— shs nevieve ah ug evtoh he tsor uc mraei.s ' 'm siisno rry, I dWell, Ha terp emos yub otyor fos nghi tty on wI'k  fl'.rues d yo ' 'An but—it,  ka e aog dfoi .t'Then I shan't m ag ny evt uo sihBu ' 'Aut  Nnttoor m  yigev yotomenieve belill  I w ,woN' '.s '!eiffE  is mhe tiearonsi       ngki—I—Is wainthoN'    I ,