"Nonsense!" said Mrs. Joe, hurrying forward. "Why should you trouble
yourself about such things? Mrs. Moodie, I desire you not to put
such thoughts into my daughter's head. We don't want to know
anything about Jesus Christ here."
"Oh, mother, don't speak so to the lady! Do Mrs. Moodie, tell me
more about God and my soul. I never knew until now that I had a
soul."
Deeply compassionating the ignorance of the poor girl, in spite of
the menaces of the heathen mother - for she was no better, but rather
worse, seeing that the heathen worships in ignorance a false God,
while this woman lived without acknowledging a God at all, and
therefore considered herself free from all moral restraint - I bid
Phoebe good-bye, and promised to bring my bible, and read to her the
next day.
The gratitude manifested by this sick girl was such a contrast to
the rudeness and brutality of the rest of the family, that I soon
felt a powerful interest in her fate.
The mother did not actually forbid me the house, because she saw
that my visits raised the drooping spirits of her child, whom she
fiercely loved, and, to save her life, would cheerfully have
sacrificed her own. But she never failed to make all the noise she
could to disturb my reading and conversation with Phoebe. She could
not be persuaded that her daughter was really in any danger, until
the doctor told her that her case was hopeless; then the grief of
the mother burst forth, and she gave way to the most frantic and
impious complainings.
The rigour of the winter began to abate. The beams of the sun during
the day were warm and penetrating, and a soft wind blew from the
south. I watched, from day to day, the snow disappearing from the
earth, with indescribable pleasure, and at length it wholly
vanished; not even a solitary patch lingered under the shade of the
forest trees; but Uncle Joe gave no sign of removing his family.
"Does he mean to stay all the summer?" thought I. "Perhaps he never
intends going at all. I will ask him, the next time he comes to
borrow whiskey."
In the afternoon he walked in to light his pipe, and, with some
anxiety, I made the inquiry.
"Well, I guess we can't be moving afore the end of May. My missus
expects to be confined the fore part of the month, and I shan't move
till she be quite smart agin."
"You are not using us well, in keeping us out of the house so long."
"Oh, I don't care a curse about any of you. It is my house as long
as I choose to remain in it, and you may put up with it the best way
you can," and, humming a Yankee tune, he departed.
