Chapter III: The Curtains

"THE girls will have plenty to do in making the curtains for the Tabernacle itself," observed Lucius, who, while his mother and sisters had been conversing, had been engaged in looking over the description in the book of Exodus. "Why, there are four distinct sets of curtains! First, the undermost, ten curtains of fine-twined linen, with blue, and purple, and scarlet, and cherubims of cunning—that must mean skilful—work upon them!"

"How splendid that must be!" exclaimed Elsie.

"Then a covering of goats' hair curtains above these fine embroidered ones," continued Lucius; "then a third of rams' skins dyed red; and then, to complete the whole, a covering of badgers' skin curtains the outermost of all."

The four young workwomen were somewhat startled at the difficulties which their brother's words had raised.

Dora gave a voice to the thoughts of her sisters when she said, with a look of disappointment, "It will be hard to get rams' skins dyed red, but I do not know where goats' hair can be bought in England; and as for badgers' skins, I am afraid that it will be quite impossible even for mamma to find such a thing, unless it be in the British Museum."

"So we must give up making the Tabernacle," said Amy, with a sigh.

"Nay, nay," cried their smiling mother, "we must not be so readily discouraged. Learned men tell us that the Hebrew word translated into 'badgers' skins' in our Bible is one of uncertain meaning which some think denotes a blue colour, and which, if intended for a skin at all, is not likely to have been that of a badger. Blue merino for the outer covering, red Turkey cloth instead of rams' skins, and mohair curtains instead of goats' hair, will do, I think, for our model; as well as the pasteboard, wire, and gold and silver thread, which must represent metal and wood."

"Yes," said Lucius quickly, "they will do a great deal better than the real materials; for if we could manage to get rams' skins or badgers' skins to cut up, such curtains would be a great deal too thick and heavy for a little model like ours. Why, our tabernacle will be only fifteen inches long by five inches in breadth."

All the grave little faces brightened up with smiles at this way of getting over what had seemed a very great difficulty.

Elsie looked especially pleased. Pressing close to her mother, and laying her little hand on Mrs. Temple's arm in a coaxing way, she cried, "Oh, mamma, don't you think that I could make one set of the curtains? You know that I can hem and run a seam, and don't make 'very' large stitches. Might I not try, dear mamma? I should like to help to make the Tabernacle."

It would have been difficult to the mother to have resisted that pleading little face, even had Elsie made a less reasonable request.

"I cannot see why these little fingers should not manage the red Turkey cloth which will stand for the rams' skins," replied Mrs. Temple, stroking the hand of her child; "the outermost covering of all will, of course, need finer stitching, and one of the twins will take that and the mohair besides. To make both these sets of curtains will take far less time, and require less skill than must be given to the embroidery on linen in blue, scarlet, and purple, which will adorn the inner walls and ceilings of our model."

"Do, do let me have the embroidery, it is just the work which I delight in," cried Dora; and she might have added, "excel in," for she was remarkably clever in making things requiring fancy and skill.

Agnes, her twin, flushed very red, not merely from the straining of the cough which had frequently distressed her, but from jealous emotion. Agnes had not a lowly heart, and in her heart, angry feelings were rising at her sister's asking that the finest and most ornamental portion of the work should be given to her.

"Of course mamma will not let you have the beautiful embroidery to do, Dora, and leave the plain mohair and merino to me, her 'eldest' daughter!" exclaimed Agnes, laying a proud stress on the word 'eldest,' though there was but an hour's difference between the ages of the twins.

"Why, Agnes, what nonsense that is!" cried Lucius bluntly. "You know as well as I do that your clumsy fingers can't so much as hem a silk handkerchief neatly, and how would they manage embroidery in purple, scarlet, and blue? Your bad work would spoil the whole thing."

"Don't you meddle; you don't know anything about work!" exclaimed Agnes, in a loud, angry tone, which brought on another severe fit of coughing and whooping.

Mrs. Temple was grieved at the ill-temper shown by her eldest daughter, and all the more so as Agnes was in so suffering a state as to make it difficult for her mother to reprove her as she would have done had she been in health.

Their mother had to wait for some time before the cough was quieted enough for her gentle voice to be heard, though Amy had quickly brought a glass of water to help in stopping the cough. When Agnes could breathe freely again, their mother thus addressed her children:—

"I should be vexed indeed, my dears, if what I proposed as a pleasant and profitable occupation for you all should become a cause of strife, an occasion for foolish pride and contention. The tabernacle was in itself a holy thing, made so by the special appointment and presence of the Lord; I would wish the making of its model to be a kind of holy employment, one never to be marred by jealousy and pride.

"The profits of your labour, if there be any, you mean to devote to helping the poor; therefore I hope that we may consider the work as an offering to the Lord—a very small offering, it is true, but still one which He may deign to accept, if it be made in a lowly, loving spirit; but if selfish, worldly feelings creep in, then good works themselves become evil. The Israelites were expressly forbidden to offer any creature in which there was a blemish or fault, and our offerings are certainly blemished and spoilt if we mix with them jealousy and pride."

Agnes bit her lip and knitted her brow. She was not without both good sense and good feeling, but she had not yet obtained the mastery over her jealous temper.

"I do not see why Dora should be favoured above me," she murmured.

"Dora is not favoured above you," replied her mother gravely. "The simple state of the case is this—different talents are given to different persons. You have a good memory, Dora has a skilful hand. Were the work in question to be the repeating of a chapter by heart, Dora would never expect to be the one chosen to repeat it. Why should pride make you refuse to own that there are some things in which a younger sister may excel you?"

Agnes hesitated, and glanced at her mother. The girl's brow was a little clouded still, and yet there were signs that her pride was giving way.

"I leave the decision to your own good sense and feeling, my dear," said Mrs. Temple. "Judge yourself whether, if your desire be to make a really beautiful model worthy of the good object to which we devote it, it would be better to place the embroidery part in Dora's hands or your own."

"Let Dora do it," said Agnes, with a little effort, her eyes filling with tears; for it was hard to her, as it is to most of us, to wrestle down struggling pride.

Mrs. Temple smiled lovingly upon her daughter. "One of the most precious lessons which we can learn," she said, "is, in obedience to the command of our Lord, to be willing to be last of all, and servant of all. The sacrifice of our pride and self-will is more pleasing to our God than the most costly gifts can be.

"It is worthy of notice, children, that it was not the outer covering of the Tabernacle, that part which would be seen from every quarter of Israel's camp, that was most beauteous and precious. The richest curtains were those seen far less often, those that had the lowest place in the building. So our Heavenly Father cares far more for what is 'within' than for what is 'without,' and there is no ornament so fair in His eyes as that of a meek and quiet spirit."

"I do not think that the Tabernacle was a grand building, after all," observed Lucius, "though there is so much written about it in the Bible. Why, it was only about forty-five feet by fifteen—not so large as the chapel at the end of the town, and not for one moment to be compared to the cathedral which we went to see last summer."

"There is one thing which you perhaps overlook," said his mother; "when the Tabernacle was raised, the Israelites were a nation of wanderers, and had no fixed habitation. Their Tabernacle was a large, magnificent tent, made to be carried about from place to place by the Levites. Every portion of it was so contrived as to be readily taken to pieces, and then put together again. This could not have been done with a building of very great size."

"Nobody could carry about the great cathedral, or even the little chapel!" cried Elsie. "But they were never meant to be moved, they are fixed quite firm in the ground."

"The size of the Tabernacle was indeed not great," continued Mrs. Temple; "but, besides its being filled with a glory which is never beheld now in any building raised by man, the treasures lavished on it must have given to it a very splendid appearance. It has been calculated that the gold and silver used in making the Tabernacle must alone have amounted in value to the enormous sum of £185,000!"

Exclamations of surprise were uttered, and Dora remarked, "Why, that would be enough to pay for the building of forty large churches as handsome as the new one which we all admire so much."