Chapter II: On Board the Steamer

THE next week was a busy time indeed with all the making ready for the journey. Willie and Lucy wanted very much to help in the packing, and thought it very great fun, but somehow they always found themselves in the way. They began to learn at last that the best way of helping was to keep in corners as much as they could.

Then the day came on which it had been fixed that they should all start. A fly came to the door, and the luggage was piled on the top, and they drove off to the station. They went by train to London, and there changed into a second train, which took them down to Dover. And when they reached Dover, they went straight on board the steamer which was to carry them to France.

Willie was so full of delight and wonder at all the new things he saw that, as Nurse said, he was "half out of his wits." He stumbled up against other people, and tripped his feet over boxes and ropes, and stared about him without seeing where he went, till Mr. Gray took his hand, and held it tightly, quite afraid that Willie would be lost in the bustle.

At last they were all safely on board, and the piles of luggage were stowed away, and no one else seemed coming. And then Willie gave a little jump, and cried out:

"Oh Mamma, we're off!"

"I don't like it," said Lucy, who was seated on Mrs. Gray's knee, and clinging to her, as if rather afraid. "I don't like such a noise."

"We are not going to have such a noise now," said Mrs. Gray, kissing her. "Sit up, Lucy, and see how pretty the water looks, and how the sun sparkles on it. We are not going to have a rough trip at all."

"Then the waves won't pour over the deck, will they?" said Willie, looking rather sober. "I wanted to see that."

"So you wanted to have a shower-bath, and be sent down to the cabin, did you, my little man?" said a voice close by.

Willie turned, and gazed up at the speaker, and thought he looked a very nice kind old gentleman indeed.

"No, I don't want to go down in the cabin at all to stay," said Willie. "I should like to stay up on deck all the while. But I did want to see it rough."

"Come with me, and you shall see it rough in one place," said the old gentleman.

Willie looked at his Mamma, but she nodded and smiled; so Willie gave his hand to the old gentleman, and ran along by his side. They went through a crowd of people sitting about on the deck, with children, and shawls, and bags, and baskets. And soon they reached the side of the steamer.

"Look over," said the old gentleman.

Willie did look over, and said:—

"Oh! Isn't it pretty? Oh, that is so rough!"

"What makes so much foam?" asked the old gentleman.

"The paddle-wheel," said Willie. "Oh, doesn't it sparkle?—And what big waves we leave behind us! I should like to go down quite close to all that white foam."

The old gentleman let Willie look until he was tired. Then, sitting down, he took Willie between his knees and said:—

"Now, suppose you tell me your name."

"Willie Gray," said Willie.

"Ah!—A nice quiet useful name. And you don't ask mine back?"

Willie seemed puzzled for a moment, and then said:—

"No, because it would be rude."

"Quite right, my little man. I am glad you are so well taught. Old gentlemen may ask many questions of little boys, which little boys could not ask of old gentlemen without great rudeness."

"Yes, I know," said Willie, nodding his head.

"And where are you going now, I wonder?" asked the gentleman.

"We are going to Switzerland," said Willie. "And we shall see great mountains, with snow on the tops of them in hot weather."

"Then I hope you will enjoy them very much," said the old gentleman. "Did you ever see a mountain before?"

"No," said Willie. "I have seen some hills, but never a real mountain."

"I think you will admire them very much. Look here, little Willie Gray."

Willie looked up in the old gentleman's face.

"Perhaps I may never happen to meet you again after to-day. It is most likely not. Shall I give you a little thought to carry away, and to keep in your mind, so that it will come back to you when you think of this steamer, and the paddle-wheel, and the foam, and the water?"

Willie could not think what the old gentleman meant, but he said, "Please."

"It is pretty there, is it not?" said the gentleman, pointing down to where the white sparkling foam rushed in a torrent past.

"Oh, very pretty!" said Willie.

"And the sea is pretty too, with its blue colour, and the blue sky over, and the bright sunshine?"

"I think it is all lovely," said Willie.

"Lovely it is—much more than just pretty. And the mountains which you are going to see, Willie—you will find them more grand and lovely than you can fancy now."

"Yes," said Willie.

"And I dare say Willie Gray knows who made all this beauty," said the old gentleman.

"God made it," said Willie slowly.

"Aye, God made it, Willie. He made the earth, and He gave the earth its beauty. He made the sea, and He gave the sea its beauty. He made the mountains, and birds, and flowers, and He gave them all their beauty. But He need not have done so. He might have made them all plain, and dark, and ugly. We don't deserve to have one bit of beauty round us."

"I am glad we have," said Willie. "I shouldn't like to see all the world ugly."

"Ah! But what ought we to learn from all this beauty that God has given us to enjoy? What does it show?"

"I think it shows that God loves us," said Willie, after a little thought.

"That is what I mean," said the old gentleman, patting Willie's head. "Don't forget that, my little man. Never look at beauty, and think only, 'How lovely it is!' But thank God in your heart, and think how kind and loving it is of God to give us such beauty and joy."

"I know that text: 'God so loved the world,'" said Willie.

"Tell me how it goes on, Willie. Does it say, 'He loved the world so much that He gave it beauty?'"

"No," said Willie. "'God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

"Aye; there is the greatest love of all," said the old gentleman. "It is kind and loving of God to send us so much beauty and joy as we have in our sinful world. But that is nothing to the love He showed in sending His own dear Son to die for our sins upon the Cross, that all—you and I too, Willie—might be safe for ever, if we put our trust in Him. Willie, if you know something, even a little, of the love of God, you are a happy little boy. If not, I pray that you may know it soon."

Then the old gentleman took Willie back to Mr. and Mrs. Gray, talking to him and telling him stories all the way as they went.

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