text stringlengths 2.05k 1.01M | title stringlengths 2 620 | author stringlengths 0 92 | author year of birth stringclasses 367
values | author year of death stringclasses 390
values | language stringclasses 16
values | downloads stringclasses 887
values | subjects stringlengths 7 775 | document id stringlengths 3 7 | type stringclasses 1
value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
"Yes," said the other voice, echoing that gentle laugh of hers, "you have
died too."
She turned round, and saw another standing by her, a woman, younger and
fairer, and more stately than herself, but of so sweet a countenance that
our little Pilgrim felt no shyness, but recognized a friend at once. She
was more occupi... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
The little Pilgrim could do nothing but talk of it, as one does after a
very great event. "Are you sure, quite sure, it is so?" she said. "It
would be dreadful to find it only a dream, to go to sleep again, and wake
up--there--" This thought troubled her for a moment. The vision of the
bedchamber came back; but this t... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
"Ah," said the little Pilgrim, "I have been thinking of other things. Of
how happy I was, and of _them_; but never of the Father,--just as
if I had not died."
The other smiled upon her with a wonderful smile.
"Do you think he will be offended--our Father--as if he were one of us?"
she said.
And then the little Pilgrim... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
"I do nothing but wonder," she said, "for it is all so natural, not what
we thought."
"Is it long since you have been here?" the Pilgrim said.
"I came before you; but how long or how short I cannot tell, for that is
not how we count. We count only by what happens to us. And nothing yet
has happened to me, except that ... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
"Oh," she said, "I never thought we should cry when we came here. I
thought there were no tears in heaven."
"Did you think, then, that we were all turned into stone?" cried the
beautiful lady. "It says God shall wipe away all tears from our faces,
which is not like saying there are to be no tears."
Upon which the litt... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
Then the beautiful lady's face flushed all over with the most heavenly
warmth and light. Her smile ran over like the bursting out of the sun.
"Oh, I will tell you," she said. "There was a moment when he was very sad
and perplexed, not knowing what to think; there was something he could
not understand. Nor could I unde... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
"You make it so clear, and your face is so bright," said our little
Pilgrim gratefully, "you must have known a great deal, and understood
even when you were in the world."
"I was as foolish as I could be," said the other, with her laugh that was
as sweet as music; "yet thought I knew, and they thought I knew. But all
... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
Then the beautiful lady turned her eyes toward the gate, and while the
little Pilgrim was still gazing, disappeared from her, and went to
comfort some other stranger. They were dear friends always, and met
often, but not again in the same way.
When she was thus left alone again, the little Pilgrim sat still upon the
g... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
"I knew you were coming," said the maiden; "when my mother has wanted me
I have seen you there. And you were thinking of her now that was how I
found you."
"Do you know, then, what one thinks?" said the little Pilgrim, with
wondering eyes.
"It is in the air; and when it concerns us it comes to us like the
breeze. But ... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
"But it is hard for them sometimes," said the little Pilgrim, who could
not withdraw her thoughts from those she had left.
"They are never forsaken," said the angel maiden.
"But oh! there are worse things than sorrow," the little Pilgrim said;
"there is wrong, there is evil, Margaret. Will not he send you to step in
b... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
He was going about his Father's business, not lingering, yet neither
making haste; and the calm and peace which the little Pilgrim had seen in
the faces of the blessed were but reflections from the majestic
gentleness of the countenance to which, all quivering with happiness and
wonder, she lifted up her eyes. Many th... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
Why did she say, "And that I will! and that I will!" with such fervor and
delight? She could not have told, but yet she knew. The first thing was
that she had yet to wait and believe until all things should be
accomplished, neither doubting nor fearing, but knowing that all should
be well; and the second was that she ... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
"You are some one new. Have you come to save me? Oh, save me! Oh, save
me! Don't let me die!"
This was very strange to the little Pilgrim, and went to her heart. She
soothed the stranger, holding her hands warm and light, and stooping over
her.
"Dear," she said, "you must try and not be afraid."
"You say so," said the... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
The woman started up out of her arms, and then she gave a great shriek
that made the air ring, and cried out, "Dead! am I dead?" with a shudder
and convulsion, throwing herself again wildly with outstretched hands
upon the ground.
This was a great and terrible work for the little Pilgrim--the first she
had ever had to... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
The little Pilgrim raised her up, holding her by her hands; and she stood
and gazed round about her, making one or two doubtful steps. She was very
pale, and the light was dim; her eyes peered into it with a scared yet
eager look. She made another step, then stopped again.
"I am quite well," she said. "I could walk a ... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
But though she spoke like this, she did not convince herself; her eyes
were wild with wondering and fear. She gripped the Pilgrim's arm more and
more closely, and trembled, leaning upon her.
"Why don't you speak to me?" she said; "why don't you tell me? Oh, I
don't know how to live in this place! What do you do?--how ... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
Then there came into the Pilgrim's heart what to say, and she took the
woman's hand again and held it between her own. "That is the change," she
said, "that comes when we come here. We are not afraid any more of our
Father. We are not all happy. Perhaps you will not be happy at first. But
if he says to you, 'Go!'--eve... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
"What way?" cried the little Pilgrim; for her strength was gone from her,
and she had no word to say to him. He looked at her with that
bewilderment on his face, and said, "I find myself strange, strange. I
ought to know where I am; but it is scarcely daylight yet. It is perhaps
foolish to come out so early in the mor... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
"What does it matter how many people there are if you know none of them?"
he said.
"We all know each other," she answered him but then paused and hesitated
a little, because this was what had been said to her, and of herself she
was not assured of it, neither did she know at all how to deal with this
stranger, to whom... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
"No," said the little Pilgrim, anxiously. "I know so little! It is not
long since I came here. I came in the early morning--"
"Why, it is morning now. You could not come earlier than it is now. You
mean yesterday."
"I think," said the Pilgrim, "that yesterday is the other side; there is
no yesterday here."
He looked a... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
And then there was a murmur of voices about her, some saying that was
best, and some wondering if that were all, and some crying if he would
but come now--while the little Pilgrim stood among them with her face
shining, and they all looked at her, asking her to tell them more, to
show them how to find him. But this wa... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
"Now she needs me no longer," said the Pilgrim; and it was a surprise to
her, and for a moment she wondered in herself if it was known that this
child should come so suddenly and her work be over; and also how she was
to return again to the sweet place among the flowers from which she had
come. But when she turned to ... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
The little Pilgrim looked up at him and said, "That is very beautiful to
say. And do you never wish to be like him--to make the lovely, living
faces as well as the other parts?"
"Is not this lovely too?" he said; and showed her how he had just put in
a billowy robe, buoyed out with the wind, and sweeping down from the... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
"And are they all with you? are you all--together? do you live--as in the
old time?"
Upon this the painter smiled, but not so brightly as before.
"Not as in the old time," he said, "nor are they all here. Some are still
upon the way, and of some we have no certainty, only news from time to
time. The angels are very go... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
The little Pilgrim at this clasped her hands with a piteous cry.
"Nay, nay," he said, "little sister; my friend I was telling you of, the
angel, brought me news of him just now. Indeed there was news of him
through all the city. Did you not hear all the bells ringing? But perhaps
that was before you came. The angels w... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
To this the little Pilgrim's look was so plain an answer that the painter
laid down his pallet and his brush, and left his work, to show them to
her as he had promised. They went down from the balcony and along the
street until they came to one of the great palaces, where many were
coming and going. Here they walked t... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
The little Pilgrim felt her heart beat very wildly while she looked at
this, and she thought upon the rich man in the parable, who, though he
was himself in torment, prayed that his brother might be saved, and she
said to herself, "Our dear Lord would never leave him there who could
think of his brother when he was hi... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
"My son had a great gift. He was a master born, though it was not given
to me. He shall paint it all for us so that the heart shall rejoice; and
you will come again and see."
After that it happened to the little Pilgrim to enter into another great
palace where there were many people reading, and some sitting at their
... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
"Oh," said the little Pilgrim, with tears in her eyes, "I should like to
have been that one!--that was not known even to the angels, but only
to Himself!"
The historian smiled. "It was my brother," he said.
The Pilgrim looked at him with great wonder. "Your brother, and you did
not know him!"
And then he turned over t... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
"And is he here?" the little Pilgrim said.
"Ah," said the historian, "that is more strange still; for that which
saved him was also to his harm. He is not here. He is Elsewhere."
The little Pilgrim's face grew sad; but then she remembered what she had
been told.
"But you know," she said, "that he is coming?"
"I know t... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
"And the punishment too," she said, wondering more and more.
He smiled so joyfully that it was like laughter.
"Pain is a great angel," he said. "The reason we hated him in the old
days was because he tended to death and decay; but when it is towards
life he leads, we fear him no more. The welcome thing of all in the l... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
"This is one of the volumes of the great history," he said. "There are
some things in it which are needed for another, and it is a pleasure to
work at it. If you will come here you will be able to see the page while
I write."
Then the little Pilgrim asked him some questions about the pictures, and
he answered her, des... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
And the others all looked up again at the question, and looked at her
with tender eyes, and said to the man whom she questioned,--"Speak!"
He made a little pause before he spoke, and he looked at one here and
there, and called to them,--
"Patience, brother," and "Courage, brother." And then he said, "Those
whom we lov... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
And the woman told her it was a poet who had come to say to them what had
been revealed to him, and that the two with the silver trumpets were
angels of the musicians' order, whose office it was to proclaim
everything that was new, that the people should know. And many of those
who were at work in the palaces came out... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
The woman who had been at her side listened too with all her heart,
saying to herself, as she stood in the crowd, "He has left nothing out!
The little days they were so short, and the skies would change all in a
moment and one's heart with them. How he brings it all back!" And she put
up her hand to dry away a tear fr... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
"The little sister does not know what the meaning of the earth is," the
poet said. "It is but a little speck, but it is the centre of all. Let
her walk with us, and we will go home, and you will tell her, Ama, for I
love to hear you talk."
"Will you come with us?" the lady said.
And the little Pilgrim's heart leaped u... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
And here there were some fair houses surrounded by gardens and flowers
that grew everywhere, and the doors were all open, and within everything
was lovely and still, and ready for rest if you were weary. The little
Pilgrim was not weary; but the lady placed her upon a couch in the porch,
where the pillars and the roof... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
The little Pilgrim listened with an intent face, clasping her hands, and
said,--
"But it never could be that our Father should be overcome by evil. Is not
that known in all the worlds?"
Then the lady turned and kissed her; and the poet broke forth in singing,
and said, "Faith is more heavenly than heaven; it is more b... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
Upon this Ama shook her head, and said that of that day no one knew, not
even our Lord, but only the Father; and then she smiled and answered the
little Pilgrim's thought. "When we go back," she said, "it is not as when
we lived there; for now we see all the dangers of it and the mysteries
which we did not see before.... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
She rested for some time after this, and talked much with her new
friends; and then there came into the heart of the little Pilgrim a
longing to go to the place which was appointed for her, and which was her
home, and to do the work which had been given her to do. And when the
lady saw this she rose and said that she ... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
"Whatever is your work is the best," the lady said; "but though you are
so little you are in the Father's secret too, for it is nature to you to
know what the others cannot be sure of, that we must have the victory at
the last: so that we have this between us, the Father and we. And though
all are his children, we are... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
And as she went along, not only did she pass through many other villages,
but met many on the way who were travelling towards the great city, and
would greet her sweetly as they passed, and sometimes stop to say a
pleasant word, so that the little Pilgrim was never lonely wherever she
went. But most of them began to s... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
"I am little and weak, and I cannot do much," the little Pilgrim said.
"It is nothing but pleasure. It is to welcome those that are coming, and
tell them. Sometimes they are astonished and do not know. I was so
myself. I came in my sleep, and understood nothing. But now that I know,
it is sweet to tell them that they ... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
"How could that be?" said the mother; "for we are not like our Lord, to
be everywhere. We come and go where we are sent. But sometimes we knew,
and sometimes saw, and always loved. And whenever our hearts were sick
for news it was but to go to him, and he told us everything. And now, my
little one, you are as we are, ... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
The little Pilgrim was tired with happiness and all the wonder and
pleasure; and as she sat there in the silence; leaning upon those who
were so dear to her, the soft air grew sweeter and sweeter about her, and
the light faded softly into a dimness of tender indulgence and privilege
for her, because she was still litt... | A Little Pilgrim: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 19 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10050 | |
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
THE LITTLE PILGRIM:
Further Experiences
By Margaret O. (Wilson) Oliphant
I.
THE LITTLE PILGRIM IN THE SEEN AND UNSEEN.
The little Pilgrim, whose story has been told in another place, and who
had arriv... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
One fair morning while she turned over these thoughts in her mind there
suddenly came towards her one whom she knew as a sage, of the number of
those who know many mysteries and search into the deep things of the
Father. For a moment she wondered if perhaps he came to reprove her for
too many questionings, and rose up... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
He laid his hand upon her arm, and he said, 'Do not fear; though they see
you not, it is yet sweet for a moment to be there, and as you pass, it
brings thoughts of you to their minds.'
For these two understood each other, and knew that to see and yet not be
seen is only a pleasure for those who are most like the Fathe... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
There came no reply; but the room grew light as with a reflection out of
heaven, and the child in the bed, who had been moving restlessly in the
weariness of ending life, turned his head towards her, and his eyes
opened wide, and he saw her where she stood. He cried out, 'Look! mother,
mother!' The mother, who was on ... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
Presently she sat outside in the soft breathing airs and little morning
breezes, and dried her aching eyes. And the Sage who was her companion
soothed her with kind words. 'I said you would feel the thorns as you
passed,' he said. 'We cannot be free of them, we who are of mankind.'
'But oh,' she cried amid her tears, ... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
Her companion bowed his head. 'It is so. And thus has He spoken to the
little child. But what He said or why He said it, is not for you or me to
know. It is His secret; it is between the little one and his Father. Who
can interfere between these two? Many and many are there born on earth
whose work and whose life are ... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
'And yet we could tell them why it must be so?' said the little Pilgrim.
'For they prayed and besought the Lord. O brother, I have no
understanding. For the Lord said, "Ask, and it shall be given you;" and
they asked, yet they are refused.'
'Little sister, the Father must judge between His children; and he must
first ... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
As she came forth again comforted, she found the Sage standing with his
face lifted to heaven, smiling still at the sound, though faint and
distant, of the children all calling to each other and shouting together
as they reached the gate. 'Oh, hush!' she said; 'let not the mother hear
them! for it will make her heart ... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
This the heavenly pilgrims saw,--for they stood by her as in their own
country, where every thought is clear, and saw her heart. But as they
followed her and looked into her soul--with their hearts, which were
human too, wrung at the sight of hers in its anguish--there suddenly
became visible before them a strange sig... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
'At His own time,' said the Sage, 'and in His own way.'
These thoughts rose in the woman's soul. She did not know that they were
said to her, nor who said them, but accepted them as if they had come
from her own thoughts. For she said to herself, 'This is what is meant by
the answer of prayer. It is not what we ask; y... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
The little Pilgrim looked up with horror in her face, as if he had
blasphemed, and said, 'Forced! not so; not so!'
'Yet it must be so,' he said, 'if it is against their desire and will.'
'Oh, not so; not so!' she cried, 'but that He should change their
hearts.'
'Yet that too against their will,' he said.
The little Pi... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
It happened to them suddenly to perceive in their way a man returning
home. These are words that are sweet to all who have lived upon the earth
and known its ways; but far, far were they from that meaning which is
sweet. The dark hours had passed, and men had slept; and the night was
over. The sun was rising in the sk... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
As these spectators stood by with much pity and tenderness looking into
the weariness and sickness of this soul, there began to be enacted before
them a scene such as no man could have seen, which no one was aware of
save he who was concerned, and which even to him was not clear in its
meanings, but rather like a phan... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
The two spectators watched the conflict, as those who watch the trial
upon which hangs a man's life. It seemed to the little Pilgrim that she
could not keep silent, and that there were things which she could tell
him which no one knew but she. She put her hand upon the arm of the Sage
and called to him, 'Speak you, sp... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
The little Pilgrim went on her way in silence, knowing that the longing
in her heart which was to compel them to come in, like that king who
sent to gather his guests from the highways and the hedges, could not
be right, since it was not the Father's way, yet confused in her soul,
and full of an eager desire to go bac... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
But time would not suffice to tell what these two pilgrims saw as they
wandered among the ways of men. They saw poverty and misery and pain,
which came of the evil which man had done upon the earth, and were his
punishment, and could be cured by nothing but by the return of each to
his Father, and the giving up of all... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
But as the thought arose, she heard, and lo! the steps of the pleaders
and the sound of their entry. They came slowly like a solemn procession,
more grave and awful in their looks than any she had seen, for they were
great and the greatest of all, such as come forth but rarely when the
last word is to be said. The wor... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
Then the little Pilgrim lifted her face and beheld that radiance which is
over all, which is the love that lights the world, both angels and the
great spheres above and the little brethren who stumble and struggle and
weep; and in that light there was no darkness at all, but everything
shone as in the morning, sweet y... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
'I know,' she said, 'that between us and them there is a gulf fixed, and
that they who would come from thence cannot come, neither can any one--'
But here she stopped in great dismay, for it seemed that she had thus
answered her own longing and prayer.
The guide who had come for her smiled upon her and said, 'But that... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
Her guide smiled, but he did not speak. His smile was full of joy, but
grave, like that of a man whose thoughts are bent on other things; and he
pointed where the road wound downwards by the feet of these triumphant
hills. She kept her eyes upon them as she moved along. Those heights rose
into the very sky, but bore u... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
'There is nothing to fear,' he said; 'there is a way. To us who are
above there is no danger at all; and it is the way of life to those who
are below.'
'I see nothing,' she cried, 'save a few points of rock, and the
precipice,--the pit which is below. Oh, tell me what is it? Is it where
the fires are, and despair dwel... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
'I have been taught many things,' said the little Pilgrim, humbly. 'I
have been taken back to the dear earth, where I saw the judgment-seat,
and the pleaders who spoke, and the man who was the judge, and how each
is judge for himself.'
'You have seen the place of hope,' said her guide, 'where the Father is
and the Son... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
'It is a mystery,' said the man who was her guide, and who answered to
her thought. 'When I set my foot upon this blessed land I knew that
there, even there, He is. But in that country His face is hidden, and
even to name His name is anguish,--for then only do men understand what
has befallen them, who can say that na... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
'It is nearer,' said her guide, hearing, even in the midst of his triumph
song, that faint and distant cry; and he took her hand and drew her back,
for she was upon the edge of the precipice, gazing into the black depths,
which revealed nothing save the needles of the awful rocks and sheer
descents below. 'The moment ... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
'And while we built and labored,' he said, 'our hearts were a little
appeased. And it was called the city of Art, and all was perfect in it,
so that nothing had ever been seen to compare with it for beauty; and we
walked upon the battlements and looked over the plain and viewed the
dwellers there, who were not as we. ... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
'He who had been the first to found the city, and who was the most wise
of any, though the rage was in him like all the rest, and the
disappointment and the anguish, yet would not yield. And he called upon
us for another trial, to make a picture which should be the greatest that
ever was painted; and each one of us, s... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
The eyes of the little Pilgrim dropped with tears. She held out her hands
towards him with a sympathy which no words could say.
'Often had I painted that Face in the other life, sometimes with awe and
love, sometimes with scorn,--for hire and for bread, and for pride and
for fame. It is pale with suffering, yet smiles... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
'Oh, brother!' murmured the little Pilgrim, kneeling, as if she had
accompanied him all the way with her prayers, but could not now say more.
'Then I saw again,' he went on, not hearing her in the great force of
that passion and wonder which was still in his mind, 'that vision in the
air. Wherever I turned, it was the... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
'Hush!' she said, 'for he is weak.' And because it was her blessed
service to receive those who had newly arrived in that heavenly country,
and to soothe and help them so that like newborn children they should be
able to endure and understand the joy, she knelt by him on the ground
and tried to rouse him, though with ... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
The watchers knew not what the other voice said, for what is said to each
new-comer is the secret of the Lord. But when they looked again, the man
stood upright upon his feet, and his face was full of light; and though
he trembled with weakness and with weariness, and with exceeding joy, yet
the confusion and the fear... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
The ground gave way under her feet, so dreadful was the precipice; but
though her heart beat with the horror of it, and the whirl of the descent
and the darkness which blinded her eyes, yet had she no hurt. And when
her foot touched the rock, and that sinking sense of emptiness and
vacancy ceased, she looked around an... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
While she stood for a moment to get her breath, she became sensible that
some living thing was near; and putting out her hand she felt that there
was round her something that was like a bastion upon a fortified wall,
and immediately a hand touched hers, and a soft voice said, 'Sister, fear
not! for this is the watch-t... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
'I am not worthy,' said the little Pilgrim. 'It is a great promotion;
but oh, that we might be permitted to help, to put out a hand, or to
clear the way!'
'Nay, my little sister,' said the watcher, 'but patience must have its
perfect work; and for those who are coming help is secret. They must not
see it nor know it, ... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
'Oh, sister!' she cried, 'is it he whom you love above all the rest?
Is it he?'
The watcher smiled and said, 'If it is not he, yet is it a brother; if
it is not he now, yet his time will come. And in every one who passes, I
hope to see his face; and the more that come, the more certain it is
that he will come. And the... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
And then they talked together of the old life when all things began; and
of the wonderful things they had learned concerning the love of the
Father and the Son; and how all the world was held by them and
penetrated through and through by threads of love, so that it could
never fail. And the darkness seemed light round... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
Sometimes he fell, and they could hear the moan he made,--for every sound
came upwards, however small and faint it might be,--and sometimes dragged
himself along, so that they heard his movement up some shelf of rock. And
as the Pilgrim looked, she saw other and other dim whitenesses along the
ravines of the dark moun... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
The watcher loosed herself from her companion's clasp, and stood upright
upon the edge of the cliff, clasping her hands together and saying low,
as to herself, 'Father, Father!' as one who cannot refrain from that
appeal, but who knows the Father loves best, and that to intercede is
vain; and longing was in her face a... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
The little Pilgrim cried aloud, so that she thought the rocks must be
rent by the vehemence of her cry, calling like the other, 'Father,
Father, Father!' as if her heart would burst; and it was like despair to
think that she made no sound, and that the brother could not hear her who
lay thus fainting at her feet. Yet ... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
The little Pilgrim sank down into a crevice of the rocks in the weakness
of her great joy. And something passed her mounting up and up; and it
seemed to her that he had touched her shoulder or her hand unawares, and
that the dumb cry in her heart had reached him, and that it had been good
for him that a little love st... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
III.
THE LAND OF DARKNESS.
I found myself standing on my feet, with the tingling sensation of having
come down rapidly upon the ground from a height. There was a similar
feeling in my head, as of the whirling and sickening sensation of passing
downwards through the air, like the description Dante gives of his
descen... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
'Oh, no,' said some one behind me, 'not at all. You will get used to it;
you will be glad of it. One does not want to hear one's thoughts; most of
them are not worth hearing.'
I turned round and saw it was the master of the shop, who had come to the
door on seeing me. He had the usual smile of a man who hoped to sell ... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
'Well, I may allow myself to be so, more or less. I have not had time to
form much acquaintance with--the place; what--do you call the place?--its
formal name, I mean,' I said with a great desire to keep up the air of
superior information. Except for the first moment, I had not experienced
that strange power of lookin... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
I was not conscious of anything ridiculous in my look. I was indignant,
which is not a state of mind in which there is any absurdity; but the
shop-keeper suddenly burst into a storm of laughter. He laughed till he
seemed almost to fall into convulsions, with a harsh mirth which reminded
me of the old image of the crac... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
I was drawn after a while from the fierce and burning sense of my own
grievances by a querulous voice quite close to me. 'This is my corner,'
it said. 'I've sat here for years, and I have a right to it. And here you
come, you big ruffian, because you know I haven't got the strength to
push you away.'
'Who are you?' I ... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
'I may ask, at least, why aren't you looked after? Why don't you get into
some hospital?' I said.
'Hospital!' cried the sick man, and then he too burst out into that
furious laugh, the most awful sound I ever had heard. Some of the
passers-by stopped to hear what the joke was, and surrounded me with once
more a circle... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
'What antiquated things?'
'Are you still so slow of understanding? What were they--hospitals? The
pretences of a world that can still deceive itself. Did you expect to
find them here?'
'I expected to find--how should I know?' I said, bewildered--'some
shelter for a poor wretch where he could be cared for, not to be le... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
'Why shouldn't he suffer?' said my companion. We passed as he spoke some
other squalid, wretched creatures shuffling among the crowd, whom he
kicked with his foot, calling forth a yell of pain and curses. This he
regarded with a supreme contemptuous calm which stupefied me. Nor did any
of the passers-by show the sligh... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
And then there came a pause over all the place, an awful
stillness,--hundreds of men and women standing clutching with desperate
movements at their hearts as if to tear them out, moving their heads as
if to dash them against the wall, wringing their hands, with a look upon
all their convulsed faces which I can never f... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
'Well,' he said with a short laugh, which was forced and harsh, 'how do
you like it? that is what happens when--If it came often, who could
endure it?' He was not like the rest. There was no sneer upon his face,
no gibe at my simplicity. Even now, when all had recovered, he was still
quivering with something that look... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
'What could he see?' I asked. But there arose in my mind something like
contempt. A visionary! who could not speak plainly, who broke off into
mysterious inferences, and appeared to know more than he would say. It
seemed foolish to waste time, when evidently there was still so much to
see, in the company of such a man... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
The glitter of the lights, the shouts, and sounds of continual going, the
endless whirl of passers-by, confused and tired me after a while. I went
as far out as I could go to what seemed the out-skirts of the place,
where I could by glimpses perceive a low horizon all lurid and glowing,
which seemed to sweep round and... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
'Which subject do you mean?' said the other; 'the theme or the example?'
And they both laughed, though I did not seize the point of the wit.
'Well, both,' said the first speaker. 'The theme is nerves; and as a
lesson in construction and the calculation of possibilities, it's fine.
He's very clever at that. He shows ho... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
The orator made a pause, holding his head high, and there was a certain
amount of applause. The two men before me cheered vociferously. 'That is
the right way to look at it,' one of them said. My eyes were upon them,
with no particular motive; and I could not help starting, as I saw
suddenly underneath their applause ... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
No distinct impression of this headlong course remains in my mind, save
the sensation of mad fear such as I had never felt before. I came to
myself on the edge of the dark valley which surrounded the town. All my
pursuers had dropped off before that time; and I have the recollection of
flinging myself upon the ground ... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 | |
'Danger!' he said. 'Are you so new here, or such a cursed idiot, as not
to know the danger of the mines? You are going across yourself, I
suppose, and then you'll see.'
'But tell me,' I said; 'my experience may be of use to you afterwards,
if you will tell me yours now.'
'Of use!' he cried, staring; 'who cares? Find o... | The Little Pilgrim: Further Experiences.: Stories of the Seen and the Unseen. | Oliphant, Mrs. (Margaret) | 1828 | 1897 | ['en'] | 10 | {'Death -- Fiction'} | PG10051 |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.