The Village Gossip CHAPTER 14.
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A week more, and the change in Cedardale was indeed remarkable. It might almost be said that the lion had lain down with the lamb.
No light task had Mr. Trueman and his excellent family, in accomplishing this work; but, having silenced — almost paralyzed — the shoemaker and his wife by meeting their case in the very prompt manner just related, they found the main difficulties removed, and soon had the pleasure of seeing the road to Elderglen in a measure deserted.
Martin, the schoolmaster, who was already beginning to see haggard want approaching his little family, did not require much prompting to induce him to withdraw the suit which had been commenced against the Wimbles, nor was persuasion needed to cause the Wimbles to send Dick back to school. The revelations of Mr. Trueman, and the severe lesson he read them after they all retired from the blacksmith's shop, both alarmed and humbled them.
At first, some two or three of the leading families in Cedardale, when the evil work of the shoemaker and his wife was fairly set forth to view, indignantly declared, that unless they were driven "bag and baggage," as the blacksmith had said, out of the village, there was no hope of quiet in the future. This idea getting current, was pondered over and over, and there was a short period when several parties stubbornly declared that, "It was no use to talk — the Wimbles must leave the village. They were at the bottom of the late trouble; and it was vain to hope for peace and harmony while they remained.'"
"I rather think," was the answer of both Mr. Trueman and his wife to this, "that if there had not been a willingness in Cedardale to hear evil things spoken against neighbors, the Wimbles would soon have found mischief-making a rather dull business."
This remark, not very flattering to the self-love of some who heard it, tended to silence the more forward advocates of expulsion, and to allow the better views of the case presented by the Truemans to prevail.
"Let every one," said they, "turn a deaf ear to the busybody, the talebearer, and the mischief-maker — and no harm can be done. Wimble is a good shoemaker; take his shoes, and reject his ill-news, if he offers to tell any. And, above all, be more ready to believe a good, than an evil report of your neighbor."
So it was finally settled that, for their past misdoings, the extreme punishment threatened should not be visited on the Wimbles.
Soon the blacksmith's forge was in blast from the rising to the setting of the sun; the great mill-wheel revolved unceasingly; the shoemaker had so much work to do, that he had no time to meddle with his neighbor's concerns; and the schoolmaster looked down from his desk upon full benches; while the storekeeper, who had begun seriously to think of moving to Elderglen, quite gave up that notion. The only one in Cedardale who did not prosper and become happier in consequence of the Truemans' good offices, was Joe Parker, the tavern-keeper, who never spoke a good word in regard to them. But his influence in the village was now of small account.
Perhaps the most gratifying result of all this was the fact that Striker, now more kindly, and therefore more wisely treated by his neighbors, never after relapsed into his old ways, but became thoroughly reformed, and in a few years was able to buy the snug little house he had long occupied with his family as a rent-paying tenant.
As there is nothing more of interest to relate, we must now close this little history of village life. Cedardale, freed from internal strife, showed year after year new signs of prosperity. The Truemans never lost their influence, which was always exercised for good; and their example shows how a single family or individual in a community, if true-hearted and right-minded — may effectually counteract the evil-doing of the envious, and the ill-natured, and the mischief-making, and even bring harmony out of jarring discord.
THE END.
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