human
What a relief!
gpt
Well, it was dull work, uncle, I allow, said the young man, laughing.
human
But these gatherings are, I suppose, useful and necessary, if people are to keep up friendly acquaintance with one another, and do what is civil and neighbourly.
gpt
Yes, perhaps so, replied his uncle;
human
And I am afraid, uncle, that you do not find them improve upon acquaintance.
gpt
Just so, Horace; they don't suit my taste at all.
human
And yet, dear uncle, with all their dash, and _brusquerie_, and fastness, they really are most kind-hearted and unselfish girls.
gpt
Kind-hearted, I allow, but I doubt their unselfishness.
human
But why, uncle? What would you have more? They certainly don't spare themselves. They are here, there, and everywhere, when any good is to be done, and think nothing of spending any amount of time and money in making other people happy.
gpt
True, Horace, but there is a pleasurable excitement in all this which more than overbalances any trouble it may cost, especially when the world's applause for their good deeds is thrown into the same scale.
human
But, remonstrated the young man, in rather a disturbed and anxious tone,
gpt
Ah! You think me severe and uncharitable, Horace. But now, it just comes to this. What do the Misses Wilder and their brother (for I suppose we must take him into consideration too), really forsake or give up in order to do good? I don't pretend to know the private affairs of the family generally, but certainly there are strong rumours afloat that the maxim, `Be just before you are generous,' is not acted upon by the young people in their money concerns. I allowed just now that they are good-natured, but good-nature is a very different thing from unselfishness. What personal gratification do they surrender in order to do good? What worldly pleasure or amusement do they deny themselves? What extravagance do they curtail?
human
I can't say much for them in that respect, certainly, replied the young man thoughtfully;
gpt
I can well believe it, my dear nephew: but I have something much weightier to say on the subject, and it is this. There is manifestly one great want in all the doings of these kind-hearted people at Holly House, which would make me at once deny the character of unselfishness to their best deeds.
human
And what is that, dear uncle?
gpt
The stamp of the Cross, Horace. I know that there are plenty of crosses about them,--crosses on their prayer-books, crosses round their necks, crosses on their writing-cases and on their furniture; but _the_ Cross is wanting. In a word, they are not denying self, and seeking to do good to others from love to that Saviour who gave up so much for them. I know that they are not without religion in the eyes of the world; but I cannot, I dare not believe that they are really actuated by love to the great Master in what they may do to make others happy. Am I wrong, Horace?
human
No, uncle, I cannot say that you are. Much as I like the girls on many accounts, I should not be speaking my honest sentiments were I to say that I believed them to be doing good to others from real Christian motives. And yet--
gpt
Ah, my dear nephew, I know what you would say. I know that the world would embrace such as these within its elastic band as among genuine unselfish workers, though avowedly on a lower level than that adopted by the true Christian. But, after all, can God, the searcher of hearts, approve of anything as being truly unselfish which does not bear the stamp of the Cross? And can anything of which he does not approve be a reality?
human
I suppose not, said the other reluctantly.
gpt
Still, it is difficult not to be dazzled by what looks like a reflection from the true Light; and difficult, too, to detect a sham where we are willing to see a reality.
human
Very difficult, replied Colonel Dawson: