The Fairy Godmothers and Other Tales Page 15

ones come intoyour head, pray against them, and drive them away.

  Meanwhile do not be surprized that in Fairy tales, Fairies aresupposed to hear wishes concerning themselves. And so Eudora heardthose about her coming and curing the child of his folly; and as Ihave told you, she was very indignant at the selfishness of both LadyMadeline and her husband.

  A few days after the family had taken up their residence in the SeaCastle, the weather began to improve; and, though the wind lasted, thesun came out; and all the children and the nurses went walking on thesands. As it was the first time that year, you may guess what shoutingand delight there was; how the little spades dug away at holes for thesea-water to come up in, and how the children caught at the sea-weedsthat were scattered on the lands to carry home to their Mamma; howthey picked up shells, and gambolled about in all directions,declaring that they had never known the Sea Castle Home so delightfulbefore. By degrees they had strayed to a considerable distance alongthe sands, with the nurses, when, alas! the latter perceived that astorm was coming on, and it caught them long before they reached home.A strong wind blew off the sea, and they had difficulty in keepingtheir feet, and at last two or three of the children were almosthidden in a cloud of sand, which a violent gust suddenly drove againstthem. All the little party cried lustily, because the sand had blowninto their eyes, and made them smart, and sad work there was ingetting them home again. But they reached home at last, dripping withwet from hailstones, and their eyes all red and disfigured by the sandand wind. None, however, were so bad as those I have mentioned, whohad been so covered over by the sand that it had even got down theirnecks, and made them uncomfortable all over. Among these was Roderick,who cried a great deal more than he ought to have done, as the nursesthought, and did not stop and declare himself comfortable as the restdid, after the sand had been washed out of his eyes with rose water.In fact he kept crying more or less all the afternoon, saying his eyeshurt him so, and at last he could get no relief but by holding themshut.

  Now it is just possible you may have heard of a complaint of the eyescalled Ophthalmia, which comes on sometimes in very hot countries,India for instance; and sometimes in travelling across the deserts ofArabia, where the sand gets into the eyes, and irritates them verymuch; it can very often be cured, but not always, and when it cannot,it ends in blindness. Lady Madeline knew all about the complaint; and,therefore, you will not be surprised to hear that when she found herlittle boy's eyes did not get better, and that he persisted in keepingthem shut, because they then became easy, she thought it right to sendto some miles' distance for a doctor, who accordingly arrived at theSea Castle before nightfall. But when he came he shook his head verymuch, for he could not understand what was the matter; and when hepersuaded Roderick to lift up his eyelids, to let him see his eyes, hecould perceive nothing amiss but a little redness, which the wind andsand quite accounted for. Still the child was uneasy, and would keephis eyes shut; so the Doctor thought he must try something, and heused some lotions common in such cases; but, as they did no good, thekind old gentleman, at Madeline's request, consented to sit by thelittle boy's bedside at night; when, all at once, as he was carefullydabbing his eyes with rosewater, he perceived that the child was fastasleep.

  The Doctor was delighted, and went to his mother, who was then withher husband, and said that as Roderick had gone to sleep so nicely, hehad no doubt that his eyes would be well when he awoke in the morning,and so he took his leave, for he had other patients to visit.

  It was then between twelve and one o'clock, and Lady Madeline, muchcomforted in heart, went to bed. At an early hour next morning,however, she went to Roderick's bedside, and perceived he was justwaking.

  To the question of "How are you, my darling?" his cheerful joyousvoice made answer, "Oh, quite well, Mamma, and I've such a funny dreamto tell you, and my eyes don't hurt me a bit, not a bit! but I'mafraid to open them for fear they should. I can tell you something sofunny the Doctor said last night, Mamma." "Never mind about thedoctor, you rogue," cried Madeline, "I see you are all right, onlyjust open your dear old eyes, that I may tell Papa I have seen themwhen I go back to dress."

  "Then I will, Mamma, to please you!" and up sat the pretty child inhis bed, and opened wide his blue eyes. There was no redness--it wasall gone--but

  "Mamma! where are you," cried Roderick, "I have opened my eyes, andthey don't hurt--but it is quite dark: _isn't the night over_?..."

  Oh, my dear readers! there was a stream of sunshine on the lovely faceand bright hair of little Roderick as he spoke, and the poor blue eyeswere turned up to his mother, looking vainly for her face. You cannotwonder if I add that she sank down fainting on the bed; and whenRoderick's scream of terror brought the nurses to them, she wascarried away insensible from the room.

  Her darling was utterly blind.

  * * * * *

  And now imagine to yourselves how the afflicted parents sent for thebest doctors the country afforded, and how one thing after another wastried--but, alas! every thing in vain, for the medical men were allquite puzzled. Still some people gave them hopes, and in spite of manydisappointments, they went on trying to hope for several months. Atlast they settled to leave the sea castle and go to the great townsooner than usual, thinking some of the doctors there might becleverer than the country ones. But they had no better success.Perhaps now you would like to know how Roderick behaved. When hisMamma fell on his bed, at first he thought she was dead, and it waswith the greatest difficulty he could be made to believe any thingelse, and he cried, and cried, and was very sad till his Mamma waswell enough for him to be taken to her, and then do you know, poorfellow, he was so much pleased to hear her speak, and be kissed byher, that he still had no time to think about himself. Only he beggedto sit close to her, and have hold either of her hand or gown, andmake her say something to him every now and then. And so it was thatthe fright and shock he had had about thinking she was dead, had madeso strong an impression on him that for several days the makinghimself sure she was alive was a constant occupation and interest; andso much did he think about it that it was considered best for hislittle bed to be brought into the room where his Mamma slept, and putnear hers, so that he could talk to her when he awoke and gotfrightened about her again. And thus passed many days in which everybody thought a great deal more about his eyes than he did himself.Besides from the cheerful things they said to him he quite expected tobe better some day; and so weeks and months passed, and by the timethe hope of recovering his sight began to fade away, and nobody anylonger dared to say they expected it, he was beginning to get used tohis condition, and to find out amusements in new ways. Thus mercifullydoes a kind Providence temper people's minds to the afflictions Hesends. They are often more dreadful to think of than to bear; for Godcan give patience and cheerfulness and comfort to those that do notgrumble and repine.

  Madeline only exacted one promise from her husband, namely, that hewould not allow the doctors to use any very severe and violentmeasures with her little boy, and this being settled, she struggled tobear the trouble with resignation. After the first alternations ofhopes and fears were over, the Mother's mind took a new turn. "It isour chief duty now," she said, "to make our child's life as happy asit is possible to be with blindness, and therefore," added she to theelder children, "we must try our best to teach him to do all the nicethings he can without seeing." That day she asked him to come and holdworsted for her to wind, and he was quite delighted to find that withsome blunders, and once or twice slipping it off his fingers, he couldmanage it very well. Then the children undertook to teach him how toplay at ball, and you cannot think how clever he became. At firstcertainly they had always to pick up his ball for him when it fell,and who was not glad to do it for poor brother Roderick? but bydegrees he could judge by the sound in what direction it had tumbled,and he would often succeed in finding it before any one could come upto it. Then there was laughing and scrambling without end. Readingaloud to him was the easiest thing of all, but the
little folks werenot satisfied with that alone. They made a sort of pet of the blindbrother, and were as proud of teaching him to do any thing fresh, asyou would be of teaching your dog to sit up and shake hands, orperform any wonderful feat. It was their constant amusement; and bydegrees Roderick could play at all sorts of games with them, ay, andrun after them, and catch them too as well as you could do, for hesoon got to remember how the furniture in the great hall and all therooms stood, and he could run about without hurting himself in awonderful manner. And when it was evening and grew dark, he got onbetter than they did, for, if they couldn't see, they were clumsy,whereas he was learning to do without seeing at all.

  Such of my readers as have seen one of those excellent institutionscalled "blind schools," will not wonder at any thing I have said, buton