Hanging isn't
any better than its called, I'll be bound; but if I was Ben, I'd a-deal
rather be hung, and done wi' it. That I would!"
"I think Ben Craven will yet be proved innocent. His mother is sure
of it, uncle."
"That's t' way wi' a mother. You can't make 'em understand--they will
hang on."
"Yes," said the rector. "Mother-love almost sees miracles."
"Mother-love _does_ see miracles," answered Phyllis. "The mother
of Moses would 'hang on,' as uncle defines it, and she saw a miracle
of salvation. So did the Shunammite mother, and the Syro-phoenician
mother, and millions of mothers before and since. Just as long as
Martha hopes, I shall hope; and just as long as Martha prays, she will
hope."
"Does ta think Martha can pray against t' English Constitution?"
"I heard the rector praying against the atmospheric laws last Sunday,
and you said every word after him, uncle. When you prayed for fine
weather to get the hay in, did you expect it in spite of all the
conditions against it--falling barometer, gathering clouds? If you
did, you were expecting a miracle."
"Ay, I told t' beadle, mysen, that there wasn't a bit o' good praying
for fine weather as long as t' wind kept i' such a contrary quarter;
and it's like enough to rain to-night again, and heigh, for sure! its
begun mizzling.
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