1884, Gordon left England again for the Soudan to report to the English government on the situation and what ought to be done, and to provide for the safety of the English garrison and the Europeans in Khartoum. On February 18th he entered Khartoum. The people pressed about him, kissing his hands and feet and calling him "Sultan" and "Father." "I come without soldiers," he told the people, “but with God on my side to redress the evils of this land. I will not fight with any weapons but justice." To all who had complaints he gave a hearing. He then ordered burnt in a great fire all the records of the people's heavy debt and the whips and rods that had been the implements of torture. He visited the hospital and the arsenal and flung open the doors of the jail. Two hundred men, women, and children were lying about in chains; some were innocent, some guilty, but most of these last had been imprisoned longer than their rightful sentence. After careful inquiry all were set free. At nightfall he ordered a bonfire to be made of the prison. Far into the night men, women, and children were dancing round the blaze, laughing and clapping their hands. Next day he established boxes into which people could drop petitions and complaints, and the proclamation of freedom was posted on every wall. Meanwhile the Mahdi's army was pressing closer and closer, gaining many soldiers from the natives as they approached. Gordon appealed for troops; none were sent. After many appeals to England and to the Egyptian government, Gordon bitterly expressed his indignation and his determination not to abandon Khartoum. He began to arrange a plan of defence and to study how long a siege the town would stand. Five months passed with no word from England, and the garrison was starving. Gordon asked: "Is it right that I should be sent to Khartoum with only seven followers, and no attention paid to me until after communications have been cut?” Finally he sent two lieutenants to try to reach the English authorities at Cairo; these soldiers were treacherously murdered on the way. So now Gordon was alone, the only Englishman in Khartoum. Hunger and doubt were upon him and his people, but they still loved and believed in him although he had promised them help from England and it had not come. Gordon built a tower from which he could see the whole country. By day he looked to his defences, administered justice, cheered the people, and directed the fighting; and every night he mounted to his watchtower and prayed for help. In November, Gordon wrote Lord Wolseley that he had just enough provisions to last forty days. Then at length Lord Wolseley offered a hundred pounds to the regiment which should move most expeditiously to Gordon's help. But it was too late. When Sir Charles Wilson reached Khartoum the city had fallen, the Government House was in ruins. Of Gordon there was no sign. He had been killed. He knew that the end was coming and that the city must fall, but he would not run away and save himself. He did not fear to die. He wrote farewell letters home, and in his last journal were found these words: "I am quite happy, though the sand in the hourglass is very low. There is not fifteen days' food in the whole town. Good-bye. I have tried to do my duty." Learn and sing together: THE CHARACTER OF A HAPPY LIFE BY SIR HENRY WOTTON. How happy is he born or taught, Whose armor is his honest thought, Whose passions not his masters are, Who hath his life from rumors freed, This man is freed from servile bonds This poem should be associated with the lives of great leaders; with Gordon fearless and straightforward; with Lincoln who would say nothing that he was not ready to live for, and, if God willed, to die for. NOVEMBER: MEMORY Learn: "The Recessional," by Kipling. "Oh, give thanks unto the Lord." Study: Whittier's "Songs of Labor." Learn: William Cullen Bryant's "Ode to a Waterfowl." Read: "A Winter at Valley Forge," in American Hero Stories, by Eva M. Tappan (Houghton Mifflin Co.). Read and discuss: OUR MULTITUDE OF HELPERS1 If a cross-section showing a single day in the life of a civilized man could be exposed, it would disclose the services of a multitude of helpers. When he rises, a sponge is placed in his hand by a Pacific Islander, a cake of soap by a Frenchman, a rough towel by a Turk. His merino underwear he takes from the hand of a Spaniard, his linen from a Belfast manufacturer, his outer garments from a Birmingham weaver, his scarf from a French silk-grower, his shoes from a Brazilian grazier. At breakfast, his cup of coffee is poured by natives of Java and Arabia; his rolls are passed by a Kansas farmer, his beefsteak by a Texan ranchman, his orange by a Florida negro. He is taken to the city by the descendants of James Watt; his messages are carried hither and thither by Edison, the grandson by electrical consanguinity of Benjamin Franklin; his day's stint of work is done for him by a thousand Irishmen in his factory; or he pleads in a court which was founded by ancient Romans, and for the support of which all citizens are taxed; or in his study at home he reads books composed by English historians and French scientists, and which were printed by the typographical descendants of Gutenberg. In the evening he is entertained by German singers who repeat the myths of Norsemen, or by a company of actors who render the plays of Shakespeare; and, finally, he is put to bed by South Americans who bring hair, by Pennsylvania miners and furnace-workers who bring steel, by Mississippi planters who bring cotton, or, if he prefers, by Russian peasants who bring flax, and by Labrador fowlers who smooth his pillow. A million men, women, 1 From Moral Evolution, by George Harris (Houghton Mifflin Co.). and children have been working for him that he may have his day of comfort and pleasure. In return he has contributed his mite to add a unit to the common stock of necessaries and luxuries from which the world draws. Each is working for all; all are working for each. Questions on Memory: In what ways would a strong memory help to keep any one out of temptation? Give an example. Why does memory make life interesting? Do you think it is a good plan to make New Year's resolutions? Why? How can we prevent ourselves from breaking or forgetting them? What things do you remember best and what are you likely to forget? If you wanted to remember a very long and important message, how would you plan to do it? How can any one learn not to forget? What things ought we to try to forget and what to remember? Can memory help us to be brave? Give an example. How does memory help us to be patient? DECEMBER: FREEDOM AND OBEDIENCE Learn: Mrs. Hemans's "The Pilgrim Fathers." Questions: Why did they seek freedom to worship God? What was happening in England at that time? Do we have freedom now? Do we use it? In what way? If a boy does just what he feels like doing at every moment, is he free? What does it mean to be a slave to habit? What are the hardest habits to get over? Give an example of a good habit? In what way does a good habit make you freer? Read accounts of the life of William Penn, in Eva |