Walter Pieterse Part 18

"So? Maria? No, I don't."

"And Purgatory?"

"I don't know anything about it."

"And confession?"

"No."

"What do you do then?"

"How do you mean, Femke?"

"I mean to be saved."

"I don't know," Walter replied. "You mean, to get to heaven?"

"Why, certainly. That's the point. And you can't do that without the holy virgin and such a book. Shall I teach you the creed, Walter? Then we'll be together in heaven."

That pleased Walter, and Femke and Walter began:

"G.o.d created the world----"

"What did he do before that, Femke?"

"I don't know. But the people were made wicked by a snake; then the Pope p.r.o.nounced a curse upon the snake, for the Pope lives in Rome, you know. And then Jesus was crucified to make the people good again. That was a long time ago."

"Yes, I know," Walter said, "Jesus changed the number of the year. At his birth he began at nought."

Femke didn't know again. In this way each supplemented the knowledge of the other; and Walter was proud that he knew something about the creed, even if Femke did think it the wrong creed.

"And so Jesus made the people good again, and if you will pray out of such a book you will be saved. Do you understand, Walter?"

"Not quite. What is an ivory tower?"

"Why, that's only a name for the virgin. It's as if you were to call the pastor father. Now you understand."

Femke hunted for another ill.u.s.tration.

"You have a mother; what do you call her?"

"Why, I call her mother."

"Correct. What do the other people call her?"

"They call her Juffrouw Pieterse."

"Just so. When we call the holy virgin 'ivory tower' it's just like calling your mother Juffrouw Pieterse. Ivory gate means that to get to heaven we must go through the holy virgin. That's the main thing."

"But, Femke, what is a virgin?"

Femke blushed.

"That is anybody that has never had a child."

"Me?" asked Walter in astonishment.

"No, child, it must be a girl!"

"Are you a virgin?"

"Of course!"

Femke spoke the unvarnished truth.

"Of course--because I'm not married."

"But Maria was married--and Jesus was her child."

"Ah, that's where the holiness comes in," replied Femke. "And for that reason she is called the ivory gate. Do you understand now, Walter?"

Walter did not understand; but he asked permission to take the book home with him, that he might study it. That, however, was not possible, as Femke needed the book every day. Walter consoled himself easily, for not for anything in the world would he have endangered Femke's salvation. Femke asked him to come again. She would be glad to tell him all she knew about the matter; and, if both should get tangled up, she would ask Father Jansen about it. And then Walter would soon be as wise as she was.

Walter withdrew; i. e., after he had kissed Femke heartily. This meeting with her, the mysterious book, salvation, the fight with the boys--all these things would run through his mind whenever he tried to think of the poem. It seemed to him that there was some connection between them.

When he got home he turned through Stoffel's books, hoping to find something about holy vessels, ivory towers, and immaculate virgins. But they were all school books, and gave information about everything else but salvation. Walter was crushed, but he was still searching.

"Master Pennewip had a father and mother; and certainly old Pennewip, too, who slaughtered hogs; and the one before him, too--but who was the first Pennewip? And who slaughtered the hogs before old Pennewip? And before there were any hogs, what did butchers do? And----"

I will know all of that some day, Walter thought. If he could have only quieted himself so well about his poem! If that were only written, he thought, then he would clear up the lost causes of everything. In the meanwhile he dreamed of Femke, of her blue eyes, her friendliness, her soft lips--and of her voice, when she said, "You are a dear, sweet boy."

Could it be that she is Omicron? he thought.

And thus the child dreamed, dreamed; and, just as in the development of humanity, in his life was working a three-fold impulse, towards love, knowledge, and conflict.

"But Walter, don't you read any books at home about the creed?"

Thus Femke questioned her little friend the next day, as he sat on her basket again.

"Yes, but they're not pretty."

"Don't you know anything by heart?"

Walter repeated a stanza of a reformed church hymn. This found no favor with Femke; though she liked his reciting.

"Don't you read anything else?"

Walter reflected: he flew through Stoffel's library--works of the Poetical Society, Geology by Ippel, On Orthography, Regulations for the Fire-Watch, Story of Joseph by Hulshoff, Brave Henry, Jacob Among His Children, Sermons by h.e.l.lendoorn, A Catechism by the same, Hoorn's Song-book.