The triumph over Midian — Reading Companion

A Domestic Frame for a Biblical Archetype

The preface reveals that A. L. O. E. intended to illustrate the victory of Gideon, but the excerpts show she does so by embedding the biblical narrative within a Victorian domestic story. The table of contents alternates chapters of plot with titled lectures such as “Faith in the Promise” and “Faith Victorious,” suggesting a structure where the minister's sermons directly parallel the characters' experiences. This dual framework allows the author to explore faith not as abstract doctrine but as a practical force in everyday decisions—like Lottie's choice to leave the gold untouched. The domestic setting, with its nursery, playroom, and vault, becomes the arena for spiritual warfare, mirroring Gideon's battlefield.

Temptation and the Language of Sight

A recurring pattern in the excerpts is the use of visual imagery to convey moral danger. Lottie's black eyes dilate; she cannot withdraw her gaze from Gaspar, described as “corpse-like” in the dim light. The narrator compares this to “the serpent’s gaze,” linking the scene to Eden. Earlier, the temptation is framed as a whisper, echoing the serpent's voice. The author repeatedly emphasizes the power of looking: Lottie must not trust herself to look again at the bags. This visual motif reinforces the idea that faith requires deliberate turning away—a physical act of resistance. The miser Gaspar, too, is defined by his need to keep treasure under his eye, sleeping over it, a habit that exposes his spiritual blindness.

The Miser's Shadow and the Child's Conscience

Gaspar Gritton is drawn with a few sharp strokes: sallow, shrunken, haunted by fears of theft, and unable to sleep soundly. His secret vaults, built for concealment, make him a figure of isolation and mistrust. In contrast, Lottie is characterized by her habitual prayer and the instinct to turn to God “as a child might turn to a parent.” The conflict between them is not merely about gold but about two opposing orientations—one toward earthly treasure, the other toward divine blessing. The author uses Lottie's exclamation, “how can I do this thing, and sin against God!” to mark her victory, a moment that echoes Gideon's own triumph through faith. The scene suggests that the real battle is internal, fought in the quiet of a vault before dawn.

Readers approaching The Triumph over Midian should attend to how A. L. O. E. translates scriptural types into concrete, domestic choices. The novel rewards attention to its layered structure—where sermons and story illuminate each other—and to the recurring imagery of sight, treasure, and temptation. The excerpts offer only a fragment of the whole, but they reveal a work that takes seriously the moral struggles of ordinary people, especially children, and frames them within a larger narrative of faith.

There is a particular weight to hidden treasure in old stories, that ache of a secret kept. Reading The Triumph over Midian brought that feeling back, the quiet gravity of a child holding something precious and dangerous. It made me think of another tale, A Chance for Himself; or, Jack Hazard and His Treasure — Reading Companion, where the finding is less about the gold and more about what the search costs a boy. The echo feels true.