Nowhere
is the purity of the spring so apparent. Nothing is out of place; nowhere is
any confusion, or appearance of loose ends, or neglected tasks. As you come
nearer, you feel the more surely that here there has never been undue haste
nor waste; no shirking, no putting off till the morrow what should have been
done today. Whenever a shingle or a clapboard was needed it was put on, where
paint was required it was used,--that is evident; and a look at the great
barns stored with hay shows how the fields have been conscientiously educated
into giving a full crop.
To such a spot as this might any tired or sinful heart come for rest; hoping
somehow, in the midst of such frugality and thrift, such self-denying labor,
such temperate use of God's good gifts, such shining cleanliness of outward
things, to regain and wear "the white flower of a blameless life." The very
air of the place breathed peace, so thought Susanna Hathaway; and little Sue,
who skipped by her side, thought nothing at all save that she was with mother
in the country; that it had been rather a sad journey, with mother so quiet
and pale, and that she would be very glad to see supper, should it rise like a
fairy banquet in the midst of these strange surroundings.
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