ress. I suppose that it
is just as necessary that we pass out of the world by death as that we
enter it by birth; and I further suppose that the terror with which
death is vested is for the purpose of helping us to cling to this
earth-life until our mission here is completed."

Dorian did not speak; his eyes were on the marshlands.

"Imagine, Dorian, this world, just as it is, with all its sin and misery
and without any death. What would happen? We would all, I fear, become
so self-centered, so hardened in selfishness that it would be difficult
for the gentle power of love to reach us; but now there is hardly a
family that has not one or more of its members on the other side. And
these absent loved ones are anchors to our souls, tied to us by the
never-ending cords of love and affection. You, yourself, my boy, never
have had until now many interests other than those of this life; now
your interests are broadened to another world, and that's something
worth while.... Now, come and see me often." They arose, each to go to
his home.

"I will, Uncle Zed. Thank you for what you have said."

Dorian completed his four years high school. Going to the University
might come later, but now he was moved by a spirit of activity to do
bigger things with his farm, and to enlarge it, if possible.

About this time, dry-farming had taken the attention of the farmers
in his locality, and many of them had procured lands on the sloping
foothills. Dorian, with a number of other young men had gone up the
nearby canyon to the low hills of the valley beyond and had taken up
lands. That first summer Dorian spent much of his time in breaking up
the land. As timber was not far away, he built himself a one-roomed log
house and some corrals and outhouses. A mountain stream rushed by the
lower corner of his farm, and its wild music sang him to sleep when he
spent the night in the hills. He furnished his "summer residence" with a
few simple necessities so that he could live there a number of days at a
time. He minded not the solitude. The wild odorous verdure of the hills,
the cool breezes, the song of the distant streams, the call of the
birds, all seemed to harmonize with his own feelings at that time. He
had a good kerosene lamp, and at nights when he was not too tired, he
read. On his visits to the city he usually had an eye for book bargains,
and thus his board shelving came to be quite a little library. He had no
method in his collecting, n