a great nation were really ready
for a mighty step forward the good Lord raised up a man to lead them.

Passing the great estate of Tolstoi I could not help thinking of one of
his marvelous word pictures and as it concerns everyone of us it will
not be out of place to call attention to it here. As the story goes a
youth had fallen heir to his father's estate and this taste of wealth
made him crazy for the lands adjoining the little homestead. One fine
morning this young man was greeted in the highway by a fine looking
nobleman who said he had taken a liking to him and had decided to give
him all the land he could cover during one day. As they stood at the
corner of the little homestead at the grave of his father the stranger
said to the young man: "You may start now and walk all day, but at
sundown you must be back here at your father's grave."

Without even stopping to tell his wife the good news, or bid her and
their little child good-bye, the young man started. At first thought he
decided to cover a tract six miles square which would mean a walk of
twenty-four miles, but he had only gotten well started when the plan was
enlarged to a square of nine miles. The morning was so cool and fine and
he felt so strong that he increased it to twelve miles and still later
he made it a square of fifteen miles, which would mean a walk of sixty
miles before sundown. By noon he had made the thirty miles but so great
was his fear of failure he decided not to stop for lunch. An hour later
he saw an old man at a wayside spring, but felt that he must not stop
even for a drink of water and rushed on his way.

By the middle of the afternoon he had discarded his coat and a little
later threw away his shirt. An hour before sunset it was a race for
life. His heart had almost stopped beating and his eyes began to bulge
from their sockets. As the sun touched the horizon he was still many
rods from the starting point. With all the strength of both body and
soul he lunged forward and just as the sun went out of sight he
staggered across the line and fell into the arms of the stranger who was
there to meet him, but when he fell he was _dead_.

"I promised him," said the stranger, "all the ground he could cover.
Strictly speaking, it is about two feet wide and six feet long. And I
drew the line here at his father's grave because I thought he would
rather have the land he could cover close to his father than to have it
anywhere else." "Then the