sayin' how wonderful
it was for a leaf to have grown out of nothing all of a sudden, as some
folks are so fond of saying. Not he; he'd too much sense. He says to his
sons, 'Look here: a leaf here means a tree somewhere, and the sooner we
make for that tree the better!' And so it is with us. When we feel that
all at onst there's somebody that matters more to us than ourselves, we
know that this wonderful feelin' hasn't sprung out of the selfishness
that filled our hearts before, but is just a leaf off a great Tree
which is a shadow and resting-place for the whole world."

Tremaine looked thoughtful; Caleb's childlike faith and extensive
vocabulary were alike puzzles to him. He did not understand that in
homes--however simple--where the Bible is studied until it becomes as
household words, the children are accustomed to a "well of English
undefiled"; and so, unconsciously, mould their style upon and borrow
their expressions from the Book which, even when taken only from a
literary standpoint, is the finest Book ever read by man.

After a minute's silence he said: "I have been wondering whether it
really is any pleasure to the poor to see the homes of the rich, or
whether it only makes them dissatisfied. Now, what do you think,
Bateson?"

"Well, sir, if it makes 'em dissatisfied it didn't ought to."

"Perhaps not. Still, I have a good deal of sympathy with socialism
myself; and I know I should feel it very hard if I were poor, while
other men, not a whit better and probably worse than myself, were rich."

"And so it would be hard, sir, if this was the end of everything, and it
was all haphazard, as it were; so hard that no sensible man could see it
without going clean off his head altogether. But when you rightly
understand as it's all the Master's doing, and that He knows what He's
about a sight better than we could teach Him, it makes a wonderful
difference. Whether we're rich or poor, happy or sorrowful, is His
business and He can attend to that; but whether we serve Him rightly in
the place where He has put us, is our business, and it'll take us all
our time to look after it without trying to do His work as well."

Tremaine merely smiled, and Bateson went on--

"You see, sir, there's work in the world of all kinds for all sorts; and
whether they be lords and ladies, or just poor folks like we, they've
got to do the work that the Lord has set them to do, and not to go
hankering after each other's. Why, Mr. Trema