wanderers to the fold had given
him, as one by one they came, a taste of such perfect satisfaction, as
few of the great ones of the world--be they heroes or sages--have
claimed to be theirs, even in the moment of their highest triumphs.

This kind of success and his satisfaction in it might not be appreciated
by those who looked on from the outside of his circle of influence; but
there was another kind, both of success and of satisfaction in it, which
they could appreciate, and at which they might well wonder.

By means of the pennies and sixpences and shillings slowly gathered
among themselves, though few among them had many pennies to spare, and
with the help of occasional pounds, which by one hand and another found
their way into the treasury from abroad, first the kirk had been built
and then the manse. They were humble structures enough, but sufficient
for their purpose, and indeed admirable in all respects in the eyes of
those who had a part in them.

Then out of a low stretch of barren clay, which was a slimy pool, with a
green, unhealthy margin for some months of the year, the minister had
made such a garden as few in the town could boast. The hawthorn hedge
around it, as well as every tree and bush in it, was planted by the
minister's own hand, or under his own eye. It might not have seemed a
very fine garden to some people. There were only common flowers and
fruits in it, and still more common vegetables; but the courage, the
skill, the patience which had made it out of nothing, must have been
appreciated anywhere. To the moderately intelligent and immoderately
critical community of Nethermuir, the visible facts of kirk and manse,
of glebe and garden, appealed more clearly and directly than did the
building up of "lively stones into a spiritual house," which was his
true work, or the flourishing of "trees of righteousness" in their
midst, which was his true joy.

And, perhaps, this was not so much to be wondered at, considering all
things. For some of the "trees" looked to be little other than "crooked
sticks" to their eyes; and of some of the "stones" it might well be
said, that they "caused many to stumble." And since it was halting, and
shortcoming, and inconsistency that some of their critical neighbours
were looking for among "folk that set themselves up to be better than
their neebors," it is not surprising that it was these that they should
most readily see.

Even the minister himself saw th