her face and refreshed her, and the birds
sang in all the trees. And as she passed through the villages the people
came out to meet her, and asked of her if she had come from the city, and
what she had seen there. And everywhere she found friends, and kind
voices that gave her greeting. But some would ask her why she still spoke
the little language, though it was sweet to their ears; and others when
they heard it hastened to call from the houses and the fields some among
them who knew the other tongue but a little, and who came and crowded
round the little Pilgrim, and asked her many questions both about the
things she had been seeing and about the old time. And she perceived that
the village folk were a simple folk, not learned and wise like those she
had left; and that though they lived within sight of the great city, and
showed every stranger the beautiful view of it, and the glory of its
towers, yet few among them had travelled there; for they were so content
with their fields, and their river, and the shade of their trees, and the
birds singing, and their simple life, that they wanted no change; though
it pleased them to receive the little Pilgrim, and they brought her into
their villages rejoicing, and called every one to see her. And they told
her that they had all been poor and labored hard in the old time, and had
never rested; so that now it was the Father's good pleasure that they
should enjoy great peace and consolation among the fresh-breathing fields
and on the riverside, so that there were many who even now had little
occupation except to think of the Father's goodness, and to rest. And
they told her how the Lord himself would come among them, and sit down
under a tree, and tell them one of his parables, and make them all more
happy than words could say; and how sometimes he would send one out of
the beautiful city, with a poem or tale to say to them, and bands of
lovely music, more lovely than anything beside, except the sound of the
Lord's own voice. "And what is more wonderful, the angels themselves come
often and listen to us," they said, "when we begin to talk and remind
each other of the old time, and how we suffered heat and cold, and were
bowed down with labor, and bending over the soil, and how sometimes the
harvest would fail us, and sometimes we had not bread, and sometimes
would hush the children to sleep because there was nothing to give them;
and how we grew old and weary, and still worked on a