aused, and again Miss Newville begged him to go on.
"I cannot tell when it will be, but I know what I would like to see."
"Please tell me," she said earnestly.
"I would like to see the time when men will recognize their fellow-men
as brothers, and when the flag will stand for equality, unity,
liberty, and brotherhood."
"Do you think such a time will ever come?"
"I do not doubt it. The prophets in the Bible have predicted it, and
it seems to me that the human race is advancing in that direction.
Have you not noticed that almost everything we prize has come through
sacrifice and suffering? I came here with food because the people of
this town are suffering. The bags of corn which I have brought are an
expression of brotherhood, of unity, love, and good will. The people
all the way from the Penobscot to the Savannah are acting from such
motives. It is curious that Parliament by passing a wicked law is
uniting the Colonies as nothing else could have done. What the king
designed for a punishment, in the end may be a great blessing."
"I see it, and I want to thank you, Mr. Walden, for your words. You
have made clear what hitherto I have not been able to understand. Of
course, you must be aware that I hear many conversations upon affairs
in the Colonies. General Gage and Earl Percy are frequent guests in
our home, as are many gentlemen who sympathize with the king and the
ministry rather than with Mr. Adams and Doctor Warren. I do not see
how the king, who they say is kind-hearted, could assent to a law
which would bring suffering and starvation to so many people."
She sat in silence a moment, and then went on.
"I like to hear you, Mr. Walden, speak of that good time that is to
come. I should like to do something to hasten it. I feel that I am
stronger for what you have said. Shall we take a stroll through the
grounds?"
Through the day he had been looking forward to a possible hour when he
could be with her alone, to feel the charm of her presence. And now
that it had come, what should he say, how let her know she had been an
inspiration to him; how since their first meeting his last thought at
night and the first of the morning had been of her? Were he to say the
thought of her had filled the days with happiness, would she not think
him presumptuous? They were widely separated by the circumstances of
life,--he of the country, a farmer, swinging the scythe, holding the
plow, driving oxen, feeding pigs; she,
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