boat quietly moved away from the shore. The sun
burst forth in all his glory.

The mother sat there, with her hands clasped. All were silent. The only
sound heard was the neighing of the foal.

Walpurga was the first to break the silence. "O dear Lord! if people
would only show each other half as much love during life as they do
when one dies or moves away."

The mother, who was in the middle of a prayer, shook her head. She
quickly finished her prayer and said: "That's more than one has a right
to ask. It won't do to go about all day long with your heart in your
hand. But remember, I've always told you that the people are good
enough at heart, even if there are a few bad ones among them."

Hansei bestowed an admiring glance upon his wife, who had so many
different thoughts about almost everything. He supposed it was caused
by her having been away from home. But his heart was full too, although
in a different way.

"I can hardly realize," said Hansei, taking a long breath and putting
the pipe which he had intended to light back into his pocket, "what has
become of all the years that I spent there and all that I went through
during the time. Look, Walpurga! the road you see there leads to my
home. I know every hill and every hollow. My mother's buried there. Do
you see the pines growing on the hill over yonder? That hill was quite
bare; every tree was cut down when the French were here; and see how
fine and hardy the trees are now. I planted most of them myself. I was
a little boy about eleven or twelve years old when the forester hired
me. He had fresh soil brought for the whole place and covered the rocky
spots with moss. In the spring, I worked from six in the morning till
seven in the evening, putting in the little plants. My left hand was
almost frozen, for I had to keep putting it into a tub of wet loam with
which I covered the roots. I was scantily clothed into the bargain, and
had nothing to eat, all day long, but a piece of bread. In the morning
it was cold enough to freeze the marrow in one's bones, and at noon I
was almost roasted by the hot sun beating on the rocks. It was a hard
life. Yes, I had a hard time of it when I was young. Thank God, it
hasn't harmed me any. But I shan't forget it; and let's be right
industrious and give all we can to the poor. I never would have
believed that I'd live to call a single tree or a handful of earth my
own; and now that God has given me so much, let's try and deser