. "No more grief, no more anguish of spirit. Happy, happy
change!"

"There," added a fourth, "the wounded spirit that none can bear is
healed. The reed long bruised and bent by the tempests of life, finds
a smiling sky, and a warm, refreshing, and healing sunshine. Oh! how
my soul pants to escape from this world, and, like a bird fleeing to
the mountains, get home again from its dreary exile."

"My heart expands," said another, "whenever I think of Heaven; and I
long for the wings of a dove, that I may rise at once from this low,
ignorant, groveling state, and bathe my whole soul in the sunlight of
eternal felicity. What joy it will be to cast off this cumbersome
clay; to leave this poor body behind, and spread a free wing upon the
heavenly atmosphere. I shall hail with delight the happy moment which
sets me free."

Thus, one after another spoke, and each one regarded Heaven as a state
of happiness into which he was to come after death; but the old man
still sat silent, and his eyes were bent thoughtfully upon the floor.
Presently one said,

"Our aged friend says nothing. Has he no hope of Heaven? Does he not
rejoice with us in the happy prospect of getting there when the silver
chord shall be loosened, and the golden bowl broken at the fountain?"

The old man, thus addressed, looked around upon his companions. His
face remained serene, and his eye had a heavenly expression.

"Have you not a blessed hope of Heaven? Does not your heart grow warm
with sweet anticipations?" continued the last speaker.

"I never think of going to Heaven," the old man said, in a mild, quiet
tone.

"Never think of going to Heaven!" exclaimed one of the most ardent of
the company, his voice warming with indignation. "Are you a heathen?"

"I am one who is patiently striving to fill my allotted place in
life," replied the old man, as calmly as before.

"And have you no hopes beyond the grave?" asked the last speaker.

"If I live right here, all will be right there." The old man pointed
upward. "I have no anxieties about the future--no impatience--no
ardent longings to pass away and be at rest, as some of you have said.
I already enjoy as much of Heaven as I am prepared to enjoy, and this
is all that I can expect throughout eternity. You all, my friends,
seem to think that men come into Heaven when they die. You look ahead
to death with pleasure, because then you think you will enter the
happy state you anticipate--or rather _place_;