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Chapter 14: the peace crusade 1870-1872; aet. 51-53
Endeavor
“What hast thou for thy scattered seed,
O Sower of the plain?
Where are the many gathered sheaves
Thy hope should bring again?”
“The only record of my work
Lies in the buried grain.”
“O Conqueror of a thousand fields!
In dinted armor dight,
What growths of purple amaranth
Shall crown thy brow of might?”
“Only the blossom of my life
Flung widely in the fight.”
“What is the harvest of thy saints,
O God!
who dost abide?
Where grow the garlands of thy chiefs
In blood and sorrow dyed?
What have thy servants for their pains?”
“This only,--to have tried.”
J. W. H.
When a branch is cut from a vigorous tree, Nature at once sets to work to adjust matters.
New juices flow, new tissues form, the wound is scarfed over, and after a time is seen only as a scar.
Not here, but elsewhere, does the new growth take place, the fresh green shoots appear, more vigorous for the pruning.
Thus it was with our mother's life, as one change after another came across it. Little Sam died, and her heart withered with him: then religion and study came to her aid, and through them she reached another
