Country life -- Fiction; Farm life -- Fiction; Outdoor life -- Fiction; Rural conditions -- Fiction
There are a great many poor people in Summerfield. Several causes have
combined to make them poor. Most of them are very worthy, and have
interesting children. All of them are God's sons and daughters, and
should not pine in want and grief amid so much wealth and country. If
a Poor Man's Home were established on a large and productive farm, and
put under judicious management, how much suffering might be alleviated!
How many aged heads lie down on soft pillows of peace! How many aged
hearts, unburdened of grief, and made to run over with flowing tears of
gratitude! How many of the disabled and unfortunate, placed beyond
reach of want and misery! How many bright children snatched from the
errors and temptations that lurk in the way of poverty, and clothed and
educated in virtues and lessons, that would place them on a footing
with rich men's children, and lead them to lives of usefulness and
honor! How many orphans provided for, and how many widows made to sing
in their hearts for joy!
He has means sufficient to do most of the building himself, and endow
the Home; and with a little help from others, the institution is
completed; and he sees bright glancing wings of joy hovering at doors
where grief has been a constant guest; Comfort wiping tears from eyes
long accustomed to weep; and Virtue and Knowledge leading large
processions of rescued children on their heavenward way. He is rich
and happy as he can hope or desire to be on earth, and he lies down to
sweet dreams on the last night of his Week of Castle Building, and with
those dreams the visions of affluence close.
XXV.
A WEEK OF REALITY.
During that memorable week, while those splendid scenes of fortune
passed his view as on a rolling panorama, there were moments when
Fabens felt that the scheme was too magnificent to contemplate alone,
and Mrs. Fabens and Fanny ought at once to be admitted to the blissful
secret, and participate his joy. Then again, he happened to remember
Julia's love for the old home, and her questioning, slow-footed
caution, and he refrained from a disclosure.
But he could not refrain from sounding her mind a little, as he
returned from the field for his meals, to ascertain if his own dreams
could possibly be too extravagant, and if there were any hope of a
consent from her, provided in the end he should have an earnest desire
to accept the tempting offer. He asked her several questions of
considerable meaning to himself, which she answered, with little
suspicion of the thoughts that lay concealed beneath the surface of the
words.
"Our fields never looked more beautiful to me, not even in June, than
they have for a few days now of this lovely weather," said Mrs. Fabens,
gazing from her favorite window upon the rich landscape in view, on the
first day of the Week of Reality.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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