John, after eight months’ absence, was home again. The quiet of the valley was profound and satisfying. Though he brought back in money less than he had taken away, he had stored up much worldly wisdom and experience; and like all men had paid the price. His guilelessness was gone; the old faith that he could love all men as he loved everything of the valley was no more. Before, he had looked out and seen that everything was good; now he knew that all were not good and that not every spoken word was true; and without ever having wronged any one, he had been forced to flee as a criminal. It made him morbid. His heart overflowed with love for his mountains; for the deep silent forest and for the Pinnacle—from it he might look forth and see so much of nature’s pleasant face and feel the peace that reigned. How he loved the smell of the growing corn, the clover fragrance of the meadow and nature’s minor voices; of rippling waters, of summer breezes, of singing birds, of chirping crickets by night, of harvest flies and katydids by day, of summer daylight showers and on sultry nights the low distant thunder rumbling in the mountains. How much purer life seemed, how much simpler than in the Settlements. Here, God in nature reigned; there, where man seemed master, the face of nature was defaced. It was a confusion of ugliness, of new cabins, brush heaps, stumps, the decaying skeletons of dead and belted trees; and the earth was barren and torn. He would spend his whole life in the valley—if only Dorothy were here; * * * man must not live alone; * * * she alone were needed to make this as paradise, before the fall of man. * * * What have you to do with fallen men? “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” * * * Not as you love the stars. Are you to remain here cradled in the lap of nature? A wood nymph of six feet two? Why your great strength?—your broad shoulders? Why a man that can discern? Why a voice? Why a soul?—and one that has visions of the glory of God. What use for a teacher in this solitude? What use for broad shoulders where burdens are light? What use for vision if you are not a prophet? Visions but beget broader vision. Are you not of those whose honors come after death? Since you first began to think and speak have you not thought and said: I will go forth to service, in order that the grain ripe for harvest may not perish from my neglect? Wouldst be questioned and commanded: Wist you not that you must be about the Master’s business? Go! Through the last days of June and into July, John hoed and sweated in the corn; the weeds came thicker than the year before; the tares grew denser and closer—and whence the tares? And his mind was on the call to go to the Settlements to serve men—where Dorothy * * * The corn was laid by, the days grew sultry and hot, it was early August. Then he went into the meadow; with each swing of the blade and each rasp of the whetstone he heard the call to service—or to Dorothy.