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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10050 ***
+
+                            A LITTLE PILGRIM
+
+                    By Margaret O. (Wilson) Oliphant
+
+
+
+
+A LITTLE PILGRIM.
+
+
+
+
+I.
+
+IN THE UNSEEN.
+
+
+She had been talking of dying only the evening before, with a friend, and
+had described her own sensations after a long illness when she had been
+at the point of death. "I suppose," she said, "that I was as nearly gone
+as any one ever was to come back again. There was no pain in it, only a
+sense of sinking down, down--through the bed as if nothing could hold me
+or give me support enough--but no pain." And then they had spoken of
+another friend in the same circumstances, who also had come back from the
+very verge, and who described her sensations as those of one floating
+upon a summer sea without pain or suffering, in a lovely nook of the
+Mediterranean, blue as the sky. These soft and soothing images of the
+passage which all men dread had been talked over with low voices, yet
+with smiles and a grateful sense that "the warm precincts of the cheerful
+day" were once more familiar to both. And very cheerfully she went to
+rest that night, talking of what was to be done on the morrow, and fell
+asleep sweetly in her little room, with its shaded light and curtained
+window, and little pictures on the dim walls. All was quiet in the house:
+soft breathing of the sleepers, soft murmuring of the spring wind
+outside, a wintry moon very clear and full in the skies, a little town
+all hushed and quiet, everything lying defenceless, unconscious, in the
+safe keeping of God.
+
+How soon she woke no one can tell. She woke and lay quite still, half
+roused, half hushed, in that soft languor that attends a happy waking.
+She was happy always, in the peace of a heart that was humble and
+faithful and pure, but yet had been used to wake to a consciousness of
+little pains and troubles, such as even to her meekness were sometimes
+hard to bear. But on this morning there were none of these. She lay in a
+kind of hush of happiness and ease, not caring to make any further
+movement, lingering over the sweet sensation of that waking. She had no
+desire to move nor to break the spell of the silence and peace. It was
+still very early, she supposed, and probably it might be hours yet before
+any one came to call her. It might even be that she should sleep again.
+She had no wish to move, she lay at such luxurious ease and calm. But by
+and by, as she came to full possession of her waking senses, it appeared
+to her that there was some change in the atmosphere, in the scene. There
+began to steal into the air about her, the soft dawn as of a summer
+morning, the lovely blueness of the first opening of daylight before the
+sun. It could not be the light of the moon, which she had seen before she
+went to bed; and all was so still, that it could not be the bustling,
+wintry day which comes at that time of the year late, to find the world
+awake before it. This was different; it was like the summer dawn, a soft
+suffusion of light growing every moment. And by and by it occurred to
+her that she was not in the little room where she had lain down. There
+were no dim walls or roof, her little pictures were all gone, the
+curtains at her window. The discovery gave her no uneasiness in that
+delightful calm. She lay still to think of it all, to wonder, yet
+undisturbed. It half amused her that these things should be changed, but
+did not rouse her yet with any shock of alteration. The light grew fuller
+and fuller round, growing into day, clearing her eyes from the sweet mist
+of the first waking. Then she raised herself upon her arm. She was not in
+her room, she was in no scene she knew. Indeed it was scarcely a scene at
+all, nothing but light, so soft and lovely, that it soothed and caressed
+her eyes. She thought all at once of a summer morning when she was a
+child, when she had woke in the deep night which yet was day, early, so
+early that the birds were scarcely astir, and had risen up with a
+delicious sense of daring and of being all alone in the mystery of the
+sunrise, in the unawakened world which lay at her feet to be explored, as
+if she were Eve just entering upon Eden. It was curious how all those
+childish sensations, long forgotten, came back to her as she found
+herself so unexpectedly out of her sleep in the open air and light. In
+the recollection of that lovely hour, with a smile at herself, so
+different as she now knew herself to be, she was moved to rise and look a
+little more closely about her, and see where she was.
+
+When I call her a little Pilgrim, I do not mean that she was a child; on
+the contrary, she was not even young. She was little by nature, with as
+little flesh and blood as was consistent with mortal life; and she was
+one of those who are always little for love. The tongue found diminutives
+for her, the heart kept her in a perpetual youth. She was so modest and
+so gentle, that she always came last, so long as there was any one whom
+she could put before her. But this little body, and the soul which was
+not little, and the heart which was big and great, had known all the
+round of sorrows that fill a woman's life, without knowing any of its
+warmer blessings. She had nursed the sick, she had entertained the weary,
+she had consoled the dying. She had gone about the world, which had no
+prize or recompense for her, with a smile. Her little presence had been
+always bright. She was not clever; you might have said she had no mind at
+all; but so wise and right and tender a heart, that it was as good as
+genius. This is to let you know what this little Pilgrim had been.
+
+She rose up, and it was strange how like she felt to the child she
+remembered in that still summer morning so many years ago. Her little
+body, which had been worn and racked with pain, felt as light and
+unconscious of itself as then. She took her first step forward with the
+same sense of pleasure, yet of awe, suppressed delight and daring and
+wild adventure, yet perfect safety. But then the recollection of the
+little room in which she had fallen asleep came quickly, strangely over
+her, confusing her mind. "I must be dreaming, I suppose," she said to
+herself, regretfully; for it was all so sweet that she wished it to be
+true. Her movement called her attention to herself, and she found that
+she was dressed, not in her night-dress, as she had lain down, but in a
+dress she did not know. She paused for a moment to look at it, and
+wonder. She had never seen it before; she did not make out how it was
+made, or what stuff it was, but it fell so pleasantly about her, it was
+so soft and light, that in her confused state she abandoned that subject
+with only an additional sense of pleasure. And now the atmosphere became
+more distinct to her. She saw that under her feet was a greenness as of
+close velvet turf, both cool and warm, cool and soft to touch, but with
+no damp in it, as might have been at that early hour, and with flowers
+showing here and there. She stood looking round her, not able to identify
+the landscape because she was still confused a little, and then walked
+softly on, all the time afraid lest she should awake and lose the
+sweetness of it all, and the sense of rest and happiness. She felt so
+light, so airy, as if she could skim across the field like any child. It
+was bliss enough to breathe and move, with every organ so free. After
+more than fifty years of hard service in the world, to feel like this,
+even in a dream! She smiled to herself at her own pleasure; and then once
+more, yet more potently, there came back upon her the appearance of her
+room in which she had fallen asleep. How had she got from there to here?
+Had she been carried away in her sleep, or was it only a dream, and would
+she by and by find herself between the four dim walls again? Then this
+shadow of recollection faded away once more, and she moved forward,
+walking in a soft rapture over the delicious turf. Presently she came to
+a little mound, upon which she paused to look about her. Every moment she
+saw a little farther: blue hills far away, extending in long, sweet
+distance, an indefinite landscape, but fair and vast, so that there could
+be seen no end to it, not even the line of the horizon,--save at one
+side, where there seemed to be a great shadowy gateway, and something dim
+beyond. She turned from the brightness to look at this, and when she had
+looked for some time, she saw, what pleased her still more, though she
+had been so happy before, people coming in. They were too far off for her
+to see clearly, but many came each apart, one figure only at a time. To
+watch them amused her in the delightful leisure of her mind. Who were
+they? she wondered; but no doubt soon some of them would come this way,
+and she would see. Then suddenly she seemed to hear, as if in answer to
+her question, some one say, "Those who are coming in are the people
+who have died on earth." "Died!" she said to herself aloud, with a
+wondering sense of the inappropriateness of the word which almost came
+the length of laughter. In this sweet air, with such a sense of life
+about, to suggest such an idea was almost ludicrous. She was so occupied
+with this, that she did not look round to see who the speaker might be.
+She thought it over, amused, but with some new confusion of the mind.
+Then she said, "Perhaps I have died too," with a laugh to herself at the
+absurdity of the thought.
+
+"Yes," said the other voice, echoing that gentle laugh of hers, "you have
+died too."
+
+She turned round, and saw another standing by her, a woman, younger and
+fairer, and more stately than herself, but of so sweet a countenance that
+our little Pilgrim felt no shyness, but recognized a friend at once. She
+was more occupied looking at this new face, and feeling herself at once
+so much happier (though she had been so happy before) in finding a
+companion who would tell her what everything was, than in considering
+what these words might mean. But just then once more the recollection of
+the four walls, with their little pictures hanging, and the window with
+its curtains drawn, seemed to come round her for a moment, so that her
+whole soul was in a confusion. And as this vision slowly faded away
+(though she could not tell which was the vision, the darkened room or
+this lovely light), her attention came back to the words at which she
+had laughed, and at which the other had laughed as she repeated them.
+Died?--was it possible that this could be the meaning of it all? "Died?"
+she said, looking with wonder in her companion's face, which smiled back
+to her.
+
+"But do you mean--You cannot mean--I have never been so well: I am so
+strong: I have no trouble--anywhere: I am full of life."
+
+The other nodded her beautiful head with a more beautiful smile, and the
+little Pilgrim burst out in a great cry of joy, and said,--"Is this all?
+Is it over?--Is it all over? Is it possible that this can be all?"
+
+"Were you afraid of it?" the other said. There was a little agitation for
+the moment in her heart. She was so glad, so relieved and thankful, that
+it took away her breath. She could not get over the wonder of it.
+
+"To think one should look forward to it so long, and wonder, and be even
+unhappy trying to divine what it will be--and this all!"
+
+"Ah, but the angel was very gentle with you," said the young woman; "you
+were so tender and worn, that he only smiled and took you sleeping. There
+are other ways. But it is always wonderful to think it is over, as you
+say."
+
+The little Pilgrim could do nothing but talk of it, as one does after a
+very great event. "Are you sure, quite sure, it is so?" she said. "It
+would be dreadful to find it only a dream, to go to sleep again, and wake
+up--there--" This thought troubled her for a moment. The vision of the
+bedchamber came back; but this time she felt it was only a vision. "Were
+you afraid too?" she said, in a low voice.
+
+"I never thought of it at all," the beautiful stranger said; "I did not
+think it would come to me. But I was very sorry for the others to whom it
+came, and grudged that they should lose the beautiful earth, and life,
+and all that was so sweet."
+
+"My dear!" cried the Pilgrim, as if she had never died, "oh, but this is
+far sweeter! And the heart is so light, and it is, happiness only to
+breathe. Is it heaven here? It must be heaven."
+
+"I do not know if it is heaven. We have so many things to learn. They
+cannot tell you every thing at once," said the beautiful lady. "I have
+seen some of the people I was sorry for, and when I told them, we
+laughed--as you and I laughed just now--for pleasure."
+
+"That makes me think" said the little Pilgrim; "if I have died, as you
+say--which is so strange, and me so living--if I have died, they will
+have found it out. The house will be all dark, and they will be breaking
+their hearts. Oh, how could I forget them in my selfishness, and be
+happy! I so light-hearted, while they--"
+
+She sat down hastily, and covered her face with her hands and wept. The
+other looked at her for a moment, then kissed her for comfort, and cried
+too. The two happy creatures sat there weeping together, thinking of
+those they had left behind, with an exquisite grief which was not
+unhappiness, which was sweet with love and pity. "And oh," said the
+little Pilgrim, "what can we do to tell them not to grieve? Cannot
+you send? cannot you speak? cannot one go to tell them?"
+
+The heavenly stranger shook her head.
+
+"It is not well, they all say. Sometimes one has been permitted; but they
+do not know you," she said, with a pitiful look in her sweet eyes. "My
+mother told me that her heart was so sick for me, she was allowed to go;
+and she went and stood by me, and spoke to me, and I did not know her.
+She came back so sad and sorry, that they took her at once to our
+Father; and there, you know, she found that it was all well. All is well
+when you are there."
+
+"Ah," said the little Pilgrim, "I have been thinking of other things. Of
+how happy I was, and of _them_; but never of the Father,--just as
+if I had not died."
+
+The other smiled upon her with a wonderful smile.
+
+"Do you think he will be offended--our Father--as if he were one of us?"
+she said.
+
+And then the little Pilgrim, in her sudden grief to have forgotten him,
+became conscious of a new rapture unexplainable in words. She felt his
+understanding to envelop her little spirit with a soft and clear
+penetration, and that nothing she did or said could ever be misconceived
+more. "Will you take me to him?" she said, trembling yet glad, clasping
+her hands. And once again the other shook her head.
+
+"They will take us both when it is time," she said: "we do not go at our
+own will. But I have seen our Brother--"
+
+"Oh, take me to him!" the little Pilgrim cried. "Let me see his face! I
+have so many things to say to him. I want to ask him--Oh, take me to
+where I can see his face!"
+
+And then once again the heavenly lady smiled.
+
+"I have seen him," she said. "He is always about--now here, now there. He
+will come and see you, perhaps when you are not thinking. But when he
+pleases. We do not think here of what we will--"
+
+The little Pilgrim sat very still, wondering at all this. She had thought
+when a soul left the earth that it went at once to God, and thought of
+nothing more, except worship and singing of praises. But this was
+different from her thoughts. She sat and pondered and wondered. She was
+baffled at many points. She was not changed, as she expected, but so much
+like herself; still--still perplexed, and feeling herself foolish; not
+understanding: toiling after a something which she could not grasp. The
+only difference was that it was no trouble to her now. She smiled at
+herself and at her dullness, feeling sure that by and by she would
+understand.
+
+"And don't you wonder too?" she said to her companion, which was a speech
+such as she used to make upon the earth, when people thought her little
+remarks disjointed, and did not always see the connection of them. But
+her friend of heaven knew what she meant.
+
+"I do nothing but wonder," she said, "for it is all so natural, not what
+we thought."
+
+"Is it long since you have been here?" the Pilgrim said.
+
+"I came before you; but how long or how short I cannot tell, for that is
+not how we count. We count only by what happens to us. And nothing yet
+has happened to me, except that I have seen our Brother. My mother sees
+him always. That means she has lived here a long time, and well--"
+
+"Is it possible to live ill--in heaven?" The little Pilgrim's eyes grew
+large, as if they were going to have tears in them, and a little shadow
+seemed to come over her. But the other laughed softly, and restored all
+her confidence.
+
+"I have told you I do not know if it is heaven or not. No one does ill,
+but some do little, and some do much, just as it used to be. Do you
+remember in Dante there was a lazy spirit that stayed about the gates and
+never got farther? But perhaps you never read that."
+
+"I was not clever," said the little Pilgrim, wistfully; "no, I never read
+it. I wish I had known more."
+
+Upon which the beautiful lady kissed her again to give her courage, and
+said,--
+
+"It does not matter at all. It all comes to you, whether you have known
+it or not."
+
+"Then your mother came here long ago?" said the Pilgrim. "Ah, then I
+shall see my mother too."
+
+"Oh, very soon, as soon as she can come; but there are so many things to
+do. Sometimes we can go and meet those who are coming; but it is not
+always so. I remember that she had a message. She could not leave her
+business, you may be sure, or she would have been here."
+
+"Then you know my mother? Oh, and my dearest father too?"
+
+"We all know each other," the lady said with a smile.
+
+"And you? did you come to meet me--only out of kindness, though I do not
+know you?" the little Pilgrim said.
+
+"I am nothing but an idler," said the beautiful lady, "making
+acquaintance. I am of little use as yet. I was very hard worked before I
+came here, and they think it well that we should sit in the sun and take
+a little rest, and find things out."
+
+Then the little Pilgrim sat still and mused, and felt in her heart that
+she had found many things out. What she had heard had been wonderful, and
+it was more wonderful still to be sitting here all alone, save for this
+lady, yet so happy and at ease. She wanted to sing, she was so happy;
+but remembered that she was old; and had lost her voice; and then
+remembered again that she was no longer old, and perhaps had found it
+again. And then it occurred to her to remember how she had learned to
+sing, and how beautiful her sister's voice was, and how heavenly to
+hear her,--which made her remember that this dear sister would be
+weeping, not singing, down where she had come from; and immediately the
+tears stood in her eyes.
+
+"Oh," she said, "I never thought we should cry when we came here. I
+thought there were no tears in heaven."
+
+"Did you think, then, that we were all turned into stone?" cried the
+beautiful lady. "It says God shall wipe away all tears from our faces,
+which is not like saying there are to be no tears."
+
+Upon which the little Pilgrim, glad that it was permitted to be sorry,
+though she was so happy, allowed herself to think upon the place she had
+so lately left. And she seemed to see her little room again, with all the
+pictures hanging as she had left them, and the house darkened, and the
+dear faces she knew all sad and troubled, and to hear them saying over to
+each other all the little careless words she had said as if they were out
+of the Scriptures, and crying if any one but mentioned her name, and
+putting on crape and black dresses, and lamenting as if that which had
+happened was something very terrible. She cried at this, and yet felt
+half inclined to laugh, but would not, because it would be disrespectful
+to those she loved. One thing did not occur to her, and that was, that
+they would be carrying her body, which she had left behind her, away to
+the grave. She did not think of this, because she was not aware of the
+loss, and felt far too much herself to think that there was another part
+of her being buried in the ground. From this she was aroused by her
+companion asking her a question.
+
+"Have you left many there?" she said.
+
+"No one," said the little Pilgrim, "to whom I was the first on earth; but
+they loved me all the same; and if I could only, only let them know--"
+
+"But I left one to whom I was the first on earth," said the other, with
+tears in her beautiful eyes; "and oh, how glad I should be to be less
+happy if he might be less sad!"
+
+"And you cannot go? you cannot go to him and tell him? Oh, I wish," cried
+the little Pilgrim; but then she paused, for the wish died all away in
+her heart into a tender love for this poor, sorrowful man whom she did
+not know. This gave her the sweetest pang she had ever felt, for she knew
+that all was well, and yet was so sorry, and would have willingly given
+up her happiness for his. All this the lady read in her eyes or her
+heart, and loved her for it; and they took hands and were silent
+together, thinking of those they had left, as we upon earth think of
+those who have gone from us, but only with far more understanding and far
+greater love. "And have you never been able to do anything for him?" our
+Pilgrim said.
+
+Then the beautiful lady's face flushed all over with the most heavenly
+warmth and light. Her smile ran over like the bursting out of the sun.
+
+"Oh, I will tell you," she said. "There was a moment when he was very sad
+and perplexed, not knowing what to think; there was something he could
+not understand. Nor could I understand, nor did I know what it was, until
+it was said to me, 'You may go and tell him.' And I went in the early
+morning before he was awake, and kissed him, and said it in his ear. He
+woke up in a moment, and understood, and everything was clear to him.
+Afterward I heard him say, 'It is true that the night brings counsel. I
+had been troubled and distressed all day long, but in the morning it was
+quite clear to me.' And the other answered, 'Your brain was refreshed,
+and that made your judgment clear.' But they never knew it was I! That
+was a great delight. The dear souls, they are so foolish," she cried,
+with the sweetest laughter, that ran into tears. "One cries because one
+is so happy; it is just a silly old habit," she said.
+
+"And you were not grieved--it did not hurt you--that he did not know--"
+
+"Oh, not then, not then! I did not go to him for that. When you have been
+here a little longer, you will see the difference. When you go for
+yourself, out of impatience, because it still seems to you that you must
+know best, and they don't know you, then it strikes to your heart; but
+when you go to help them,--ah," she cried, "when he comes, how much I
+shall have to tell him! 'You thought it was sleep, when it was I; when
+you woke so fresh and clear, it was I that kissed you; you thought it
+your duty to me to be sad afterward, and were angry with yourself because
+you had wronged me of the first thoughts of your waking--when it was all
+me, all through!'"
+
+"I begin to understand," said the little Pilgrim. "But why should they
+not see us, and why should not we tell them? It would seem so natural. If
+they saw us, it would make them so happy and so sure."
+
+Upon this the lady shook her head.
+
+"The worst of it is not that they are not sure, it is the parting. If
+this makes us sorry here, how can they escape the sorrow of it, even if
+they saw us?--for we must be parted. We cannot go back to live with them,
+or why should we have died? And then we must all live our lives, they in
+their way, we in ours. We must not weigh them down, but only help them
+when it is seen that there is need for it. All this we shall know better
+by and by."
+
+"You make it so clear, and your face is so bright," said our little
+Pilgrim gratefully, "you must have known a great deal, and understood
+even when you were in the world."
+
+"I was as foolish as I could be," said the other, with her laugh that was
+as sweet as music; "yet thought I knew, and they thought I knew. But all
+that does not matter now."
+
+"I think it matters, for look how much you have showed me. But tell me
+one thing more: how was it said to you that you must go and tell him? Was
+it some one who spoke? Was it--"
+
+Her face grew so bright that all the past brightness was as a dull sky to
+this. It gave out such a light of happiness, that the little Pilgrim was
+dazzled.
+
+"I was wandering about," she said, "to see this new place. My mother had
+come back between two errands she had, and had come to see me and tell me
+everything; and I was straying about, wondering what I was to do, when
+suddenly I saw some one coming along, as it might be now--"
+
+She paused and looked up, and the little Pilgrim looked up too, with her
+heart beating, but there was no one. Then she gave a little sigh, and
+turned and listened again.
+
+"I had not been looking for him, or thinking. You know my mind is too
+light; I am pleased with whatever is before me. And I was so curious, for
+my mother had told me many things; when suddenly I caught sight of him
+passing by. He was going on, and when I saw this a panic seized me, lest
+he should pass and say nothing. I do not know what I did. I flung myself
+upon his robe, and got hold of it,--or at least I think so. I was in such
+an agony lest he should pass and never notice me. But that was my folly.
+He pass! As if that could be!"
+
+"And what did he say to you?" cried the little Pilgrim, her heart almost
+aching, it beat so high with sympathy and expectation.
+
+The lady looked at her for a little without saying anything.
+
+"I cannot tell you," she said, "any more than I can tell if this is
+heaven. It is a mystery. When you see him you will know. It will be all
+you have ever hoped for, and more besides, for he understands everything.
+He knows what is in our hearts about those we have left, and why he sent
+for us before them. There is no need to tell him anything, he knows. He
+will come when it is time; and after you have seen him you will know what
+to do."
+
+Then the beautiful lady turned her eyes toward the gate, and while the
+little Pilgrim was still gazing, disappeared from her, and went to
+comfort some other stranger. They were dear friends always, and met
+often, but not again in the same way.
+
+When she was thus left alone again, the little Pilgrim sat still upon the
+grassy mound, quite tranquil and happy, without wishing to move. There
+was such a sense of well-being in her, that she liked to sit there and
+look about her, and breathe the delightful air, like the air of a summer
+morning, without wishing for anything.
+
+"How idle I am!" she said to herself, in the very words she had often
+used before she died; but then she was idle from weakness, and now from
+happiness. She wanted for nothing. To be alive was so sweet. There was a
+great deal to think about in what she had heard, but she did not even
+think about that, only resigned herself to the delight of sitting there
+in the sweet air and being happy. Many people were coming and going, and
+they all knew her, and smiled upon her, and those who were at a distance
+would wave their hands. This did not surprise her at all, for though she
+was a stranger, she too felt that she knew them all; but that they should
+be so kind was a delight to her which words could not tell. She sat and
+mused very sweetly about all that had been told her, and wondered whether
+she too might go sometimes, and with a kiss and a whisper clear up
+something that was dark in the mind of some one who loved her. "I that
+never was clever!" she said to herself, with a smile. And chiefly she
+thought of a friend whom she loved, who was often in great perplexity,
+and did not know how to guide herself amid the difficulties of the world.
+
+The little Pilgrim half laughed with delight, and then half cried with
+longing to go, as the beautiful lady had done, and make something clear
+that had been dark before, to this friend. As she was thinking what a
+pleasure it would be, some one came up to her, crossing over the flowery
+greenness, leaving the path on purpose. This was a being younger than the
+lady who had spoken to her before, with flowing hair all crisped with
+touches of sunshine, and a dress all white and soft, like the feathers of
+a white dove. There was something in her face different from that of the
+other, by which the little Pilgrim knew somehow, without knowing how,
+that she had come here as a child, and grown up in this celestial place.
+She was tall and fair, and came along with so musical a motion, as if her
+foot scarcely touched the ground, that she might have had wings: and the
+little Pilgrim indeed was not sure as she watched, whether it might not
+perhaps be an angel; for she knew that there were angels among the
+blessed people who were coming and going about, but had not been able yet
+to find one out. She knew that this new-comer was coming to her, and
+turned towards her with a smile and a throb at her heart of expectation.
+But when the heavenly maiden drew nearer, her face, though it was so
+fair, looked to the Pilgrim like another face, which she had known very
+well,--indeed, like the homely and troubled face of the friend of whom
+she had been thinking. And so she smiled all the more, and held out her
+hands and said, "I am sure I know you;" upon which the other kissed her
+and said, "We all know each other; but I have seen you often before
+you came here," and knelt down by her, among the flowers that were
+growing, just in front of some tall lilies that grew over her, and made
+a lovely canopy over her head. There was something in her face that was
+like a child: her mouth so soft, as if it had never spoken anything but
+heavenly words, her eyes brown and golden, as if they were filled with
+light. She took the little Pilgrim's hands in hers, and held them and
+smoothed them between her own. These hands had been very thin and worn
+before, but now, when the Pilgrim looked at them, she saw that they
+became softer and whiter every moment with the touch of this immortal
+youth.
+
+"I knew you were coming," said the maiden; "when my mother has wanted me
+I have seen you there. And you were thinking of her now that was how I
+found you."
+
+"Do you know, then, what one thinks?" said the little Pilgrim, with
+wondering eyes.
+
+"It is in the air; and when it concerns us it comes to us like the
+breeze. But we who are the children here, we feel it more quickly than
+you."
+
+"Are you a child?" said the little Pilgrim, "or are you an angel?
+Sometimes you are like a child; but then your face shines, and you are
+like--You must have some name for it here; there is nothing among the
+words I know." And then she paused a little, still looking at her, and
+cried, "Oh, if she could but see you, little Margaret! That would do her
+most good of all."
+
+Then the maiden Margaret shook her lovely head. "What does her most good
+is the will of the Father," she said.
+
+At this the little Pilgrim felt once more that thrill of expectation and
+awe. "Oh, child, you have seen him?" she cried.
+
+And the other smiled. "Have you forgotten who they are that always behold
+his face? We have never had any fear or trembling. We are not angels, and
+there is no other name; we are the children. There is something given to
+us beyond the others. We have had no other home."
+
+"Oh, tell me, tell me!" the little Pilgrim cried.
+
+Upon this Margaret kissed her, putting her soft cheek against hers, and
+said; "It is a mystery; it cannot be put into words; in your time you
+will know."
+
+"When you touch me you change me, and I grow like you," the Pilgrim said.
+"Ah, if she could see us together, you and me! And will you go to her
+soon again? And do you see them always, what they are doing? and take
+care of them?"
+
+"It is our Father who takes cares of them, and our Lord who is our
+Brother. I do his errands when I am able. Sometimes he will let me go,
+sometimes another, according as it is best. Who am I that I should take
+care of them? I serve them when I may."
+
+"But you do not forget them?" the Pilgrim said, with wistful eyes.
+
+"We love them always," said Margaret. She was more still than the lady
+who had first spoken with the Pilgrim. Her countenance was full of a
+heavenly calm. It had never known passion nor anguish. Sometimes there
+was in it a far-seeing look of vision, sometimes the simplicity of a
+child. "But what are we in comparison? For he loves them more than we do.
+When he keeps us from them, it is for love. We must each live our own
+life."
+
+"But it is hard for them sometimes," said the little Pilgrim, who could
+not withdraw her thoughts from those she had left.
+
+"They are never forsaken," said the angel maiden.
+
+"But oh! there are worse things than sorrow," the little Pilgrim said;
+"there is wrong, there is evil, Margaret. Will not he send you to step in
+before them, to save them from wrong?"
+
+"It is not for us to judge," said the young Margaret, with eyes full of
+heavenly wisdom; "our Brother has it all in his hand. We do not read
+their hearts, like him. Sometimes you are permitted to see the battle--"
+
+The little Pilgrim covered her eyes with her hands. "I could not--I could
+not; unless I knew they were to win the day!"
+
+"They will win the day in the end. But sometimes, when it was being lost,
+I have seen in his face a something--I cannot tell--more love than
+before. Something that seemed to say, 'My child, my child, would that I
+could do it for thee, my child!'"
+
+"Oh! that is what I have always felt," cried the Pilgrim, clasping her
+hands; her eyes were dim, her heart for a moment almost forgot its
+blessedness. "But he could; oh, little Margaret, he could! You have
+forgotten, 'Lord; if thou wilt thou canst--'"
+
+The child of heaven looked at her mutely, with sweet, grave eyes, in
+which there was much that confused her who was a stranger here, and once
+more softly shook her head.
+
+"Is it that he will not then?" said the other with a low voice of awe.
+"Our Lord, who died--he--"
+
+"Listen!" said the other; "I hear his step on the way."
+
+The little Pilgrim rose up from the mound on which she was sitting. Her
+soul was confused with wonder and fear. She had thought that an angel
+might step between a soul on earth and sin, and that if one but prayed
+and prayed, the dear Lord would stand between and deliver the tempted.
+She had meant when she saw his face to ask him to save. Was not he born,
+did not he live and die, to save? The angel maiden looked at her all the
+while with eyes that understood all her perplexity and her doubt, but
+spoke not. Thus it was that before the Lord came to her, the sweetness of
+her first blessedness was obscured, and she found that here too, even
+here, though in a moment she should see him, there was need for faith.
+Young Margaret, who had been kneeling by her, rose up too and stood among
+the lilies, waiting, her soft countenance shining, her eyes turned
+towards him who was coming. Upon her there was no cloud nor doubt. She
+was one of the children of that land familiar with his presence. And
+in the air there was a sound such as those who hear it alone can
+describe,--a sound as of help coming and safety, like the sound of a
+deliverer when one is in deadly danger, like the sound of a conqueror,
+like the step of the dearest beloved coming home. As it came nearer, the
+fear melted away out of the beating heart of the Pilgrim. Who could fear
+so near him? Her breath went away from her, her heart out of her bosom to
+meet his coming. Oh, never fear could live where he was! Her soul was all
+confused, but it was with hope and joy. She held out her hands in that
+amaze, and dropped upon her knees, not knowing what she did.
+
+He was going about his Father's business, not lingering, yet neither
+making haste; and the calm and peace which the little Pilgrim had seen in
+the faces of the blessed were but reflections from the majestic
+gentleness of the countenance to which, all quivering with happiness and
+wonder, she lifted up her eyes. Many things there had been in her mind to
+say to him. She wanted to ask for those she loved some things which
+perhaps he had overlooked. She wanted to say, "Send me." It seemed to her
+that here was the occasion she had longed for all her life. Oh, how many
+times had she wished to be able to go to him, to fall at his feet, to
+show him something which had been left undone, something which perhaps
+for her asking he would remember to do. But when this dream of her life
+was fulfilled, and the little Pilgrim, kneeling, and all shaken and
+trembling with devotion and joy, was at his feet, lifting her face to
+him, seeing him, hearing him--then she said nothing to him at all. She
+no longer wanted to say anything, or wanted anything except what he
+chose, or had power to think of anything except that all was well, and
+everything--everything as it should be in his hand. It seemed to her that
+all that she had ever hoped for was fulfilled when she met the look in
+his eyes. At first it seemed too bright for her to meet; but next moment
+she knew it was all that was needed to light up the world, and in it
+everything was clear. Her trembling ceased, her little frame grew
+inspired; though she still knelt, her head rose erect, drawn to him like
+the flower to the sun. She could not tell how long it was, nor what was
+said, nor if it was in words. All that she knew was that she told him all
+that ever she had thought, or wished, or intended in all her life,
+although she said nothing at all; and that he opened all things to her,
+and showed her that everything was well, and no one forgotten; and that
+the things she would have told him of were more near his heart than hers,
+and those to whom she wanted to be sent were in his own hand. But whether
+this passed with words or without words, she could not tell. Her soul
+expanded under his eyes like a flower. It opened out, it comprehended and
+felt and knew. She smote her hands together in her wonder that she could
+have missed seeing what was so clear, and laughed with a sweet scorn at
+her folly, as two people who love each other laugh at the little
+misunderstanding that has parted them. She was bold with him, though she
+was so timid by nature, and ventured to laugh at herself, not to reproach
+herself; for his divine eyes spoke no blame, but smiled upon her folly
+too. And then he laid a hand upon her head, which seemed to fill her with
+currents of strength and joy running through all her veins. And then she
+seemed to come to herself, saying loud out, "And that I will! and that I
+will!" and lo, she was kneeling on the warm, soft sod alone, and hearing
+the sound of his footsteps as he went about his Father's business,
+filling all the air with echoes of blessing. And all the people who were
+coming and going smiled upon her, and she knew they were all glad for her
+that she had seen him, and got the desire of her heart. Some of them
+waved their hands as they passed, and some paused a moment and spoke to
+her with tender congratulations. They seemed to have the tears in their
+eyes for joy, remembering every one the first time they had themselves
+seen him, and the joy of it; so that all about there sounded a concord of
+happy thoughts all echoing to each other, "She has seen the Lord!"
+
+Why did she say, "And that I will! and that I will!" with such fervor and
+delight? She could not have told, but yet she knew. The first thing was
+that she had yet to wait and believe until all things should be
+accomplished, neither doubting nor fearing, but knowing that all should
+be well; and the second was that she must delay no longer, but rise up
+and serve the Father according to what was given her as her reward. When
+she had recovered a little of her rapture, she rose from her knees, and
+stood still for a little, to be sure which way she was to go. And she was
+not aware what guided her, but yet turned her face in the appointed way
+without any doubt. For doubt was now gone away forever, and that fear
+that once gave her so much trouble lest she might not be doing what was
+best. As she moved along she wondered at herself more and more. She felt
+no longer, as at first, like the child she remembered to have been,
+venturing out in the awful lovely stillness of the morning before any one
+was awake; but she felt that to move along was a delight, and that her
+foot scarcely touched the grass. And her whole being was instinct with
+such lightness of strength and life, that it did not matter to her how
+far she went, nor what she carried, nor if the way was easy or hard. The
+way she chose was one of those which led to the great gate, and many met
+her coming from thence, with looks that were somewhat bewildered, as if
+they did not yet know whither they were going or what had happened to
+them,--upon whom she smiled as she passed them with soft looks of
+tenderness and sympathy, knowing what they were feeling, but did not stop
+to explain to them, because she had something else that had been given
+her to do. For this is what always follows in that country when you meet
+the Lord, that you instantly know what it is that he would have you do.
+
+The little Pilgrim thus went on and on toward the gate, which she had not
+seen when she herself came through it, having been lifted in his arms by
+the great Death Angel, and set down softly inside, so that she did not
+know it, or even the shadow of it. As she drew nearer, the light became
+less bright, though very sweet, like a lovely dawn, and she wondered to
+herself to think that she had been here but a moment ago, and yet so much
+had passed since then. And still she was not aware what was her errand,
+but wondered if she was to go back by these same gates, and perhaps
+return where she had been. She went up to them very closely, for she was
+curious to see the place through which she had come in her sleep,--as a
+traveller goes back to see the city gate, with its bridge and portcullis,
+through which he has passed by night. The gate was very great, of a
+wonderful, curious architecture, having strange, delicate arches and
+canopies above. Some parts of them seemed cut very clean and clear; but
+the outlines were all softened with a sort of mist and shadow, so that it
+looked greater and higher than it was. The lower part was not one great
+doorway, as the Pilgrim had supposed, but had innumerable doors, all
+separate and very narrow, so that but one could pass at a time, though
+the arch inclosed all, and seemed filled with great folding gates, in
+which the smaller doors were set, so that if need arose a vast opening
+might be made for many to enter. Of the little doors many were shut as
+the Pilgrim approached; but from moment to moment one after another would
+be pushed softly open from without, and some one would come in. The
+little Pilgrim looked at it all with great interest, wondering which of
+the doors she herself had come by; but while she stood absorbed by this,
+a door was suddenly pushed open close by her, and some one flung forward
+into the blessed country, falling upon the ground, and stretched out wild
+arms as though to clutch the very soil. This sight gave the Pilgrim a
+great surprise; for it was the first time she had heard any sound of
+pain, or seen any sight of trouble, since she entered here. In that
+moment she knew what it was that the dear Lord had given her to do. She
+had no need to pause to think, for her heart told her; and she did not
+hesitate, as she might have done in the other life, not knowing what to
+say. She went forward and gathered this poor creature into her arms, as
+if it had been a child, and drew her quite within the land of peace; for
+she had fallen across the threshold, so as to hinder any one entering who
+might be coming after her. It was a woman, and she had flung herself upon
+her face, so that it was difficult for the little Pilgrim to see what
+manner of person it was; for though she felt herself strong enough to
+take up this new-comer in her arms and carry her away, yet she forbore,
+seeing the will of the stranger was not so. For some time this woman lay
+moaning, with now and then a great sob shaking her as she lay. The little
+Pilgrim had taken her by both her arms, and drawn her head to rest upon
+her own lap, and was still holding the hands, which the poor creature had
+thrown out as if to clutch the ground. Thus she lay for a little while,
+as the little Pilgrim remembered she herself had lain, not wishing to
+move, wondering what had happened to her; then she clutched the hands
+which grasped her, and said, muttering,--
+
+"You are some one new. Have you come to save me? Oh, save me! Oh, save
+me! Don't let me die!"
+
+This was very strange to the little Pilgrim, and went to her heart. She
+soothed the stranger, holding her hands warm and light, and stooping over
+her.
+
+"Dear," she said, "you must try and not be afraid."
+
+"You say so," said the woman, "because you are well and strong. You don't
+know what it is to be seized in the middle of your life, and told
+that you've got to die. Oh, I have been a sinful creature! I am not fit
+to die. Can't you give me something that will cure me? What is the good
+of doctors and nurses if they cannot save a poor soul that is not fit to
+die?"
+
+At this the little Pilgrim smiled upon her, always holding her fast, and
+said,--
+
+"Why are you so afraid to die?"
+
+The woman raised her head to see who it was who put such a strange
+question to her.
+
+"You are some one new," she said. "I have never seen you before. Is there
+any one that is not afraid to die? Would _you_ like to have to give
+your account all in a moment, without any time to prepare?"
+
+"But you have had time to prepare," said the Pilgrim.
+
+"Oh, only a very, very little time. And I never thought it was true. I am
+not an old woman, and I am not fit to die; and I'm poor. Oh, if I were
+rich, I would bribe you to give me something to keep me alive. Won't you
+do it for pity?--won't you do it for pity? When you are as bad as I am,
+oh, you will perhaps call for some one to help you, and find nobody, like
+me."
+
+"I will help you for love," said the little Pilgrim; "some one who loves
+you has sent me."
+
+The woman lifted herself up a little and shook her head. "There is nobody
+that loves me." Then she cast her eyes round her and began to tremble
+again (for the touch of the little Pilgrim had stilled her). "Oh, where
+am I?" she said. "They have taken me away; they have brought me to a
+strange place; and you are new. Oh, where have they taken me?--where am
+I?--where am I?" she cried. "Have they brought me here to die?"
+
+Then the little Pilgrim bent over her and soothed her. "You must not be
+so much afraid of dying; that is all over. You need not fear that any
+more," she said softly; "for here where you now are we have all died."
+
+The woman started up out of her arms, and then she gave a great shriek
+that made the air ring, and cried out, "Dead! am I dead?" with a shudder
+and convulsion, throwing herself again wildly with outstretched hands
+upon the ground.
+
+This was a great and terrible work for the little Pilgrim--the first she
+had ever had to do--and her heart failed her for a moment; but afterward
+she remembered our Brother who sent her, and knew what was best. She drew
+closer to the new-comer, and took her hand again.
+
+"Try," she said, in a soft voice, "and think a little. Do you feel now so
+ill as you were? Do not be frightened, but think a little. I will hold
+your hand. And look at me; you are not afraid of me?"
+
+The poor creature shuddered again, and then she turned her face and
+looked doubtfully, with great dark eyes dilated, and the brow and cheek
+so curved and puckered round them that they seemed to glow out of deep
+caverns. Her face was full of anguish and fear. But as she looked at the
+little Pilgrim, her troubled gaze softened. Of her own accord she clasped
+her other hand upon the one that held hers, and then she said with a
+gasp,--
+
+"I am not afraid of you; that was not true that you said! You are one of
+the sisters, and you want to frighten me and make me repent!"
+
+"You do repent," the Pilgrim said.
+
+"Oh," cried the poor woman, "what has the like of you to do with me? Now
+I look at you, I never saw any one that was like you before. Don't you
+hate me?--don't you loathe me? I do myself. It's so ugly to go wrong. I
+think now I would almost rather die and be done with it. You will say
+that is because I am going to get better. I feel a great deal better now.
+Do you think I am going to get over it? Oh, I am better! I could get up
+out of bed and walk about. Yes, but I am not in bed,--where have you
+brought me? Never mind, it is a fine air; I shall soon get well here."
+
+The Pilgrim was silent for a little, holding her hands. And then she
+said,--
+
+"Tell me how you feel now," in her soft voice.
+
+The woman had sat up and was gazing round her. "It is very strange," she
+said; "it is all confused. I think upon my mother and the old prayers I
+used to say. For a long, long time I always said my prayers; but now I've
+got hardened, they say. Oh, I was once as fresh as any one. It all comes
+over me now. I feel as if I were young again--just come out of the
+country. I am sure that I could walk."
+
+The little Pilgrim raised her up, holding her by her hands; and she stood
+and gazed round about her, making one or two doubtful steps. She was very
+pale, and the light was dim; her eyes peered into it with a scared yet
+eager look. She made another step, then stopped again.
+
+"I am quite well," she said. "I could walk a mile. I could walk any
+distance. What was that you said? Oh, I tell you I am better! I am not
+going to die."
+
+"You will never, never die," said the little Pilgrim; "are you not glad
+it is all over? Oh, I was so glad! And all the more you should be glad if
+you were so much afraid."
+
+But this woman was not glad. She shrank away from her companion, then
+came close to her again, and gripped her with her hands.
+
+"It is your--fun," she said, "or just to frighten me. Perhaps you think
+it will do me no harm as I am getting so well; you want to frighten me to
+make me good. But I mean to be good without that--I do!--I do! When one
+is so near dying as I have been and yet gets better,--for I am going to
+get better! Yes! you know it as well as I."
+
+The little Pilgrim made no reply, but stood by, looking at her charge,
+not feeling that anything was given her to say,--and she was so new to
+this work, that there was a little trembling in her, lest she should not
+do everything as she ought. And the woman looked round with those anxious
+eyes gazing all about. The light did not brighten as it had done when the
+Pilgrim herself first came to this place. For one thing, they had
+remained quite close to the gate, which no doubt threw a shadow. The
+woman looked at that, and then turned and looked into the dim morning,
+and did not know where she was, and her heart was confused and troubled.
+
+"Where are we?" she said. "I do not know where it is; they must have
+brought me here in my sleep,--where are we? How strange to bring a sick
+woman away out of her room in her sleep! I suppose it was the new
+doctor," she went on, looking very closely in the little Pilgrim's face;
+then paused, and drawing a long breath, said softly, "It has done me
+good. It is better air--it is--a new kind of cure!"
+
+But though she spoke like this, she did not convince herself; her eyes
+were wild with wondering and fear. She gripped the Pilgrim's arm more and
+more closely, and trembled, leaning upon her.
+
+"Why don't you speak to me?" she said; "why don't you tell me? Oh, I
+don't know how to live in this place! What do you do?--how do you speak?
+I am not fit for it. And what are you? I never saw you before, nor any
+one like you. What do you want with me? Why are you so kind to me?
+Why--why--"
+
+And here she went off into a murmur of questions. Why? why? always
+holding fast by the little Pilgrim, always gazing round her, groping as
+it were in the dimness with her great eyes.
+
+"I have come because our dear Lord who is our Brother sent me to meet
+you, and because I love you," the little Pilgrim said.
+
+"Love me!" the woman cried, throwing up her hands. "But no one loves me;
+I have not deserved it." Here she grasped her close again with a sudden
+clutch, and cried out, "If this is what you say, where is God?"
+
+"Are you afraid of him?" the little Pilgrim said. Upon which the woman
+trembled so, that the Pilgrim trembled too with the quivering of her
+frame; then loosed her hold, and fell upon her face, and cried,--
+
+"Hide me! hide me! I have been a great sinner. Hide me, that he may not
+see me;" and with one hand she tried to draw the Pilgrim's dress as a
+veil between her and something she feared.
+
+"How should I hide you from him who is everywhere? and why should I hide
+you from your Father?" the little Pilgrim said. This she said almost with
+indignation, wondering that any one could put more trust in her, who was
+no better than a child, than in the Father of all. But then she said,
+"Look into your heart, and you will see you are not so much afraid as you
+think. This is how you have been accustomed to frighten yourself. But now
+look into your heart. You thought you were very ill at first, but not now
+and you think you are afraid; but look into your heart--"
+
+There was a silence; and then the woman raised her head with a wonderful
+look, in which there was amazement and doubt, as if she had heard some
+joyful thing, but dared not yet believe that it was true. Once more she
+hid her face in her hands, and once more raised it again. Her eyes
+softened; a long sigh or gasp, like one taking breath after drowning,
+shook her breast. Then she said, "I think--that is true. But if I am not
+afraid, it is because I am--bad. It is because I am hardened. Oh, should
+not I fear him who can send me away into--the lake that burns--into the
+pit--" And here she gave a great cry, but held the little Pilgrim all the
+while with her eyes, which seemed to plead and ask for better news.
+
+Then there came into the Pilgrim's heart what to say, and she took the
+woman's hand again and held it between her own. "That is the change," she
+said, "that comes when we come here. We are not afraid any more of our
+Father. We are not all happy. Perhaps you will not be happy at first. But
+if he says to you, 'Go!'--even to that place you speak of--you will know
+that it is well, and you will not be afraid. You are not afraid now,--oh,
+I can see it in your eyes. You are not happy, but you are not afraid. You
+know it is the Father. Do not say God,--that is far off,--Father!" said
+the little Pilgrim, holding up the woman's hand clasped in her own. And
+there came into her soul an ecstasy, and tears that were tears of
+blessedness fell from her eyes, and all about her there seemed to shine a
+light. When she came to herself, the woman who was her charge had come
+quite close to her, and had added her other hand to that the Pilgrim
+held, and was weeping and saying, "I am not afraid," with now and then a
+gasp and sob, like a child who after a passion of tears has been
+consoled, yet goes on sobbing and cannot quite forget, and is afraid to
+own that all is well again. Then the Pilgrim kissed her, and bade her
+rest a little; for even she herself felt shaken, and longed for a little
+quiet, and to feel the true sense of the peace that was in her heart. She
+sat down beside her upon the ground, and made her lean her head against
+her shoulder, and thus they remained very still for a little time, saying
+no more. It seemed to the little Pilgrim that her companion had fallen
+asleep, and perhaps it was so, after so much agitation. All this time
+there had been people passing, entering by the many doors. And most of
+them paused a little to see where they were, and looked round them, then
+went on; and it seemed to the little Pilgrim that according to the doors
+by which they entered each took a different way. While she watched,
+another came in by the same door as that at which the woman who was her
+charge had come in. And he too stumbled and looked about him with an air
+of great wonder and doubt. When he saw her seated on the ground, he came
+up to her hesitating, as one in a strange place who does not want to
+betray that he is bewildered and has lost his way. He came with a little
+pretence of smiling, though his countenance was pale and scared, and
+said, drawing his breath quick, "I ought to know where I am, but I have
+lost my head, I think. Will you tell me which is--the way?"
+
+"What way?" cried the little Pilgrim; for her strength was gone from her,
+and she had no word to say to him. He looked at her with that
+bewilderment on his face, and said, "I find myself strange, strange. I
+ought to know where I am; but it is scarcely daylight yet. It is perhaps
+foolish to come out so early in the morning." This he said in his
+confusion, not knowing where he was, nor what he said.
+
+"I think all the ways lead to our Father," said the little Pilgrim
+(though she had not known this till now). "And the dear Lord walks about
+them all. Here you never go astray."
+
+Upon this the stranger looked at her, and asked in a faltering voice,
+"Are you an angel?" still not knowing what he said.
+
+"Oh, no, no; I am only a Pilgrim," she replied.
+
+"May I sit by you a little?" said the man. He sat down, drawing long
+breaths, as though he had gone through great fatigue; and looked about
+with wondering eyes. "You will wonder, but I do not know where I am," he
+said. "I feel as if I must he dreaming. This is not where I expected to
+come. I looked for something very different; do you think there can have
+been any--mistake?"
+
+"Oh, never that," she said; "there are no mistakes here."
+
+Then he looked at her again, and said,--
+
+"I perceive that you belong to this country, though you say you are a
+pilgrim. I should be grateful if you would tell me. Does one live--here?
+And is this all? Is there no--no--but I don't know what word to use. All
+is so strange, different from what I expected."
+
+"Do you know that you have died?"
+
+"Yes--yes, I am quite acquainted with that," he said, hurriedly; as if it
+had been an idea he disliked to dwell upon. "But then I expected--Is
+there no one to tell you where to go, or what you are to be? or to take
+any notice of you?"
+
+The little Pilgrim was startled by this tone. She did not understand its
+meaning, and she had not any word to say to him. She looked at him with
+as much bewilderment as he had shown when he approached her, and replied,
+faltering,--
+
+"There are a great many people here; but I have never heard if there is
+any one to tell you--"
+
+"What does it matter how many people there are if you know none of them?"
+he said.
+
+"We all know each other," she answered him but then paused and hesitated
+a little, because this was what had been said to her, and of herself she
+was not assured of it, neither did she know at all how to deal with this
+stranger, to whom she had not any commission. It seemed that he had no
+one to care for him, and the little Pilgrim had a sense of compassion,
+yet of trouble in her heart; for what could she say? And it was very
+strange to her to see one who was not content here.
+
+"Ah, but there should be some one to point out the way, and tell us which
+is our circle, and where we ought to go," he said. And then he too was
+silent for a while, looking about him as all were fain to do on their
+first arrival, finding everything so strange. There were people coming in
+at every moment, and some were met at the very threshold, and some went
+away alone with peaceful faces, and there were many groups about talking
+together in soft voices; but no one interrupted the other, and though so
+many were there, each voice was as clear as if it had spoken alone, and
+there was no tumult of sound as when many people assemble together in the
+lower world.
+
+The little Pilgrim wondered to find herself with the woman resting upon
+her on one side, and the man seated silent on the other, neither having,
+it appeared, any guide but only herself, who knew so little. How was she
+to lead them in the paths which she did not know?--and she was exhausted
+by the agitation of her struggle with the woman whom she felt to be her
+charge. But in this moment of silence she had time to remember the face
+of the Lord, when he gave her this commission, and her heart was
+strengthened. The man all this time sat and watched, looking eagerly all
+about him, examining the faces of those who went and came: and sometimes
+he made a little start as if to go and speak to some one he knew; but
+always drew back again and looked at the little Pilgrim, as if he had
+said, "This is the one who will serve me best." He spoke to her again
+after a while and said, "I suppose you are one of the guides that show
+the way."
+
+"No," said the little Pilgrim, anxiously. "I know so little! It is not
+long since I came here. I came in the early morning--"
+
+"Why, it is morning now. You could not come earlier than it is now. You
+mean yesterday."
+
+"I think," said the Pilgrim, "that yesterday is the other side; there is
+no yesterday here."
+
+He looked at her with the keen look he had, to understand her the better;
+and then he said,--
+
+"No division of time! I think that must be monotonous. It will be strange
+to have no night; but I suppose one gets used to everything. I hope
+though there is something to do. I have always lived a very busy life.
+Perhaps this is just a little pause before we go--to be--to have--to
+get our--appointed place."
+
+He had an uneasy look as he said this, and looked at her with an anxious
+curiosity, which the little Pilgrim did not understand.
+
+"I do not know," she said softly, shaking her head. "I have so little
+experience. I have not been told of an appointed place."
+
+The man looked at her very strangely.
+
+"I did not think," he said, "that I should have found such ignorance
+here. Is it not well known that we must all appear before the
+judgment-seat of God?"
+
+There words seemed to cause a trembling on the still air, and the woman
+on the other side raised herself suddenly up, clasping her hands and some
+of those who had just entered heard the words, and came and crowded about
+the little Pilgrim, some standing, some falling down upon their knee, all
+with their faces turned towards her. She who had always been so simple
+and small, so little used to teach; she was frightened with the sight of
+all these strangers crowding, hanging upon her lips, looking to her for
+knowledge. She knew not what to do or what to say. The tears came into
+her eyes.
+
+"Oh," she said, "I do not know anything about a judgment-seat. I know
+that our Father is here, and that when we are in trouble we are taken to
+him to be comforted, and that our dear Lord our Brother is among us every
+day, and every one may see him. Listen," she said, standing up suddenly
+among them, feeling strong as an angel. "I have seen him! though I am
+nothing, so little as you see, and often silly, never clever as some of
+you are, I have seen him! and so will all of you. There is no more that I
+know of," she said softly, clasping her hands. "When you see him it comes
+into your heart what you must do."
+
+And then there was a murmur of voices about her, some saying that was
+best, and some wondering if that were all, and some crying if he would
+but come now--while the little Pilgrim stood among them with her face
+shining, and they all looked at her, asking her to tell them more, to
+show them how to find him. But this was far above what she could do, for
+she too was not much more than a stranger, and had little strength. She
+would not go back a step, nor desert those who were so anxious to know,
+though her heart fluttered almost as it had used to do before she died,
+what with her longing to tell them, and knowing that she had no more to
+say.
+
+But in that land it is never permitted that one who stands bravely and
+fails not shall be left without succor; for it is no longer needful there
+to stand even to death, since all dying is over, and all souls are
+tested. When it was seen that the little Pilgrim was thus surrounded by
+so many that questioned her, there suddenly came about her many others
+from the brightness out of which she had come, who, one going to one
+hand, and one to another, safely led them into the ways in which their
+course lay: so that the Pilgrim was free to lead forth the woman who had
+been given her in charge, and whose path lay in a dim, but pleasant
+country, outside of that light and gladness in which the Pilgrim's home
+was.
+
+"But," she said, "you are not to fear or be cast down, because he goes
+likewise by these ways, and there is not a corner in all this land but he
+is to be seen passing by; and he will come and speak to you, and lay his
+hand upon you; and afterwards everything will be clear, and you will know
+what you are to do."
+
+"Stay with me till he comes,--oh, stay with me," the woman cried,
+clinging to her arm.
+
+"Unless another is sent," the little Pilgrim said. And it was nothing to
+her that the air was less bright there, for her mind was full of light,
+so that, though her heart still fluttered a little with all that had
+passed, she had no longing to return, nor to shorten the way, but went by
+the lower road sweetly, with the stranger hanging upon her, who was
+stronger and taller than she. Thus they went on, and the Pilgrim told her
+all she knew, and everything that came into her heart. And so full was
+she of the great things she had to say, that it was a surprise to her,
+and left her trembling, when suddenly the woman took away her clinging
+hand, and flew forward with arms out-spread and a cry of joy. The little
+Pilgrim stood still to see, and on the path before them was a child,
+coming towards them singing, with a look such as is never seen but upon
+the faces of children who have come here early, and who behold the face
+of the Father, and have never known fear nor sorrow. The woman flew and
+fell at the child's feet, and he put his hand upon her, and raised her
+up, and called her "mother." Then he smiled upon the little Pilgrim, and
+led her away.
+
+"Now she needs me no longer," said the Pilgrim; and it was a surprise to
+her, and for a moment she wondered in herself if it was known that this
+child should come so suddenly and her work be over; and also how she was
+to return again to the sweet place among the flowers from which she had
+come. But when she turned to look if there was any way, she found one
+standing by such as she had not yet seen. This was a youth, with a face
+just touched with manhood, as at the moment when the boy ends, when all
+is still fresh and pure in the heart; but he was taller and greater than
+a man.
+
+"I am sent," he said, "little sister, to take you to the Father; because
+you have been very faithful, and gone beyond your strength."
+
+And he took the little Pilgrim by the hand, and she knew he was an angel;
+and immediately the sweet air melted about them into light, and a hush
+came upon her of all thought and all sense, attending till she should
+receive the blessing, and her new name, and see what is beyond telling,
+and hear and understand.
+
+
+
+
+II.
+
+THE LITTLE PILGRIM GOES UP HIGHER.
+
+
+When the little Pilgrim came out of the presence of the Father, she found
+herself in the street of a great city. But what she saw and heard when
+she was with Him it is not given to the tongue of mortal to say, for it
+is beyond words, and beyond even thought. As the mystery of love is not
+to be spoken but to be felt, even in the lower earth, so, but much less,
+is that great mystery of the love of the Father to be expressed in sound.
+The little Pilgrim was very happy when she went into that sacred place,
+but there was a great awe upon her, and it might even be said that she
+was afraid; but when she came out again she feared nothing, but looked
+with clear eyes upon all she saw, loving them, but no more overawed by
+them, having seen that which is above all. When she came forth again to
+her common life--for it is not permitted save for those who have attained
+the greatest heights to dwell there--she had no longer need of any guide,
+but came alone, knowing where to go, and walking where it pleased her,
+with reverence and a great delight in seeing and knowing all that was
+around, but no fear. It was a great city, but it was not like the great
+cities which she had seen. She understood as she passed along how it was
+that those who had been dazzled but by a passing glance had described the
+walls and the pavement as gold. They were like what gold is, beautiful
+and clear, of a lovely color, but softer in tone than metal ever was, and
+as cool and fresh to walk upon and to touch as if they had been velvet
+grass. The buildings were all beautiful, of every style and form that it
+is possible to think of, yet in great harmony, as if every man had
+followed his own taste, yet all had been so combined and grouped by the
+master architect that each individual feature enhanced the effect of the
+rest. Some of the houses were greater and some smaller, but all of them
+were rich in carvings and pictures and lovely decorations, and the effect
+was as if the richest materials had been employed, marbles and beautiful
+sculptured stone, and wood of beautiful tints, though the little Pilgrim
+knew that these were not like the marble and stone she had once known,
+but heavenly representatives of them, far better than they. There were
+people at work upon them, building new houses and making additions, and a
+great many painters painting upon them the history of the people who
+lived there, or of others who were worthy that commemoration. And the
+streets were full of pleasant sound, and of crowds going and coming, and
+the commotion of much business, and many things to do. And this movement,
+and the brightness of the air, and the wonderful things that were to be
+seen on every side, made the Pilgrim gay, so that she could have sung
+with pleasure as she went along. And all who met her smiled, and every
+group exchanged greetings as they passed along, all knowing each other.
+Many of them, as might be seen, had come there, as she did, to see the
+wonders of the beautiful city; and all who lived there were ready to tell
+them whatever they desired to know, and show them the finest houses and
+the greatest pictures. And this gave a feeling of holiday and pleasure
+which was delightful beyond description, for all the busy people about
+were full of sympathy with the strangers, bidding them welcome, inviting
+them into their houses, making the warmest fellowship. And friends were
+meeting continually on every side; but the Pilgrim had no sense that she
+was forlorn in being alone, for all were friends; and it pleased her to
+watch the others, and see how one turned this way and one another, every
+one finding something that delighted him above all other things. She
+herself took a great pleasure in watching a painter, who was standing
+upon a balcony a little way above her, painting upon a great fresco: and
+when he saw this he asked her to come up beside him and see his work. She
+asked him a great many questions about it, and why it was that he was
+working only at the draperies of the figures, and did not touch their
+faces, some of which were already finished and seemed to be looking at
+her, as living as she was, out of the wall, while some were merely
+outlined as yet. He told her that he was not a great painter to do this,
+or to design the great work, but that the master would come presently,
+who had the chief responsibility. "For we have not all the same genius,"
+he said, "and if I were to paint this head it would not have the gift of
+life as that one has; but to stand by and see him put it in, you cannot
+think what a happiness that is; for one knows every touch, and just what
+effect it will have, though one could not do it one's self; and it is a
+wonder and a delight perpetual that it should be done."
+
+The little Pilgrim looked up at him and said, "That is very beautiful to
+say. And do you never wish to be like him--to make the lovely, living
+faces as well as the other parts?"
+
+"Is not this lovely too?" he said; and showed her how he had just put in
+a billowy robe, buoyed out with the wind, and sweeping down from the
+shoulders of a stately figure in such free and graceful folds that she
+would have liked to take it in her hand and feel the silken texture; and
+then he told her how absorbing it was to study the mysteries of color and
+the differences of light. "There is enough in that to make one happy,"
+he said. "It is thought by some that we will all come to the higher point
+with work and thought: but that is not my feeling; and whether it is so
+or not what does it matter, for our Father makes no difference: and all
+of us are necessary to everything that is done: and it is almost more
+delight to see the master do it than to do it with one's own hand. For
+one thing, your own work may rejoice you in your heart, but always
+with a little trembling because it is never so perfect as you would have
+it--whereas in your master's work you have full content, because his idea
+goes beyond yours, and as he makes every touch you can feel 'That is
+right--that is complete--that is just as it ought to be.' Do you
+understand what I mean?" he said, turning to her with a smile.
+
+"I understand it perfectly," she cried, clasping her hands together with
+the delight of accord. "Don't you think that is one of the things that
+are so happy here? you understand at half a word."
+
+"Not everybody," he said, and smiled upon her like a brother; "for we are
+not all alike even here."
+
+"Were you a painter?" she said, "in--in the other--"
+
+"In the old times. I was one of those that strove for the mastery, and
+sometimes grudged--We remember these things at times," he said gravely,
+"to make us more aware of the blessedness of being content."
+
+"It is long since then?" she said with some wistfulness; upon which he
+smiled again.
+
+"So long," he said, "that we have worn out most of our links to the world
+below. We have all come away, and those who were after us for
+generations. But you are a new-comer."
+
+"And are they all with you? are you all--together? do you live--as in the
+old time?"
+
+Upon this the painter smiled, but not so brightly as before.
+
+"Not as in the old time," he said, "nor are they all here. Some are still
+upon the way, and of some we have no certainty, only news from time to
+time. The angels are very good to us. They never miss an occasion to
+bring us news; for they go everywhere, you know."
+
+"Yes," said the little Pilgrim, though indeed she had not known it till
+now; but it seemed to her as if it had come to her mind by nature and she
+had never needed to be told.
+
+"They are so tender-hearted," the painter said; "and more than that, they
+are very curious about men and women. They have known it all from the
+beginning, and it is a wonder to them. There is a friend of mine, an
+angel, who is more wise in men's hearts than any one I know; and yet he
+will say to me sometimes, 'I do not understand you,--you are wonderful.'
+They like to find out all we are thinking. It is an endless pleasure to
+them, just as it is to some of us to watch the people in the other
+worlds."
+
+"Do you mean--where we have come from?" said the little Pilgrim.
+
+"Not always there. We in this city have been long separated from that
+country, for all that we love are out of it."
+
+"But not here?" the little Pilgrim cried again, with a little sorrow--a
+pang that she knew was going to be put away--in her heart.
+
+"But coming! coming!" said the painter, cheerfully; "and some were here
+before us, and some have arrived since. They are everywhere."
+
+"But some in trouble--some in trouble!" she cried, with the tears in her
+eyes.
+
+"We suppose so," he said, gravely; "for some are in that place which once
+was called among us the place of despair."
+
+"You mean--" and though the little Pilgrim had been made free of fear, at
+that word which she would not speak, she trembled, and the light grew dim
+in her eyes.
+
+"Well!" said her new friend, "and what then? The Father sees through and
+through it as he does here; they cannot escape him: so that there is Love
+near them always. I have a son," he said, then sighed a little, but
+smiled again, "who is there."
+
+The little Pilgrim at this clasped her hands with a piteous cry.
+
+"Nay, nay," he said, "little sister; my friend I was telling you of, the
+angel, brought me news of him just now. Indeed there was news of him
+through all the city. Did you not hear all the bells ringing? But perhaps
+that was before you came. The angels who know me best came one
+after another to tell me, and our Lord himself came to wish me joy. My
+son had found the way."
+
+The little Pilgrim did not understand this, and almost thought that the
+painter must be mistaken or dreaming. She looked at him very anxiously
+and said,--
+
+"I thought that those unhappy--never came out any more."
+
+The painter smiled at her in return, and said,--
+
+"Had you children in the old time?"
+
+She paused a little before she replied.
+
+"I had children in love," she said, "but none that were born mine."
+
+"It is the same," he said, "it is the same; and if one of them had sinned
+against you, injured you, done wrong in any way, would you have cast him
+off, or what would you have done?"
+
+"Oh!" said the little Pilgrim again, with a vivid light of memory coming
+into her face, which showed she had no need to think of this as a thing
+that might have happened, but knew. "I brought him home. I nursed him
+well again. I prayed for him night and day. Did you say cast him off?
+when he had most need of me? then I never could have loved him," she
+cried.
+
+The painter nodded his head, and his hand with the pencil in it, for he
+had turned from his picture to look at her.
+
+"Then you think you love better than our Father?" he said; and turned to
+his work, and painted a new fold in the robe, which looked as if a soft
+air had suddenly blown into it, and not the touch of a skilful hand.
+
+This made the Pilgrim tremble, as though in her ignorance she had done
+something wrong. After that there came a great joy into her heart. "Oh,
+how happy you have made me!" she cried. "I am glad with all my heart for
+you and your son--" Then she paused a little and added, "But you said he
+was still there."
+
+"It is true; for the land of darkness is very confusing, they tell me,
+for want of the true light, and our dear friends the angels are not
+permitted to help: but if one follows them, that shows the way. You may
+be in that land yet on your way hither. It was very hard to understand at
+first," said the painter; "there are some sketches I could show you. No
+one has ever made a picture of it, though many have tried; but I could
+show you some sketches--if you wish to see."
+
+To this the little Pilgrim's look was so plain an answer that the painter
+laid down his pallet and his brush, and left his work, to show them to
+her as he had promised. They went down from the balcony and along the
+street until they came to one of the great palaces, where many were
+coming and going. Here they walked through some vast halls, where
+students were working at easels, doing every kind of beautiful work: some
+painting pictures, some preparing drawings, planning houses and palaces.
+The Pilgrim would have liked to pause at every moment to see one lovely
+thing or another; but the painter walked on steadily till he came to a
+room which was full of sketches, some of them like pictures in little,
+with many figures,--some of them only a representation of a flower, or
+the wing of a bird. "These are all the master's," he said; "sometimes the
+sight of them will be enough to put something great into the mind of
+another. In this corner are the sketches I told you of." There were two
+of them hanging together upon the wall, and at first it seemed to the
+little Pilgrim as if they represented the flames and fire of which she
+had read, and this made her shudder for the moment. But then she saw that
+it was a red light like a stormy sunset, with masses of clouds in the
+sky, and a low sun very fiery and dazzling, which no doubt to a hasty
+glance must have looked, with its dark shadows and high lurid lights,
+like the fires of the bottomless pit. But when you looked down you saw
+the reality what it was. The country that lay beneath was full of
+tropical foliage, but with many stretches of sand and dry plains, and in
+the foreground was a town, that looked very prosperous and crowded,
+though the figures were very minute, the subject being so great; but no
+one to see it would have taken it for anything but a busy and wealthy
+place, in a thunderous atmosphere, with a storm coming on. In the next
+there was a section of a street with a great banqueting hall open to the
+view, and many people sitting about the table. You could see that there
+was a great deal of laughter and conversation going on, some very noisy
+groups, but others that sat more quietly in corners and conversed, and
+some who sang, and every kind of entertainment. The little Pilgrim was
+very much astonished to see this, and turned to the painter, who answered
+her directly, though she had not spoken. "We used to think differently
+once. There are some who are there and do not know it. They think only it
+is the old life over again, but always worse, and they are led on in the
+ways of evil; but they do not feel the punishment until they begin to
+find out where they are and to struggle, and wish for other things."
+
+The little Pilgrim felt her heart beat very wildly while she looked at
+this, and she thought upon the rich man in the parable, who, though he
+was himself in torment, prayed that his brother might be saved, and she
+said to herself, "Our dear Lord would never leave him there who could
+think of his brother when he was himself in such a strait." And when she
+looked at the painter he smiled upon her, and nodded his head. Then he
+led her to the other corner of the room where there were other pictures.
+One of them was of a party seated round a table and an angel looking
+on. The angel had the aspect of a traveller, as if he were passing
+quickly by and had but paused a moment to look, and one of the men
+glancing up suddenly saw him. The picture was dim, but the startled look
+upon this man's face, and the sorrow on the angel's, appeared out of the
+misty background with such truth that the tears came into the little
+Pilgrim's eyes, and she said in her heart, "Oh that I could go to him and
+help him!" The other sketches were dimmer and dimmer. You seemed to see
+out of the darkness, gleaming lights, and companies of revellers, out of
+which here and there was one trying to escape. And then the wide plains
+in the night, and the white vision of the angel in the distance, and here
+and there by different paths a fugitive striving to follow. "Oh, sir,"
+said the little Pilgrim, "how did you learn to do it? You have never been
+there."
+
+"It was the master, not I; and I cannot tell you if he has ever been
+there. When the Father has given you that gift, you can go to many
+places, without leaving the one where you are. And then he has heard what
+the angels say."
+
+"And will they all get safe at the last? and even that great spirit, he
+that fell from heaven--"
+
+The painter shook his head and said, "It is not permitted to you and me
+to know such great things. Perhaps the wise will tell you if you ask
+them: but for me I ask the Father in my heart and listen to what he
+says."
+
+"That is best!" the little Pilgrim said; and she asked the Father in her
+heart: and there came all over her such a glow of warmth and happiness
+that her soul was satisfied. She looked in the painter's face and laughed
+for joy. And he put out his hands as if welcoming some one, and his
+countenance shone; and he said,--
+
+"My son had a great gift. He was a master born, though it was not given
+to me. He shall paint it all for us so that the heart shall rejoice; and
+you will come again and see."
+
+After that it happened to the little Pilgrim to enter into another great
+palace where there were many people reading, and some sitting at their
+desks and writing, and some consulting together, with many great volumes
+stretched out open upon the tables. One of these who was seated alone
+looked up as she paused wondering at him, and smiled as every one did,
+and greeted her with such a friendly tone that the Pilgrim, who always
+had a great desire to know, came nearer to him and looked at the book,
+then begged his pardon, and said she did not know that books were needed
+here. And then he told her that he was one of the historians of the city
+where all the records of the world were kept, and that it was his
+business to work upon the great history, and to show what was the meaning
+of the Father in everything that had happened, and how each event came in
+its right place.
+
+"And do you get it out of books?" she asked; for she was not learned, nor
+wise, and knew but little, though she always loved to know.
+
+"The books are the records," he said; "and there are many here that were
+never known to us in the old days; for the angels love to look into
+these things, and they can tell us much, for they saw it; and in the
+great books they have kept there is much put down that was never in the
+books we wrote, for then we did not know. We found out about the kings
+and the state, and tried to understand what great purposes they were
+serving; but even these we did not know, for those purposes were too
+great for us, not knowing the end from the beginning, and the hearts of
+men were too great for us. We comprehended the evil sometimes, but never
+fathomed the good. And how could we know the lesser things which were
+working out God's way? for some of these even the angels did not know;
+and it has happened to me that our Lord himself has come in sometimes to
+tell me of one that none of us had discovered."
+
+"Oh," said the little Pilgrim, with tears in her eyes, "I should like to
+have been that one!--that was not known even to the angels, but only
+to Himself!"
+
+The historian smiled. "It was my brother," he said.
+
+The Pilgrim looked at him with great wonder. "Your brother, and you did
+not know him!"
+
+And then he turned over the pages and showed her where the story was.
+
+"You know," he said, "that we who live here are not of your time, but
+have lived and lived here till the old life is far away and like a dream.
+There were great tumults and fightings in our time, and it was settled by
+the prince of the place that our town was to be abandoned, and all the
+people left to the mercy of an enemy who had no mercy. But every day as
+he rode out he saw at one door a child, a little fair boy, who sat on the
+steps, and sang his little song like a bird. This child was never afraid
+of anything,--when the horses pranced past him, and the troopers pushed
+him aside, he looked up into their faces and smiled. And when he had
+anything, a piece of bread, or an apple, or a plaything, he shared it
+with his playmates; and his little face, and his pretty voice, and all
+his pleasant ways, made that corner bright. He was like a flower growing
+there; everybody smiled that saw him."
+
+"I have seen such a child," the little Pilgrim said.
+
+"But we made no account of him," said the historian. "The Lord of the
+place came past him every day, and always saw him singing in the sun by
+his father's door. And it was a wonder then, and it has been a wonder
+ever since, why, having resolved upon it, that prince did not abandon the
+town, which would have changed all his fortune after. Much had been made
+clear to me since I began to study, but not this: till the Lord himself
+came to me and told me. The prince looked at the child till he loved him,
+and he reflected how many children there were like this that would be
+murdered, or starved to death, and he could not give up the little
+singing boy to the sword. So he remained; and the town was saved, and he
+became a great king. It was so secret that even the angels did not know
+it. But without that child the history would not have been complete."
+
+"And is he here?" the little Pilgrim said.
+
+"Ah," said the historian, "that is more strange still; for that which
+saved him was also to his harm. He is not here. He is Elsewhere."
+
+The little Pilgrim's face grew sad; but then she remembered what she had
+been told.
+
+"But you know," she said, "that he is coming?"
+
+"I know that our Father will never forsake him, and that everything that
+is being accomplished in him is well."
+
+"Is it well to suffer? Is it well to live in that dark stormy country?
+Oh, that they were all here, and happy like you!"
+
+He shook his head a little and said,--
+
+"It was a long time before I got here; and as for suffering that matters
+little. You get experience by it. You are more accomplished and fit for
+greater work in the end. It is not for nothing that we are permitted to
+wander; and sometimes one goes to the edge of despair--"
+
+She looked at him with such wondering eyes that he answered her without a
+word.
+
+"Yes," he said, "I have been there."
+
+And then it seemed to her that there was something in his eyes which she
+had not remarked before. Not only the great content that was everywhere,
+but a deeper light, and the air of a judge who knew both good and evil,
+and could see both sides, and understood all, both to love and to hate.
+
+"Little sister," he said, "you have never wandered far; it is not needful
+for such as you. Love teaches you, and you need no more; but when we have
+to be trained for an office like this, to make the way of the Lord clear
+through all the generations, reason is that we should see everything, and
+learn all that man is and can be. These things are too deep for us; we
+stumble on, and know not till after. But now to me it is all clear."
+
+She looked at him again and again while he spoke, and it seemed to her
+that she saw in him such great knowledge and tenderness as made her glad;
+and how he could understand the follies that men had done, and fathom
+what real meaning was in them, and disentangle all the threads. He smiled
+as she gazed at him, and answered as if she had spoken.
+
+"What was evil perishes, and what was good remains; almost everywhere
+there is a little good. We could not understand all if we had not seen
+all and shared all."
+
+"And the punishment too," she said, wondering more and more.
+
+He smiled so joyfully that it was like laughter.
+
+"Pain is a great angel," he said. "The reason we hated him in the old
+days was because he tended to death and decay; but when it is towards
+life he leads, we fear him no more. The welcome thing of all in the land
+of darkness is when you see him first and know who he is; for by this you
+are aware that you have found the way."
+
+The little Pilgrim did nothing but question with her anxious eyes, for
+this was such a wonder to her, and she could not understand. But he only
+sat musing with a smile over the things he remembered. And at last he
+said,--
+
+"If this is so interesting to you, you shall read it all in another
+place, in the room where we have laid up our own experiences, in order to
+serve for the history afterwards. But we are still busy upon the work of
+the earth. There is always something new to be discovered. And it is
+essential for the whole world that the chronicle should be full. I am in
+great joy because it was but just now that our Lord told me about that
+child. Everything was imperfect without him, but now it is clear."
+
+"You mean your brother? And you are happy though you are not sure if he
+is happy?" the little Pilgrim said.
+
+"It is not to be happy that we live," said he; and then, "We are all
+happy so soon as we have found the way."
+
+She would have asked him more, but that he was called to a consultation
+with some others of his kind, and had to leave her, waving his hand to
+her with a tender kindness which went to her heart. She looked after him
+with great respect, scarcely knowing why; but it seemed to her that a man
+who had been in the land of darkness, and made his way out of it, must be
+more wonderful than any other. She looked round for a little upon the
+great library, full of all the books that had ever been written, and
+where people were doing their work, examining and reading and making
+extracts, every one with looks of so much interest, that she almost
+envied them,--though it was a generous delight in seeing people so
+happy in their occupation, and a desire to associate herself somehow in
+it, rather than any grudging of their satisfaction, that was in her
+mind. She went about all the courts of this palace alone, and everywhere
+saw the same work going on, and everywhere met the same kind looks. Even
+when the greatest of all looked up from his work and saw her, he would
+give her a friendly greeting and a smile; and nobody was too wise to lend
+an ear to the little visitor, or to answer her questions. And this was
+how it was that she began to talk to another, who was seated at a great
+table with many more, and who drew her to him by something that was in
+his looks, though she could not have told what it was. It was not that he
+was kinder than the rest, for they were all kind. She stood by him a
+little, and saw how he worked and would take something from one book and
+something from another, putting them ready for use. And it did not seem
+any trouble to do this work, but only pleasure, and the very pen in his
+hand was like a winged thing, as if it loved to write. When he saw her
+watching him, he looked up and showed her the beautiful book out of which
+he was copying, which was all illuminated with lovely pictures.
+
+"This is one of the volumes of the great history," he said. "There are
+some things in it which are needed for another, and it is a pleasure to
+work at it. If you will come here you will be able to see the page while
+I write."
+
+Then the little Pilgrim asked him some questions about the pictures, and
+he answered her, describing and explaining them; for they were in the
+middle of the history, and she did not understand what it was. When she
+said, "I ought not to trouble you, for you are busy," he laughed so
+kindly that she laughed too for pleasure. And he said,--
+
+"There is no trouble here. When we are not allowed to work, as sometimes
+happens, that makes us not quite so happy, but it is very seldom that it
+happens so."
+
+"Is it for punishment?" she said.
+
+And then he laughed out with a sound which made all the others look up
+smiling; and if they had not all looked so tenderly at her, as at a child
+who has made such a mistake as it is pretty for the child to make, she
+would have feared she had said something wrong; but she only laughed at
+herself too, and blushed a little, knowing that she was not wise: and to
+put her at her ease again, he turned the leaf and showed her other
+pictures, and the story which went with them, from which he was copying
+something. And he said,--
+
+"This is for another book, to show how the grace of the Father was
+beautiful in some homes and families. It is not the great history, but
+connected with it; and there are many who love that better than the story
+which is more great."
+
+Then the Pilgrim looked in his face and said,--
+
+"What I want most is, to know about your homes here."
+
+"It is all home here," he said, and smiled; and then, as he met her
+wistful looks, he went on to tell her that he and his brothers were not
+always there. "We have all our occupations," he said, "and sometimes I am
+sent to inquire into facts that have happened, of which the record is not
+clear; for we must omit nothing; and sometimes we are told to rest and
+take in new strength; and sometimes--"
+
+"But oh, forgive me," cried the little Pilgrim, "you had some who were
+more dear to you than all the world in the old time?"
+
+And the others all looked up again at the question, and looked at her
+with tender eyes, and said to the man whom she questioned,--"Speak!"
+
+He made a little pause before he spoke, and he looked at one here and
+there, and called to them,--
+
+"Patience, brother," and "Courage, brother." And then he said, "Those
+whom we loved best are nearly all with us; but some have not yet come."
+
+"Oh," said the little Pilgrim, "but how then do you bear it, to be parted
+so long--so long?"
+
+Then one of those to whom the first speaker had called out "Patience"
+rose, and came to her smiling; and he said,--
+
+"I think every hour that perhaps she will come, and the joy will be so
+great, that thinking of that makes the waiting short: and nothing here is
+long, for it never ends; and it will be so wonderful to hear her tell how
+the Father has guided her, that it will be a delight to us all; and she
+will be able to explain many things, not only for us, but for all; and we
+love each other so that this separation is as nothing in comparison with
+what is to come."
+
+It was beautiful to hear this, but it was not what the little Pilgrim
+expected, for she thought they would have told her of the homes to which
+they all returned when their work was over, and a life which was like the
+life of the old time; but of this they said nothing, only looking at her
+with smiling eyes, as at the curious questions of a child. And there were
+many other things she would have asked, but refrained when she looked at
+them, feeling as if she did not yet understand; when one of them broke
+forth suddenly in a louder voice, and said,--
+
+"The little sister knows only the little language and the beginning of
+days. She has not learned the mysteries, and what Love is, and what life
+is."
+
+And another cried, "It is sweet to hear it again;" and they all gathered
+round her with tender looks, and began to talk to each other, and tell
+her, as men will tell of the games of their childhood, of things that
+happened, which were half-forgotten, in the old time.
+
+After this the little Pilgrim went out again into the beautiful city,
+feeling in her heart that everything was a mystery, and that the days
+would never be long enough to learn all that had yet to be learned, but
+knowing now that this too was the little language, and pleased with the
+sweet thought of so much that was to come. For one had whispered to her
+as she went out that the new tongue, and every explanation, as she was
+ready for it, would come to her through one of those whom she loved best,
+which is the usage of that country. And when the stranger has no one
+there that is very dear, then it is an angel who teaches the greater
+language, and that is what happens often to the children who are
+brought up in that heavenly place. When she reached the street again, she
+was so pleased with this thought that it went out of her mind to ask her
+way to the great library, where she was to read the story of the
+historian's journey through the land of darkness; indeed she forgot that
+land altogether, and thought only of what was around her in the great
+city, which is beyond everything that eye has seen, or that ear has
+heard, or that it has entered into the imagination to conceive. And now
+it seemed to her that she was much more familiar with the looks of the
+people, and could distinguish between those who belonged to the city and
+those who were visitors like herself; and also could tell which they were
+who had entered into the mysteries of the kingdom, and which were, like
+herself, only acquainted with the beginning of days. And it came to her
+mind, she could not tell how, that it was best not to ask questions, but
+to wait until the beloved one should come, who would teach her the first
+words. For in the mean time she did not feel at all impatient or
+disturbed by her want of knowledge, but laughed a little at herself to
+suppose that she could find out everything, and went on looking round
+her, and saying a word to every one she met, and enjoying the holiday
+looks of all the strangers, and the sense she had in her heart of holiday
+too. She was walking on in this pleasant way, when she heard a sound that
+was like silver trumpets, and saw the crowd turn towards an open space in
+which all the beautiful buildings were shaded with fine trees, and
+flowers were springing at the very edge of the pavements. The strangers
+all hastened along to hear what it was, and she with them, and some also
+of the people of the place. And as the little Pilgrim found herself
+walking by a woman who was of these last, she asked her what it was.
+
+And the woman told her it was a poet who had come to say to them what had
+been revealed to him, and that the two with the silver trumpets were
+angels of the musicians' order, whose office it was to proclaim
+everything that was new, that the people should know. And many of those
+who were at work in the palaces came out and joined the crowd, and the
+painter who had showed the little Pilgrim his picture, and many whose
+faces she began to be acquainted with. The poet stood up upon a beautiful
+pedestal all sculptured in stone, and with wreaths of living flowers hung
+upon it--and when the crowd had gathered in front of him, he began his
+poem. He told them that it was not about this land, or anything that
+happened in it, which they knew as he did, but that it was a story of the
+old time, when men were walking in darkness, and when no one knew the
+true meaning even of what he himself did, but had to go on as if blindly,
+stumbling and groping with their hands. And "Oh, brethren," he said,
+"though all is more beautiful and joyful here where we know, yet to
+remember the days when we knew not, and the ways when all was uncertain,
+and the end could not be distinguished from the beginning, is sweet and
+dear; and that which was done in the dim twilight should be celebrated in
+the day; and our Father himself loves to hear of those who, having not
+seen, loved, and who learned without any teacher, and followed the light,
+though they did not understand."
+
+And then he told them the story of one who had lived in the old time; and
+in that air, which seemed to be made of sunshine, and amid all those
+stately palaces, he described to them the little earth which they had
+left behind--the skies that were covered with clouds, and the ways that
+were so rough and stony, and the cruelty of the oppressor, and the cries
+of those that were oppressed. And he showed the sickness and the
+troubles, and the sorrow and danger; and how Death stalked about, and
+tore heart from heart; and how sometimes the strongest would fail, and
+the truest fall under the power of a lie, and the tenderest forget to be
+kind; and how evil things lurked in every corner to beguile the dwellers
+there; and how the days were short and the nights dark, and life so
+little that by the time a man had learned something it was his hour to
+die. "What can a soul do that is born there?" he cried; "for war is there
+and fighting, and perplexity and darkness; and no man knows if that
+which he does will be for good or evil, or can tell which is the best
+way, or know the end from the beginning; and those he loves the most are
+a mystery to him, and their thoughts beyond his reach. And clouds are
+between him and the Father, and he is deceived with false gods and false
+teachers, who make him to love a lie." The people who were listening held
+their breath, and a shadow like a cloud fell on them, and they remembered
+and knew that it was true. But the next moment their hearts rebelled, and
+one and another would have spoken, and the little Pilgrim herself had
+almost cried out and made her plea for the dear earth which she loved;
+when he suddenly threw forth his voice again like a great song. "Oh, dear
+mother earth," he cried; "oh, little world and great, forgive thy son!
+for lovely thou art and dear, and the sun of God shines upon thee, and
+the sweet dews fall; and there were we born, and loved and died, and are
+come hence to bless the Father and the Son. For in no other world, though
+they are so vast, is it given to any to know the Lord in the darkness,
+and follow him groping, and make way through sin and death, and overcome
+the evil, and conquer in his name." At which there was a great sound of
+weeping and of triumph, and the little Pilgrim could not contain herself,
+but cried out too in joy as if for a deliverance. And then the poet told
+his tale. And as he told them of the man who was poor and sorrowful and
+alone, and how he loved and was not loved again, and trusted and was
+betrayed, and was tempted and drawn into the darkness, so that it seemed
+as if he must perish; but when hope was almost gone, turned again from
+the edge of despair, and confronted all his enemies, and fought and
+conquered--the people followed every word with great outcries of love and
+pity and wonder. For each one as he listened remembered his own career
+and that of his brethren in the old life, and admired to think that all
+the evil was past, and wondered that out of such tribulation and through
+so many dangers all were safe and blessed here. And there were others
+that were not of them, who listened, some seated at the windows of the
+palaces and some standing in the great square,--people who were not like
+the others, whose bearing was more majestic, and who looked upon the
+crowd all smiling and weeping, with wonder and interest, but had no
+knowledge of the cause, and listened as it were to a tale that is told.
+The poet and his audience were as one, and at every period of the story
+there was a deep breathing and pause, and every one looked at his
+neighbor, and some grasped each other's hands as they remembered all that
+was in the past; but the strangers listened and gazed and observed all,
+as those who listen and are instructed in something beyond their
+knowledge. The little Pilgrim stood all this time not knowing where she
+was, so intent was she upon the tale; and as she listened it seemed to
+her that all her own life was rolling out before her, and she remembered
+the things that had been, and perceived how all had been shaped and
+guided, and trembled a little for the brother who was in danger, yet knew
+that all would be well.
+
+The woman who had been at her side listened too with all her heart,
+saying to herself, as she stood in the crowd, "He has left nothing out!
+The little days they were so short, and the skies would change all in a
+moment and one's heart with them. How he brings it all back!" And she put
+up her hand to dry away a tear from her eyes, though her face all the
+time was shining with the recollection. The little Pilgrim was glad to be
+by the side of a woman after talking with so many men, and she put out
+her hand and touched the cloak that this lady wore, and which was white
+and of the most beautiful texture, with gold threads woven in it, or
+something that looked like gold.
+
+"Do you like," she said, "to think of the old time?"
+
+The woman turned and looked down upon her, for she was tall and stately,
+and immediately took the hand of the little Pilgrim into hers, and held
+it without answering, till the poet had ended and come down from the
+place where he had been standing. He came straight through the crowd to
+where this lady stood, and said something to her. "You did well to tell
+me," looking at her with love in his eyes,--not the tender sweetness
+of all those kind looks around, but the love that is for one. The little
+Pilgrim looked at them with her heart beating, and was very glad for
+them, and happy in herself; for she had not seen this love before since
+she came into the city, and it had troubled her to think that perhaps it
+did not exist any more. "I am glad," the lady said, and gave him her
+other hand; "but here is a little sister who asks me something, and I
+must answer her. I think she has but newly come."
+
+"She has a face full of the morning," the poet said. It did the little
+Pilgrim good to feel the touch of the warm, soft hand; and she was not
+afraid, but lifted her eyes and spoke to the lady and to the poet. "It is
+beautiful what you said to us. Sometimes in the old time we used to look
+up to the beautiful skies and wonder what there was above the clouds; but
+we never thought that up here in this great city you would be thinking of
+what we were doing, and making beautiful poems all about us. We thought
+that you would sing wonderful psalms, and talk of things high, high above
+us."
+
+"The little sister does not know what the meaning of the earth is," the
+poet said. "It is but a little speck, but it is the centre of all. Let
+her walk with us, and we will go home, and you will tell her, Ama, for I
+love to hear you talk."
+
+"Will you come with us?" the lady said.
+
+And the little Pilgrim's heart leaped up in her, to think she was now
+going to see a home in this wonderful city; and they went along, hand in
+hand, and though they were three together, and many were coming and
+going, there was no difficulty, for every one made way for them. And
+there was a little murmur of pleasure as the poet passed, and those who
+had heard his poem made obeisance to him, and thanked him, and thanked
+the Father for him that he was able to show them so many beautiful
+things. And they walked along the street which was shining with color,
+and saw as they passed how the master painter had come to his work, and
+was standing upon the balcony where the little Pilgrim had been, and
+bringing out of the wall, under his hand, faces which were full of life,
+and which seemed to spring forth as if they had been hidden there. "Let
+us wait a little and see him working," the poet said; and all round about
+the people stopped on their way, and there was a soft cry of pleasure and
+praise all through the beautiful street. And the painter with whom the
+little Pilgrim had talked before came, and stood behind her as if he had
+been an old friend, and called out to her at every new touch to mark how
+this and that was done. She did not understand as he did, but she saw how
+beautiful it was, and she was glad to have seen the great painter, as she
+had been glad to hear the great poet. It seemed to the little Pilgrim as
+if everything happened well for her, and that no one had ever been so
+blessed before. And to make it all more sweet, this new friend, this
+great and sweet lady, always held her hand, and pressed it softly when
+something more lovely appeared; and even the pictured faces on the wall
+seemed to beam upon her, as they came out one by one like the stars in
+the sky. Then the three went on again, and passed by many more beautiful
+palaces, and great streets leading away into the light, till you could
+see no further; and they met with bands of singers who sang so sweetly
+that the heart seemed to leap out of the Pilgrim's breast to meet with
+them, for above all things this was what she had loved most. And out of
+one of the palaces there came such glorious music that everything she had
+seen and heard before seemed as nothing in comparison. And amid all these
+delights they went on and on, but without wearying, till they came out of
+the streets into lovely walks and alleys, and made their way to the banks
+of a great river, which seemed to sing, too, a soft melody of its own.
+
+And here there were some fair houses surrounded by gardens and flowers
+that grew everywhere, and the doors were all open, and within everything
+was lovely and still, and ready for rest if you were weary. The little
+Pilgrim was not weary; but the lady placed her upon a couch in the porch,
+where the pillars and the roof were all formed of interlacing plants and
+flowers; and there they sat with her, and talked, and explained to her
+many things. They told her that the earth though so small was the place
+in all the world to which the thoughts of those above were turned. "And
+not only of us who have lived there, but of all our brothers in the other
+worlds; for we are the race which the Father has chosen to be the
+example. In every age there is one that is the scene of the struggle and
+the victory, and it is for this reason that the chronicles are made, and
+that we are all placed here to gather the meaning of what has been done
+among men. And I am one of those," the lady said, "that go back to the
+dear earth and gather up the tale of what our little brethren are doing.
+I have not to succor like some others, but only to see and bring the
+news; and he makes them into great poems, as you have heard; and
+sometimes the master painter will take one and make of it a picture; and
+there is nothing that is so delightful to us as when we can bring back
+the histories of beautiful things."
+
+"But, oh," said the little Pilgrim, "what can there be on earth so
+beautiful as the meanest thing that is here?"
+
+Then they both smiled upon her and said, "It is more beautiful than the
+most beautiful thing here to see how, under the low skies and in the
+short days, a soul will turn to our Father. And sometimes," said Ama,
+"when I am watching, one will wander and stray, and be led into the
+dark till my heart is sick; then come back and make me glad. Sometimes I
+cry out within myself to the Father, and say, 'O my Father, it is
+enough!' and it will seem to me that it is not possible to stand by and
+see his destruction.  And then while you are gazing, while you are
+crying, he will recover and return, and go on again. And to the angels it
+is more wonderful than to us, for they have never lived there. And all
+the other worlds are eager to hear what we can tell them. For no one
+knows except the Father how the battle will turn, or when it will all be
+accomplished; and there are some who tremble for our little brethren. For
+to look down and see how little light there is, and how no one knows what
+may happen to him next, makes them afraid who never were there."
+
+The little Pilgrim listened with an intent face, clasping her hands, and
+said,--
+
+"But it never could be that our Father should be overcome by evil. Is not
+that known in all the worlds?"
+
+Then the lady turned and kissed her; and the poet broke forth in singing,
+and said, "Faith is more heavenly than heaven; it is more beautiful than
+the angels. It is the only voice that can answer to our Father. We praise
+him, we glorify him, we love his name; but there is but one response to
+him through all the worlds, and that is the cry of the little brothers,
+who see nothing and know nothing, but believe that he will never fail."
+
+At this the little Pilgrim wept, for her heart was touched; but she
+said,--
+
+"We are not so ignorant; for we have our Lord who is our Brother, and he
+teaches us all that we require to know."
+
+Upon this the poet rose and lifted up his hands and sang again a great
+song; it was in the other language which the little Pilgrim still did not
+understand, but she could make out that it sounded like a great
+proclamation that He was wise as he was good, and called upon all to see
+that the Lord had chosen the only way: and the sound of the poet's voice
+was like a great trumpet sounding bold and sweet, as if to tell this to
+those who were far away.
+
+"For you must know," said the Lady Ama, who all the time held the
+Pilgrim's hand, "that it is permitted to all to judge according to the
+wisdom that has been given them. And there are some who think that our
+dear Lord might have found another way, and that wait, sometimes with
+trembling, lest he should fail; but not among us who have lived on earth,
+for we know. And it is our work to show to all the worlds that his way
+never fails, and how wonderful it is, and beautiful above all that heart
+has conceived. And thus we justify the ways of God, who is our Father.
+But in the other worlds there are many who will continue to fear until
+the history of the earth is all ended and the chronicles are made
+complete."
+
+"And will that be long?" the little Pilgrim cried, feeling in her heart
+that she would like to go to all the worlds and tell them of our Lord,
+and of his love, and how the thought of him makes you strong; and it
+troubled her a little to hear her friends speak of the low skies, and the
+short days, and the dimness of that dear country which she had left
+behind, in which there were so many still whom she loved.
+
+Upon this Ama shook her head, and said that of that day no one knew, not
+even our Lord, but only the Father; and then she smiled and answered the
+little Pilgrim's thought. "When we go back," she said, "it is not as when
+we lived there; for now we see all the dangers of it and the mysteries
+which we did not see before. It was by the Father's dear love that we did
+not see what was around us and about us while we lived there, for then
+our hearts would have fainted; and that makes us wonder now that any one
+endures to the end."
+
+"You are a great deal wiser than I am," said the little Pilgrim; "but,
+though our hearts had fainted, how could we have been overcome? For He
+was on our side."
+
+At this neither of them made any reply at first, but looked at her; and
+at length the poet said that she had brought many thoughts back to his
+mind, and how he had himself been almost worsted when one like her came
+to him and gave strength to his soul. "For that He was on our side was
+the only thing she knew," he said, "and all that could be learned or
+discovered was not worthy of naming beside it. And this I must tell when
+next I speak to the people, and how our little sister brought it to my
+mind."
+
+And then they paused from this discourse, and the little Pilgrim looked
+round upon the beautiful houses and the fair gardens, and she said,--
+
+"You live here? and do you come home at night?--but I do not mean at
+night, I mean when your work is done. And are they poets like you that
+dwell all about in these pleasant places, and the--"
+
+She would have said the children, but stopped, not knowing if perhaps it
+might be unkind to speak of the children when she saw none there.
+
+Upon this the lady smiled once more, and said,--
+
+"The door stands open always, so that no one is shut out, and the
+children come and go when they will. They are children no longer, and
+they have their appointed work like him and me."
+
+"And you are always among those you love?" the Pilgrim said; upon which
+they smiled again and said, "We all love each other;" and the lady held
+her hand in both of hers, and caressed it, and softly laughed and said,
+"You know only the little language. When you have been taught the other
+you will learn many beautiful things."
+
+She rested for some time after this, and talked much with her new
+friends; and then there came into the heart of the little Pilgrim a
+longing to go to the place which was appointed for her, and which was her
+home, and to do the work which had been given her to do. And when the
+lady saw this she rose and said that she would accompany her a little
+upon her way. But the poet bid her farewell and remained under the porch,
+with the green branches shading him, and the flowers twining round the
+pillars, and the open door of this beautiful house behind him. When
+she looked back upon him he waved his hand to her as if bidding her
+God-speed, and the lady by her side looked back too and waved her hand,
+and the little Pilgrim felt tears of happiness come to her eyes; for she
+had been wondering with a little disappointment to see that the people in
+the city, except those who were strangers, were chiefly alone, and not
+like those in the old world where the husband and wife go together. It
+consoled her to see again two who were one. The lady pressed her hand in
+answer to her thought, and bade her pause a moment and look back into the
+city as they passed the end of the great street out of which they came.
+And then the Pilgrim was more and more consoled, for she saw many who
+had before been alone now walking together hand in hand.
+
+"It is not as it was," Ama said. "For all of us have work to do which is
+needed for the worlds, and it is no longer needful that one should sit at
+home while the other goes forth; for our work is not for our life as of
+old, or for ourselves, but for the Father who has given us so great a
+trust. And, little sister, you must know that though we are not so great
+as the angels, nor as many that come to visit us from the other worlds,
+yet we are nearer to him. For we are in his secret, and it is ours to
+make it clear."
+
+The little Pilgrim's heart was very full to hear this; but she said,--
+
+"I was never clever, nor knew much. It is better for me to go away to my
+little border-land, and help the strangers who do not know the way."
+
+"Whatever is your work is the best," the lady said; "but though you are
+so little you are in the Father's secret too, for it is nature to you to
+know what the others cannot be sure of, that we must have the victory at
+the last: so that we have this between us, the Father and we. And though
+all are his children, we are of the kindred of God, because of our Lord
+who is our Brother." And then the Lady Ama kissed her, and bade her when
+she returned to the great city, either for rest or for love, or because
+the Father sent for her, that she should come to the house by the river.
+"For we are friends for ever," she said, and so threw her white veil over
+her head, and was gone upon her mission, whither the little Pilgrim did
+not know.
+
+And now she found herself at a distance from the great city, which shone
+in the light with its beautiful towers, and roofs, and all its monuments,
+softly fringed with trees, and set in a heavenly firmament. And the
+Pilgrim thought of those words that described this lovely place as a
+bride adorned for her husband, and did not wonder at him who had said
+that her streets were of gold and her gates of pearl, because gold and
+pearls and precious jewels were as nothing to the glory and the beauty of
+her. The little Pilgrim was glad to have seen these wonderful things, and
+her mind was like a cup running over with almost more than it could
+contain. It seemed to her that there never could be a time when she
+should want for wonder and interest and delight, so long as she had this
+to think of. Yet she was not sorry to turn her back upon the beautiful
+city, but went on her way singing in unutterable content, and thinking
+over what the lady had said, that we were in God's secret, more than all
+the great worlds above and even the angels, because of knowing how it is
+that in darkness and doubt, and without any open vision, a man may still
+keep the right way. The path lay along the bank of the river which flowed
+beside her and made the air full of music, and a soft air blew across the
+running stream and breathed in her face and refreshed her, and the birds
+sang in all the trees. And as she passed through the villages the people
+came out to meet her, and asked of her if she had come from the city, and
+what she had seen there. And everywhere she found friends, and kind
+voices that gave her greeting. But some would ask her why she still spoke
+the little language, though it was sweet to their ears; and others when
+they heard it hastened to call from the houses and the fields some among
+them who knew the other tongue but a little, and who came and crowded
+round the little Pilgrim, and asked her many questions both about the
+things she had been seeing and about the old time. And she perceived that
+the village folk were a simple folk, not learned and wise like those she
+had left; and that though they lived within sight of the great city, and
+showed every stranger the beautiful view of it, and the glory of its
+towers, yet few among them had travelled there; for they were so content
+with their fields, and their river, and the shade of their trees, and the
+birds singing, and their simple life, that they wanted no change; though
+it pleased them to receive the little Pilgrim, and they brought her into
+their villages rejoicing, and called every one to see her. And they told
+her that they had all been poor and labored hard in the old time, and had
+never rested; so that now it was the Father's good pleasure that they
+should enjoy great peace and consolation among the fresh-breathing fields
+and on the riverside, so that there were many who even now had little
+occupation except to think of the Father's goodness, and to rest. And
+they told her how the Lord himself would come among them, and sit down
+under a tree, and tell them one of his parables, and make them all more
+happy than words could say; and how sometimes he would send one out of
+the beautiful city, with a poem or tale to say to them, and bands of
+lovely music, more lovely than anything beside, except the sound of the
+Lord's own voice. "And what is more wonderful, the angels themselves come
+often and listen to us," they said, "when we begin to talk and remind
+each other of the old time, and how we suffered heat and cold, and were
+bowed down with labor, and bending over the soil, and how sometimes the
+harvest would fail us, and sometimes we had not bread, and sometimes
+would hush the children to sleep because there was nothing to give them;
+and how we grew old and weary, and still worked on and on." "We are
+those who were old," a number of them called out to her, with a murmuring
+sound of laughter, one looking over another's shoulder. And one woman
+said, "The angels say to us, 'Did you never think the Father had forsaken
+you and the Lord forgotten you?'" And all the rest answered as in a
+chorus, "There were moments that we thought this; but all the time we
+knew that it could not be." "And the angels wonder at us," said another.
+All this they said, crowding one before another, every one anxious to say
+something, and sometimes speaking together, but always in accord. And
+then there was a sound of laughter and pleasure, both at the strange
+thought that the Lord could have forgotten them, and at the wonder of the
+angels over their simple tales. And immediately they began to remind each
+other, and say, "Do you remember?" and they told the little Pilgrim a
+hundred tales of the hardships and troubles they had known, all smiling
+and radiant with pleasure; and at every new account the others would
+applaud and rejoice, feeling the happiness all the more for the evils
+that were past. And some of them led her into their gardens to show her
+their flowers, and to tell her how they had begun to study and learn
+how colors were changed and form perfected, and the secrets of the growth
+and of the germ, of which they had been ignorant. And others arranged
+themselves in choirs, and sang to her delightful songs of the fields, and
+accompanied her out upon her way, singing and answering to each other.
+The difference between the simple folk and the greatness of the others
+made the little Pilgrim wonder and admire; and she loved them in her
+simplicity, and turned back many a time to wave her hand to them, and to
+listen to the lovely simple singing as it went further and further away.
+It had an evening tone of rest and quietness, and of protection and
+peace. "He leadeth me by the green pastures and beside the quiet waters,"
+she said to herself; and her heart swelled with pleasure to think that it
+was those who had been so old, and so weary and poor, who had this rest
+to console them for all their sorrows.
+
+And as she went along, not only did she pass through many other villages,
+but met many on the way who were travelling towards the great city, and
+would greet her sweetly as they passed, and sometimes stop to say a
+pleasant word, so that the little Pilgrim was never lonely wherever she
+went. But most of them began to speak to her in the other language, which
+was as beautiful and sweet as music, but which she could not understand;
+and they were surprised to find her ignorant of it, not knowing that she
+was but a new-comer into these lands. And there were many things that
+could not be told but in that language, for the earthly tongue had no
+words to express them. The little Pilgrim was a little sad not to
+understand what was said to her, but cheered herself with the thought
+that it should be taught to her by one whom she loved best. The way by
+the riverside was very cheerful and bright, with many people coming and
+going, and many villages, some of them with a bridge across the stream,
+some withdrawn among the fields, but all of them bright and full of life,
+and with sounds of music, and voices, and footsteps: and the little
+Pilgrim felt no weariness, and moved along as lightly as a child, taking
+great pleasure in everything she saw, and answering all the friendly
+greetings with all her heart, yet glad to think that she was approaching
+ever nearer to the country where it was ordained that she should dwell
+for a time and succor the strangers, and receive those who were newly
+arrived. And she consoled herself with the thought that there was no need
+of any language but that which she knew. As this went through her mind,
+making her glad, she suddenly became aware of one who was walking by her
+side, a lady who was covered with a veil white and shining like that
+which Ama had worn in the beautiful city. It hung about this stranger's
+head so that it was not easy to see her face, but the sound of her voice
+was very sweet in the pilgrim's ear, yet startled her like the sound of
+something which she knew well, but could not remember. And as there
+were few who were going that way, she was glad and said, "Let us walk
+together, if that pleases you." And the stranger said, "It is for that I
+have come," which was a reply which made the little Pilgrim wonder more
+and more, though she was very glad and joyful to have this companion upon
+her way. And then the lady began to ask her many questions, not about the
+city, or the great things she had seen, but about herself, and what the
+dear Lord had given her to do.
+
+"I am little and weak, and I cannot do much," the little Pilgrim said.
+"It is nothing but pleasure. It is to welcome those that are coming, and
+tell them. Sometimes they are astonished and do not know. I was so
+myself. I came in my sleep, and understood nothing. But now that I know,
+it is sweet to tell them that they need not fear."
+
+"I was glad," the lady said, "that you came in your sleep; for sometimes
+the way is dark and hard, and you are little and tender. When your
+brother comes you will be the first to see him, and show him the way."
+
+"My brother! is he coming?" the little Pilgrim cried. And then she said
+with a wistful look, "But we are all brethren, and you mean only one of
+those who are the children of our Father. You must forgive me that I do
+not know the higher speech, but only what is natural, for I have not yet
+been long here."
+
+"He whom I mean is called--" and here the lady said a name which was the
+true name of a brother born whom the Pilgrim loved above all others. She
+gave a cry, and then she said, trembling, "I know your voice, but I
+cannot see your face. And what you say makes me think of many things. No
+one else has covered her face when she has spoken to me. I know you, and
+yet I cannot tell who you are."
+
+The woman stood for a little without saying a word, and then very softly,
+in a voice which only the heart heard, she called the little Pilgrim by
+her name.
+
+"MOTHER," cried the Pilgrim, with such a cry of joy that it echoed all
+about in the sweet air, and flung herself upon the veiled lady, and drew
+the veil from her face, and saw that it was she. And with this sight
+there came a revelation which flooded her soul with happiness. For the
+face which had been old and feeble was old no longer, but fair in the
+maturity of day; and the figure that had been bent and weary was full of
+a tender majesty, and the arms that clasped her about were warm and soft
+with love and life. And all that had changed their relations in the other
+days and made the mother in her weakness seem as a child, and transferred
+all protection and strength to the daughter, was gone for ever and the
+little Pilgrim beheld in a rapture one who was her sister and equal, yet
+ever above her,--more near to her than any, though all were so near,--one
+of whom she herself was a part, yet another, and who knew all her
+thoughts and the way of them before they arose in her. And to see her
+face as in the days of her prime, and her eyes so clear and wise, and to
+feel once more that which is different from the love of all, that which
+is still most sweet where all is sweet, the love of one, was like a crown
+to her in her happiness. The little Pilgrim could not think for joy, nor
+say a word, but held this dear mother's hands and looked in her face, and
+her heart soared away to the Father in thanks and joy. They sat down by
+the roadside under the shade of the trees,--while the river ran softly
+by, and everything was hushed out of sympathy and kindness,--and
+questioned each other of all that had been and was to be. And the little
+Pilgrim told all the little news of home, and of the brothers and sisters
+and the children that had been born, and of those whose faces were turned
+towards this better country; and the mother smiled and listened and would
+have heard all over and over, although many things she already knew. "But
+why should I tell you, for did not you watch over us and see all we did,
+and were not you near us always?" the little Pilgrim said.
+
+"How could that be?" said the mother; "for we are not like our Lord, to
+be everywhere. We come and go where we are sent. But sometimes we knew,
+and sometimes saw, and always loved. And whenever our hearts were sick
+for news it was but to go to him, and he told us everything. And now, my
+little one, you are as we are, and have seen the Lord. And this has been
+given us, to teach our child once more, and show you the heavenly
+language, that you may understand all, both the little and the great."
+
+Then the Pilgrim lifted her head from her mother's bosom, and looked in
+her face with eyes full of longing. "You said 'we,'" she said.
+
+The mother did nothing but smile; then lifted her eyes and looked along
+the beautiful path of the river to where some one was coming to join
+them. And the little Pilgrim cried out again, in wonder and joy; and
+presently found herself seated between them, her father and her mother,
+the two who had loved her most in the other days. They looked more
+beautiful than the angels and all the great persons whom she had seen;
+for still they were hers and she was theirs more than all the angels and
+all the blessed could be. And thus she learned that though the new may
+take the place of the old, and many things may blossom out of it like
+flowers, yet that the old is never done away. And then they sat together,
+telling of everything that had befallen, and all the little tender things
+that were of no import, and all the great changes and noble ways, and the
+wonders of heaven above--and the earth beneath, for all, were open to
+them, both great and small; and when they had satisfied their souls with
+these, her father and mother began to teach her the other language,
+smiling often at her faltering tongue, and telling her the same thing
+over and over till she learnt it; and her father called her his little
+foolish one, as he had done in the old days; and at last, when they had
+kissed her and blessed her, and told her how to come home to them when
+she was weary, they gave her, as the Father had permitted them, with joy
+and blessing, her new name.
+
+The little Pilgrim was tired with happiness and all the wonder and
+pleasure; and as she sat there in the silence; leaning upon those who
+were so dear to her, the soft air grew sweeter and sweeter about her, and
+the light faded softly into a dimness of tender indulgence and privilege
+for her, because she was still little and weak. And whether that heavenly
+suspense of all her faculties was sleep or not she knew not, but it was
+such as in all her life she had never known. When she came back to
+herself, it was by the sound of many voices calling her, and many people
+hastening past and beckoning to her to join them.
+
+"Come, come," they said, "little sister: there has been great trouble in
+the other life, and many have arrived suddenly and are afraid. Come,
+come, and help them,--come and help them!"
+
+And she sprang up from her soft seat, and found that she was no longer by
+the riverside, or within sight of the great city, or in the arms of those
+she loved, but stood on one of the flowery paths of her own border-land,
+and saw her fellows hastening towards the gates where there seemed a
+great crowd. And she was no longer weary, but full of life and strength;
+and it seemed to her that she could take them up in her arms, those
+trembling strangers, and carry them straight to the Father, so strong was
+she, and light, and full of force. And above all the gladness she had
+felt, and all her pleasure in what she had seen, and more happy even than
+the meeting with those she loved most, was her happiness how, as she went
+along as light as the breeze to receive the strangers. She was so eager
+that she began to sing a song of welcome as she hastened on. "Oh,
+welcome, welcome!" she cried; and as she sang she knew it was one of the
+heavenly melodies which she had heard in the great city; and she hastened
+on, her feet flying over the flowery ways, thinking how the great worlds
+were all watching, and the angels looking on, and the whole universe
+waiting till it should be proved to them that the dear Lord, the Brother
+of us all, had chosen the perfect way, and that over all evil and the
+sorrow he was the Conqueror alone.
+
+And the little Pilgrim's voice, though it was so small, echoed away
+through the great firmament to where the other worlds were watching to
+see what should come, and cheered the anxious faces of some great lords
+and princes far more great than she, who were of a nobler race than man;
+for it was said among the stars that when such a little sound could reach
+so far, it was a token that the Lord had chosen aright, and that his
+method must be the best. And it breathed over the earth like some one
+saying Courage! to those whose hearts were failing; and it dropped down,
+down, into the great confusions and traffic of the Land of Darkness, and
+startled many, like the cry of a child calling and calling, and never
+ceasing, "Come! and come! and come!"
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's A Little Pilgrim, by Margaret O. (Wilson) Oliphant
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10050 ***
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
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+Project Gutenberg's A Little Pilgrim, by Margaret O. (Wilson) Oliphant
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
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+
+
+Title: A Little Pilgrim
+       Stories of the Seen and the Unseen
+
+Author: Margaret O. (Wilson) Oliphant
+
+Release Date: November 11, 2003 [EBook #10050]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LITTLE PILGRIM ***
+
+
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+
+Produced by Stan Goodman, Mary Meehan
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
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+
+
+                            A LITTLE PILGRIM
+
+                    By Margaret O. (Wilson) Oliphant
+
+
+
+
+A LITTLE PILGRIM.
+
+
+
+
+I.
+
+IN THE UNSEEN.
+
+
+She had been talking of dying only the evening before, with a friend, and
+had described her own sensations after a long illness when she had been
+at the point of death. "I suppose," she said, "that I was as nearly gone
+as any one ever was to come back again. There was no pain in it, only a
+sense of sinking down, down--through the bed as if nothing could hold me
+or give me support enough--but no pain." And then they had spoken of
+another friend in the same circumstances, who also had come back from the
+very verge, and who described her sensations as those of one floating
+upon a summer sea without pain or suffering, in a lovely nook of the
+Mediterranean, blue as the sky. These soft and soothing images of the
+passage which all men dread had been talked over with low voices, yet
+with smiles and a grateful sense that "the warm precincts of the cheerful
+day" were once more familiar to both. And very cheerfully she went to
+rest that night, talking of what was to be done on the morrow, and fell
+asleep sweetly in her little room, with its shaded light and curtained
+window, and little pictures on the dim walls. All was quiet in the house:
+soft breathing of the sleepers, soft murmuring of the spring wind
+outside, a wintry moon very clear and full in the skies, a little town
+all hushed and quiet, everything lying defenceless, unconscious, in the
+safe keeping of God.
+
+How soon she woke no one can tell. She woke and lay quite still, half
+roused, half hushed, in that soft languor that attends a happy waking.
+She was happy always, in the peace of a heart that was humble and
+faithful and pure, but yet had been used to wake to a consciousness of
+little pains and troubles, such as even to her meekness were sometimes
+hard to bear. But on this morning there were none of these. She lay in a
+kind of hush of happiness and ease, not caring to make any further
+movement, lingering over the sweet sensation of that waking. She had no
+desire to move nor to break the spell of the silence and peace. It was
+still very early, she supposed, and probably it might be hours yet before
+any one came to call her. It might even be that she should sleep again.
+She had no wish to move, she lay at such luxurious ease and calm. But by
+and by, as she came to full possession of her waking senses, it appeared
+to her that there was some change in the atmosphere, in the scene. There
+began to steal into the air about her, the soft dawn as of a summer
+morning, the lovely blueness of the first opening of daylight before the
+sun. It could not be the light of the moon, which she had seen before she
+went to bed; and all was so still, that it could not be the bustling,
+wintry day which comes at that time of the year late, to find the world
+awake before it. This was different; it was like the summer dawn, a soft
+suffusion of light growing every moment. And by and by it occurred to
+her that she was not in the little room where she had lain down. There
+were no dim walls or roof, her little pictures were all gone, the
+curtains at her window. The discovery gave her no uneasiness in that
+delightful calm. She lay still to think of it all, to wonder, yet
+undisturbed. It half amused her that these things should be changed, but
+did not rouse her yet with any shock of alteration. The light grew fuller
+and fuller round, growing into day, clearing her eyes from the sweet mist
+of the first waking. Then she raised herself upon her arm. She was not in
+her room, she was in no scene she knew. Indeed it was scarcely a scene at
+all, nothing but light, so soft and lovely, that it soothed and caressed
+her eyes. She thought all at once of a summer morning when she was a
+child, when she had woke in the deep night which yet was day, early, so
+early that the birds were scarcely astir, and had risen up with a
+delicious sense of daring and of being all alone in the mystery of the
+sunrise, in the unawakened world which lay at her feet to be explored, as
+if she were Eve just entering upon Eden. It was curious how all those
+childish sensations, long forgotten, came back to her as she found
+herself so unexpectedly out of her sleep in the open air and light. In
+the recollection of that lovely hour, with a smile at herself, so
+different as she now knew herself to be, she was moved to rise and look a
+little more closely about her, and see where she was.
+
+When I call her a little Pilgrim, I do not mean that she was a child; on
+the contrary, she was not even young. She was little by nature, with as
+little flesh and blood as was consistent with mortal life; and she was
+one of those who are always little for love. The tongue found diminutives
+for her, the heart kept her in a perpetual youth. She was so modest and
+so gentle, that she always came last, so long as there was any one whom
+she could put before her. But this little body, and the soul which was
+not little, and the heart which was big and great, had known all the
+round of sorrows that fill a woman's life, without knowing any of its
+warmer blessings. She had nursed the sick, she had entertained the weary,
+she had consoled the dying. She had gone about the world, which had no
+prize or recompense for her, with a smile. Her little presence had been
+always bright. She was not clever; you might have said she had no mind at
+all; but so wise and right and tender a heart, that it was as good as
+genius. This is to let you know what this little Pilgrim had been.
+
+She rose up, and it was strange how like she felt to the child she
+remembered in that still summer morning so many years ago. Her little
+body, which had been worn and racked with pain, felt as light and
+unconscious of itself as then. She took her first step forward with the
+same sense of pleasure, yet of awe, suppressed delight and daring and
+wild adventure, yet perfect safety. But then the recollection of the
+little room in which she had fallen asleep came quickly, strangely over
+her, confusing her mind. "I must be dreaming, I suppose," she said to
+herself, regretfully; for it was all so sweet that she wished it to be
+true. Her movement called her attention to herself, and she found that
+she was dressed, not in her night-dress, as she had lain down, but in a
+dress she did not know. She paused for a moment to look at it, and
+wonder. She had never seen it before; she did not make out how it was
+made, or what stuff it was, but it fell so pleasantly about her, it was
+so soft and light, that in her confused state she abandoned that subject
+with only an additional sense of pleasure. And now the atmosphere became
+more distinct to her. She saw that under her feet was a greenness as of
+close velvet turf, both cool and warm, cool and soft to touch, but with
+no damp in it, as might have been at that early hour, and with flowers
+showing here and there. She stood looking round her, not able to identify
+the landscape because she was still confused a little, and then walked
+softly on, all the time afraid lest she should awake and lose the
+sweetness of it all, and the sense of rest and happiness. She felt so
+light, so airy, as if she could skim across the field like any child. It
+was bliss enough to breathe and move, with every organ so free. After
+more than fifty years of hard service in the world, to feel like this,
+even in a dream! She smiled to herself at her own pleasure; and then once
+more, yet more potently, there came back upon her the appearance of her
+room in which she had fallen asleep. How had she got from there to here?
+Had she been carried away in her sleep, or was it only a dream, and would
+she by and by find herself between the four dim walls again? Then this
+shadow of recollection faded away once more, and she moved forward,
+walking in a soft rapture over the delicious turf. Presently she came to
+a little mound, upon which she paused to look about her. Every moment she
+saw a little farther: blue hills far away, extending in long, sweet
+distance, an indefinite landscape, but fair and vast, so that there could
+be seen no end to it, not even the line of the horizon,--save at one
+side, where there seemed to be a great shadowy gateway, and something dim
+beyond. She turned from the brightness to look at this, and when she had
+looked for some time, she saw, what pleased her still more, though she
+had been so happy before, people coming in. They were too far off for her
+to see clearly, but many came each apart, one figure only at a time. To
+watch them amused her in the delightful leisure of her mind. Who were
+they? she wondered; but no doubt soon some of them would come this way,
+and she would see. Then suddenly she seemed to hear, as if in answer to
+her question, some one say, "Those who are coming in are the people
+who have died on earth." "Died!" she said to herself aloud, with a
+wondering sense of the inappropriateness of the word which almost came
+the length of laughter. In this sweet air, with such a sense of life
+about, to suggest such an idea was almost ludicrous. She was so occupied
+with this, that she did not look round to see who the speaker might be.
+She thought it over, amused, but with some new confusion of the mind.
+Then she said, "Perhaps I have died too," with a laugh to herself at the
+absurdity of the thought.
+
+"Yes," said the other voice, echoing that gentle laugh of hers, "you have
+died too."
+
+She turned round, and saw another standing by her, a woman, younger and
+fairer, and more stately than herself, but of so sweet a countenance that
+our little Pilgrim felt no shyness, but recognized a friend at once. She
+was more occupied looking at this new face, and feeling herself at once
+so much happier (though she had been so happy before) in finding a
+companion who would tell her what everything was, than in considering
+what these words might mean. But just then once more the recollection of
+the four walls, with their little pictures hanging, and the window with
+its curtains drawn, seemed to come round her for a moment, so that her
+whole soul was in a confusion. And as this vision slowly faded away
+(though she could not tell which was the vision, the darkened room or
+this lovely light), her attention came back to the words at which she
+had laughed, and at which the other had laughed as she repeated them.
+Died?--was it possible that this could be the meaning of it all? "Died?"
+she said, looking with wonder in her companion's face, which smiled back
+to her.
+
+"But do you mean--You cannot mean--I have never been so well: I am so
+strong: I have no trouble--anywhere: I am full of life."
+
+The other nodded her beautiful head with a more beautiful smile, and the
+little Pilgrim burst out in a great cry of joy, and said,--"Is this all?
+Is it over?--Is it all over? Is it possible that this can be all?"
+
+"Were you afraid of it?" the other said. There was a little agitation for
+the moment in her heart. She was so glad, so relieved and thankful, that
+it took away her breath. She could not get over the wonder of it.
+
+"To think one should look forward to it so long, and wonder, and be even
+unhappy trying to divine what it will be--and this all!"
+
+"Ah, but the angel was very gentle with you," said the young woman; "you
+were so tender and worn, that he only smiled and took you sleeping. There
+are other ways. But it is always wonderful to think it is over, as you
+say."
+
+The little Pilgrim could do nothing but talk of it, as one does after a
+very great event. "Are you sure, quite sure, it is so?" she said. "It
+would be dreadful to find it only a dream, to go to sleep again, and wake
+up--there--" This thought troubled her for a moment. The vision of the
+bedchamber came back; but this time she felt it was only a vision. "Were
+you afraid too?" she said, in a low voice.
+
+"I never thought of it at all," the beautiful stranger said; "I did not
+think it would come to me. But I was very sorry for the others to whom it
+came, and grudged that they should lose the beautiful earth, and life,
+and all that was so sweet."
+
+"My dear!" cried the Pilgrim, as if she had never died, "oh, but this is
+far sweeter! And the heart is so light, and it is, happiness only to
+breathe. Is it heaven here? It must be heaven."
+
+"I do not know if it is heaven. We have so many things to learn. They
+cannot tell you every thing at once," said the beautiful lady. "I have
+seen some of the people I was sorry for, and when I told them, we
+laughed--as you and I laughed just now--for pleasure."
+
+"That makes me think" said the little Pilgrim; "if I have died, as you
+say--which is so strange, and me so living--if I have died, they will
+have found it out. The house will be all dark, and they will be breaking
+their hearts. Oh, how could I forget them in my selfishness, and be
+happy! I so light-hearted, while they--"
+
+She sat down hastily, and covered her face with her hands and wept. The
+other looked at her for a moment, then kissed her for comfort, and cried
+too. The two happy creatures sat there weeping together, thinking of
+those they had left behind, with an exquisite grief which was not
+unhappiness, which was sweet with love and pity. "And oh," said the
+little Pilgrim, "what can we do to tell them not to grieve? Cannot
+you send? cannot you speak? cannot one go to tell them?"
+
+The heavenly stranger shook her head.
+
+"It is not well, they all say. Sometimes one has been permitted; but they
+do not know you," she said, with a pitiful look in her sweet eyes. "My
+mother told me that her heart was so sick for me, she was allowed to go;
+and she went and stood by me, and spoke to me, and I did not know her.
+She came back so sad and sorry, that they took her at once to our
+Father; and there, you know, she found that it was all well. All is well
+when you are there."
+
+"Ah," said the little Pilgrim, "I have been thinking of other things. Of
+how happy I was, and of _them_; but never of the Father,--just as
+if I had not died."
+
+The other smiled upon her with a wonderful smile.
+
+"Do you think he will be offended--our Father--as if he were one of us?"
+she said.
+
+And then the little Pilgrim, in her sudden grief to have forgotten him,
+became conscious of a new rapture unexplainable in words. She felt his
+understanding to envelop her little spirit with a soft and clear
+penetration, and that nothing she did or said could ever be misconceived
+more. "Will you take me to him?" she said, trembling yet glad, clasping
+her hands. And once again the other shook her head.
+
+"They will take us both when it is time," she said: "we do not go at our
+own will. But I have seen our Brother--"
+
+"Oh, take me to him!" the little Pilgrim cried. "Let me see his face! I
+have so many things to say to him. I want to ask him--Oh, take me to
+where I can see his face!"
+
+And then once again the heavenly lady smiled.
+
+"I have seen him," she said. "He is always about--now here, now there. He
+will come and see you, perhaps when you are not thinking. But when he
+pleases. We do not think here of what we will--"
+
+The little Pilgrim sat very still, wondering at all this. She had thought
+when a soul left the earth that it went at once to God, and thought of
+nothing more, except worship and singing of praises. But this was
+different from her thoughts. She sat and pondered and wondered. She was
+baffled at many points. She was not changed, as she expected, but so much
+like herself; still--still perplexed, and feeling herself foolish; not
+understanding: toiling after a something which she could not grasp. The
+only difference was that it was no trouble to her now. She smiled at
+herself and at her dullness, feeling sure that by and by she would
+understand.
+
+"And don't you wonder too?" she said to her companion, which was a speech
+such as she used to make upon the earth, when people thought her little
+remarks disjointed, and did not always see the connection of them. But
+her friend of heaven knew what she meant.
+
+"I do nothing but wonder," she said, "for it is all so natural, not what
+we thought."
+
+"Is it long since you have been here?" the Pilgrim said.
+
+"I came before you; but how long or how short I cannot tell, for that is
+not how we count. We count only by what happens to us. And nothing yet
+has happened to me, except that I have seen our Brother. My mother sees
+him always. That means she has lived here a long time, and well--"
+
+"Is it possible to live ill--in heaven?" The little Pilgrim's eyes grew
+large, as if they were going to have tears in them, and a little shadow
+seemed to come over her. But the other laughed softly, and restored all
+her confidence.
+
+"I have told you I do not know if it is heaven or not. No one does ill,
+but some do little, and some do much, just as it used to be. Do you
+remember in Dante there was a lazy spirit that stayed about the gates and
+never got farther? But perhaps you never read that."
+
+"I was not clever," said the little Pilgrim, wistfully; "no, I never read
+it. I wish I had known more."
+
+Upon which the beautiful lady kissed her again to give her courage, and
+said,--
+
+"It does not matter at all. It all comes to you, whether you have known
+it or not."
+
+"Then your mother came here long ago?" said the Pilgrim. "Ah, then I
+shall see my mother too."
+
+"Oh, very soon, as soon as she can come; but there are so many things to
+do. Sometimes we can go and meet those who are coming; but it is not
+always so. I remember that she had a message. She could not leave her
+business, you may be sure, or she would have been here."
+
+"Then you know my mother? Oh, and my dearest father too?"
+
+"We all know each other," the lady said with a smile.
+
+"And you? did you come to meet me--only out of kindness, though I do not
+know you?" the little Pilgrim said.
+
+"I am nothing but an idler," said the beautiful lady, "making
+acquaintance. I am of little use as yet. I was very hard worked before I
+came here, and they think it well that we should sit in the sun and take
+a little rest, and find things out."
+
+Then the little Pilgrim sat still and mused, and felt in her heart that
+she had found many things out. What she had heard had been wonderful, and
+it was more wonderful still to be sitting here all alone, save for this
+lady, yet so happy and at ease. She wanted to sing, she was so happy;
+but remembered that she was old; and had lost her voice; and then
+remembered again that she was no longer old, and perhaps had found it
+again. And then it occurred to her to remember how she had learned to
+sing, and how beautiful her sister's voice was, and how heavenly to
+hear her,--which made her remember that this dear sister would be
+weeping, not singing, down where she had come from; and immediately the
+tears stood in her eyes.
+
+"Oh," she said, "I never thought we should cry when we came here. I
+thought there were no tears in heaven."
+
+"Did you think, then, that we were all turned into stone?" cried the
+beautiful lady. "It says God shall wipe away all tears from our faces,
+which is not like saying there are to be no tears."
+
+Upon which the little Pilgrim, glad that it was permitted to be sorry,
+though she was so happy, allowed herself to think upon the place she had
+so lately left. And she seemed to see her little room again, with all the
+pictures hanging as she had left them, and the house darkened, and the
+dear faces she knew all sad and troubled, and to hear them saying over to
+each other all the little careless words she had said as if they were out
+of the Scriptures, and crying if any one but mentioned her name, and
+putting on crape and black dresses, and lamenting as if that which had
+happened was something very terrible. She cried at this, and yet felt
+half inclined to laugh, but would not, because it would be disrespectful
+to those she loved. One thing did not occur to her, and that was, that
+they would be carrying her body, which she had left behind her, away to
+the grave. She did not think of this, because she was not aware of the
+loss, and felt far too much herself to think that there was another part
+of her being buried in the ground. From this she was aroused by her
+companion asking her a question.
+
+"Have you left many there?" she said.
+
+"No one," said the little Pilgrim, "to whom I was the first on earth; but
+they loved me all the same; and if I could only, only let them know--"
+
+"But I left one to whom I was the first on earth," said the other, with
+tears in her beautiful eyes; "and oh, how glad I should be to be less
+happy if he might be less sad!"
+
+"And you cannot go? you cannot go to him and tell him? Oh, I wish," cried
+the little Pilgrim; but then she paused, for the wish died all away in
+her heart into a tender love for this poor, sorrowful man whom she did
+not know. This gave her the sweetest pang she had ever felt, for she knew
+that all was well, and yet was so sorry, and would have willingly given
+up her happiness for his. All this the lady read in her eyes or her
+heart, and loved her for it; and they took hands and were silent
+together, thinking of those they had left, as we upon earth think of
+those who have gone from us, but only with far more understanding and far
+greater love. "And have you never been able to do anything for him?" our
+Pilgrim said.
+
+Then the beautiful lady's face flushed all over with the most heavenly
+warmth and light. Her smile ran over like the bursting out of the sun.
+
+"Oh, I will tell you," she said. "There was a moment when he was very sad
+and perplexed, not knowing what to think; there was something he could
+not understand. Nor could I understand, nor did I know what it was, until
+it was said to me, 'You may go and tell him.' And I went in the early
+morning before he was awake, and kissed him, and said it in his ear. He
+woke up in a moment, and understood, and everything was clear to him.
+Afterward I heard him say, 'It is true that the night brings counsel. I
+had been troubled and distressed all day long, but in the morning it was
+quite clear to me.' And the other answered, 'Your brain was refreshed,
+and that made your judgment clear.' But they never knew it was I! That
+was a great delight. The dear souls, they are so foolish," she cried,
+with the sweetest laughter, that ran into tears. "One cries because one
+is so happy; it is just a silly old habit," she said.
+
+"And you were not grieved--it did not hurt you--that he did not know--"
+
+"Oh, not then, not then! I did not go to him for that. When you have been
+here a little longer, you will see the difference. When you go for
+yourself, out of impatience, because it still seems to you that you must
+know best, and they don't know you, then it strikes to your heart; but
+when you go to help them,--ah," she cried, "when he comes, how much I
+shall have to tell him! 'You thought it was sleep, when it was I; when
+you woke so fresh and clear, it was I that kissed you; you thought it
+your duty to me to be sad afterward, and were angry with yourself because
+you had wronged me of the first thoughts of your waking--when it was all
+me, all through!'"
+
+"I begin to understand," said the little Pilgrim. "But why should they
+not see us, and why should not we tell them? It would seem so natural. If
+they saw us, it would make them so happy and so sure."
+
+Upon this the lady shook her head.
+
+"The worst of it is not that they are not sure, it is the parting. If
+this makes us sorry here, how can they escape the sorrow of it, even if
+they saw us?--for we must be parted. We cannot go back to live with them,
+or why should we have died? And then we must all live our lives, they in
+their way, we in ours. We must not weigh them down, but only help them
+when it is seen that there is need for it. All this we shall know better
+by and by."
+
+"You make it so clear, and your face is so bright," said our little
+Pilgrim gratefully, "you must have known a great deal, and understood
+even when you were in the world."
+
+"I was as foolish as I could be," said the other, with her laugh that was
+as sweet as music; "yet thought I knew, and they thought I knew. But all
+that does not matter now."
+
+"I think it matters, for look how much you have showed me. But tell me
+one thing more: how was it said to you that you must go and tell him? Was
+it some one who spoke? Was it--"
+
+Her face grew so bright that all the past brightness was as a dull sky to
+this. It gave out such a light of happiness, that the little Pilgrim was
+dazzled.
+
+"I was wandering about," she said, "to see this new place. My mother had
+come back between two errands she had, and had come to see me and tell me
+everything; and I was straying about, wondering what I was to do, when
+suddenly I saw some one coming along, as it might be now--"
+
+She paused and looked up, and the little Pilgrim looked up too, with her
+heart beating, but there was no one. Then she gave a little sigh, and
+turned and listened again.
+
+"I had not been looking for him, or thinking. You know my mind is too
+light; I am pleased with whatever is before me. And I was so curious, for
+my mother had told me many things; when suddenly I caught sight of him
+passing by. He was going on, and when I saw this a panic seized me, lest
+he should pass and say nothing. I do not know what I did. I flung myself
+upon his robe, and got hold of it,--or at least I think so. I was in such
+an agony lest he should pass and never notice me. But that was my folly.
+He pass! As if that could be!"
+
+"And what did he say to you?" cried the little Pilgrim, her heart almost
+aching, it beat so high with sympathy and expectation.
+
+The lady looked at her for a little without saying anything.
+
+"I cannot tell you," she said, "any more than I can tell if this is
+heaven. It is a mystery. When you see him you will know. It will be all
+you have ever hoped for, and more besides, for he understands everything.
+He knows what is in our hearts about those we have left, and why he sent
+for us before them. There is no need to tell him anything, he knows. He
+will come when it is time; and after you have seen him you will know what
+to do."
+
+Then the beautiful lady turned her eyes toward the gate, and while the
+little Pilgrim was still gazing, disappeared from her, and went to
+comfort some other stranger. They were dear friends always, and met
+often, but not again in the same way.
+
+When she was thus left alone again, the little Pilgrim sat still upon the
+grassy mound, quite tranquil and happy, without wishing to move. There
+was such a sense of well-being in her, that she liked to sit there and
+look about her, and breathe the delightful air, like the air of a summer
+morning, without wishing for anything.
+
+"How idle I am!" she said to herself, in the very words she had often
+used before she died; but then she was idle from weakness, and now from
+happiness. She wanted for nothing. To be alive was so sweet. There was a
+great deal to think about in what she had heard, but she did not even
+think about that, only resigned herself to the delight of sitting there
+in the sweet air and being happy. Many people were coming and going, and
+they all knew her, and smiled upon her, and those who were at a distance
+would wave their hands. This did not surprise her at all, for though she
+was a stranger, she too felt that she knew them all; but that they should
+be so kind was a delight to her which words could not tell. She sat and
+mused very sweetly about all that had been told her, and wondered whether
+she too might go sometimes, and with a kiss and a whisper clear up
+something that was dark in the mind of some one who loved her. "I that
+never was clever!" she said to herself, with a smile. And chiefly she
+thought of a friend whom she loved, who was often in great perplexity,
+and did not know how to guide herself amid the difficulties of the world.
+
+The little Pilgrim half laughed with delight, and then half cried with
+longing to go, as the beautiful lady had done, and make something clear
+that had been dark before, to this friend. As she was thinking what a
+pleasure it would be, some one came up to her, crossing over the flowery
+greenness, leaving the path on purpose. This was a being younger than the
+lady who had spoken to her before, with flowing hair all crisped with
+touches of sunshine, and a dress all white and soft, like the feathers of
+a white dove. There was something in her face different from that of the
+other, by which the little Pilgrim knew somehow, without knowing how,
+that she had come here as a child, and grown up in this celestial place.
+She was tall and fair, and came along with so musical a motion, as if her
+foot scarcely touched the ground, that she might have had wings: and the
+little Pilgrim indeed was not sure as she watched, whether it might not
+perhaps be an angel; for she knew that there were angels among the
+blessed people who were coming and going about, but had not been able yet
+to find one out. She knew that this new-comer was coming to her, and
+turned towards her with a smile and a throb at her heart of expectation.
+But when the heavenly maiden drew nearer, her face, though it was so
+fair, looked to the Pilgrim like another face, which she had known very
+well,--indeed, like the homely and troubled face of the friend of whom
+she had been thinking. And so she smiled all the more, and held out her
+hands and said, "I am sure I know you;" upon which the other kissed her
+and said, "We all know each other; but I have seen you often before
+you came here," and knelt down by her, among the flowers that were
+growing, just in front of some tall lilies that grew over her, and made
+a lovely canopy over her head. There was something in her face that was
+like a child: her mouth so soft, as if it had never spoken anything but
+heavenly words, her eyes brown and golden, as if they were filled with
+light. She took the little Pilgrim's hands in hers, and held them and
+smoothed them between her own. These hands had been very thin and worn
+before, but now, when the Pilgrim looked at them, she saw that they
+became softer and whiter every moment with the touch of this immortal
+youth.
+
+"I knew you were coming," said the maiden; "when my mother has wanted me
+I have seen you there. And you were thinking of her now that was how I
+found you."
+
+"Do you know, then, what one thinks?" said the little Pilgrim, with
+wondering eyes.
+
+"It is in the air; and when it concerns us it comes to us like the
+breeze. But we who are the children here, we feel it more quickly than
+you."
+
+"Are you a child?" said the little Pilgrim, "or are you an angel?
+Sometimes you are like a child; but then your face shines, and you are
+like--You must have some name for it here; there is nothing among the
+words I know." And then she paused a little, still looking at her, and
+cried, "Oh, if she could but see you, little Margaret! That would do her
+most good of all."
+
+Then the maiden Margaret shook her lovely head. "What does her most good
+is the will of the Father," she said.
+
+At this the little Pilgrim felt once more that thrill of expectation and
+awe. "Oh, child, you have seen him?" she cried.
+
+And the other smiled. "Have you forgotten who they are that always behold
+his face? We have never had any fear or trembling. We are not angels, and
+there is no other name; we are the children. There is something given to
+us beyond the others. We have had no other home."
+
+"Oh, tell me, tell me!" the little Pilgrim cried.
+
+Upon this Margaret kissed her, putting her soft cheek against hers, and
+said; "It is a mystery; it cannot be put into words; in your time you
+will know."
+
+"When you touch me you change me, and I grow like you," the Pilgrim said.
+"Ah, if she could see us together, you and me! And will you go to her
+soon again? And do you see them always, what they are doing? and take
+care of them?"
+
+"It is our Father who takes cares of them, and our Lord who is our
+Brother. I do his errands when I am able. Sometimes he will let me go,
+sometimes another, according as it is best. Who am I that I should take
+care of them? I serve them when I may."
+
+"But you do not forget them?" the Pilgrim said, with wistful eyes.
+
+"We love them always," said Margaret. She was more still than the lady
+who had first spoken with the Pilgrim. Her countenance was full of a
+heavenly calm. It had never known passion nor anguish. Sometimes there
+was in it a far-seeing look of vision, sometimes the simplicity of a
+child. "But what are we in comparison? For he loves them more than we do.
+When he keeps us from them, it is for love. We must each live our own
+life."
+
+"But it is hard for them sometimes," said the little Pilgrim, who could
+not withdraw her thoughts from those she had left.
+
+"They are never forsaken," said the angel maiden.
+
+"But oh! there are worse things than sorrow," the little Pilgrim said;
+"there is wrong, there is evil, Margaret. Will not he send you to step in
+before them, to save them from wrong?"
+
+"It is not for us to judge," said the young Margaret, with eyes full of
+heavenly wisdom; "our Brother has it all in his hand. We do not read
+their hearts, like him. Sometimes you are permitted to see the battle--"
+
+The little Pilgrim covered her eyes with her hands. "I could not--I could
+not; unless I knew they were to win the day!"
+
+"They will win the day in the end. But sometimes, when it was being lost,
+I have seen in his face a something--I cannot tell--more love than
+before. Something that seemed to say, 'My child, my child, would that I
+could do it for thee, my child!'"
+
+"Oh! that is what I have always felt," cried the Pilgrim, clasping her
+hands; her eyes were dim, her heart for a moment almost forgot its
+blessedness. "But he could; oh, little Margaret, he could! You have
+forgotten, 'Lord; if thou wilt thou canst--'"
+
+The child of heaven looked at her mutely, with sweet, grave eyes, in
+which there was much that confused her who was a stranger here, and once
+more softly shook her head.
+
+"Is it that he will not then?" said the other with a low voice of awe.
+"Our Lord, who died--he--"
+
+"Listen!" said the other; "I hear his step on the way."
+
+The little Pilgrim rose up from the mound on which she was sitting. Her
+soul was confused with wonder and fear. She had thought that an angel
+might step between a soul on earth and sin, and that if one but prayed
+and prayed, the dear Lord would stand between and deliver the tempted.
+She had meant when she saw his face to ask him to save. Was not he born,
+did not he live and die, to save? The angel maiden looked at her all the
+while with eyes that understood all her perplexity and her doubt, but
+spoke not. Thus it was that before the Lord came to her, the sweetness of
+her first blessedness was obscured, and she found that here too, even
+here, though in a moment she should see him, there was need for faith.
+Young Margaret, who had been kneeling by her, rose up too and stood among
+the lilies, waiting, her soft countenance shining, her eyes turned
+towards him who was coming. Upon her there was no cloud nor doubt. She
+was one of the children of that land familiar with his presence. And
+in the air there was a sound such as those who hear it alone can
+describe,--a sound as of help coming and safety, like the sound of a
+deliverer when one is in deadly danger, like the sound of a conqueror,
+like the step of the dearest beloved coming home. As it came nearer, the
+fear melted away out of the beating heart of the Pilgrim. Who could fear
+so near him? Her breath went away from her, her heart out of her bosom to
+meet his coming. Oh, never fear could live where he was! Her soul was all
+confused, but it was with hope and joy. She held out her hands in that
+amaze, and dropped upon her knees, not knowing what she did.
+
+He was going about his Father's business, not lingering, yet neither
+making haste; and the calm and peace which the little Pilgrim had seen in
+the faces of the blessed were but reflections from the majestic
+gentleness of the countenance to which, all quivering with happiness and
+wonder, she lifted up her eyes. Many things there had been in her mind to
+say to him. She wanted to ask for those she loved some things which
+perhaps he had overlooked. She wanted to say, "Send me." It seemed to her
+that here was the occasion she had longed for all her life. Oh, how many
+times had she wished to be able to go to him, to fall at his feet, to
+show him something which had been left undone, something which perhaps
+for her asking he would remember to do. But when this dream of her life
+was fulfilled, and the little Pilgrim, kneeling, and all shaken and
+trembling with devotion and joy, was at his feet, lifting her face to
+him, seeing him, hearing him--then she said nothing to him at all. She
+no longer wanted to say anything, or wanted anything except what he
+chose, or had power to think of anything except that all was well, and
+everything--everything as it should be in his hand. It seemed to her that
+all that she had ever hoped for was fulfilled when she met the look in
+his eyes. At first it seemed too bright for her to meet; but next moment
+she knew it was all that was needed to light up the world, and in it
+everything was clear. Her trembling ceased, her little frame grew
+inspired; though she still knelt, her head rose erect, drawn to him like
+the flower to the sun. She could not tell how long it was, nor what was
+said, nor if it was in words. All that she knew was that she told him all
+that ever she had thought, or wished, or intended in all her life,
+although she said nothing at all; and that he opened all things to her,
+and showed her that everything was well, and no one forgotten; and that
+the things she would have told him of were more near his heart than hers,
+and those to whom she wanted to be sent were in his own hand. But whether
+this passed with words or without words, she could not tell. Her soul
+expanded under his eyes like a flower. It opened out, it comprehended and
+felt and knew. She smote her hands together in her wonder that she could
+have missed seeing what was so clear, and laughed with a sweet scorn at
+her folly, as two people who love each other laugh at the little
+misunderstanding that has parted them. She was bold with him, though she
+was so timid by nature, and ventured to laugh at herself, not to reproach
+herself; for his divine eyes spoke no blame, but smiled upon her folly
+too. And then he laid a hand upon her head, which seemed to fill her with
+currents of strength and joy running through all her veins. And then she
+seemed to come to herself, saying loud out, "And that I will! and that I
+will!" and lo, she was kneeling on the warm, soft sod alone, and hearing
+the sound of his footsteps as he went about his Father's business,
+filling all the air with echoes of blessing. And all the people who were
+coming and going smiled upon her, and she knew they were all glad for her
+that she had seen him, and got the desire of her heart. Some of them
+waved their hands as they passed, and some paused a moment and spoke to
+her with tender congratulations. They seemed to have the tears in their
+eyes for joy, remembering every one the first time they had themselves
+seen him, and the joy of it; so that all about there sounded a concord of
+happy thoughts all echoing to each other, "She has seen the Lord!"
+
+Why did she say, "And that I will! and that I will!" with such fervor and
+delight? She could not have told, but yet she knew. The first thing was
+that she had yet to wait and believe until all things should be
+accomplished, neither doubting nor fearing, but knowing that all should
+be well; and the second was that she must delay no longer, but rise up
+and serve the Father according to what was given her as her reward. When
+she had recovered a little of her rapture, she rose from her knees, and
+stood still for a little, to be sure which way she was to go. And she was
+not aware what guided her, but yet turned her face in the appointed way
+without any doubt. For doubt was now gone away forever, and that fear
+that once gave her so much trouble lest she might not be doing what was
+best. As she moved along she wondered at herself more and more. She felt
+no longer, as at first, like the child she remembered to have been,
+venturing out in the awful lovely stillness of the morning before any one
+was awake; but she felt that to move along was a delight, and that her
+foot scarcely touched the grass. And her whole being was instinct with
+such lightness of strength and life, that it did not matter to her how
+far she went, nor what she carried, nor if the way was easy or hard. The
+way she chose was one of those which led to the great gate, and many met
+her coming from thence, with looks that were somewhat bewildered, as if
+they did not yet know whither they were going or what had happened to
+them,--upon whom she smiled as she passed them with soft looks of
+tenderness and sympathy, knowing what they were feeling, but did not stop
+to explain to them, because she had something else that had been given
+her to do. For this is what always follows in that country when you meet
+the Lord, that you instantly know what it is that he would have you do.
+
+The little Pilgrim thus went on and on toward the gate, which she had not
+seen when she herself came through it, having been lifted in his arms by
+the great Death Angel, and set down softly inside, so that she did not
+know it, or even the shadow of it. As she drew nearer, the light became
+less bright, though very sweet, like a lovely dawn, and she wondered to
+herself to think that she had been here but a moment ago, and yet so much
+had passed since then. And still she was not aware what was her errand,
+but wondered if she was to go back by these same gates, and perhaps
+return where she had been. She went up to them very closely, for she was
+curious to see the place through which she had come in her sleep,--as a
+traveller goes back to see the city gate, with its bridge and portcullis,
+through which he has passed by night. The gate was very great, of a
+wonderful, curious architecture, having strange, delicate arches and
+canopies above. Some parts of them seemed cut very clean and clear; but
+the outlines were all softened with a sort of mist and shadow, so that it
+looked greater and higher than it was. The lower part was not one great
+doorway, as the Pilgrim had supposed, but had innumerable doors, all
+separate and very narrow, so that but one could pass at a time, though
+the arch inclosed all, and seemed filled with great folding gates, in
+which the smaller doors were set, so that if need arose a vast opening
+might be made for many to enter. Of the little doors many were shut as
+the Pilgrim approached; but from moment to moment one after another would
+be pushed softly open from without, and some one would come in. The
+little Pilgrim looked at it all with great interest, wondering which of
+the doors she herself had come by; but while she stood absorbed by this,
+a door was suddenly pushed open close by her, and some one flung forward
+into the blessed country, falling upon the ground, and stretched out wild
+arms as though to clutch the very soil. This sight gave the Pilgrim a
+great surprise; for it was the first time she had heard any sound of
+pain, or seen any sight of trouble, since she entered here. In that
+moment she knew what it was that the dear Lord had given her to do. She
+had no need to pause to think, for her heart told her; and she did not
+hesitate, as she might have done in the other life, not knowing what to
+say. She went forward and gathered this poor creature into her arms, as
+if it had been a child, and drew her quite within the land of peace; for
+she had fallen across the threshold, so as to hinder any one entering who
+might be coming after her. It was a woman, and she had flung herself upon
+her face, so that it was difficult for the little Pilgrim to see what
+manner of person it was; for though she felt herself strong enough to
+take up this new-comer in her arms and carry her away, yet she forbore,
+seeing the will of the stranger was not so. For some time this woman lay
+moaning, with now and then a great sob shaking her as she lay. The little
+Pilgrim had taken her by both her arms, and drawn her head to rest upon
+her own lap, and was still holding the hands, which the poor creature had
+thrown out as if to clutch the ground. Thus she lay for a little while,
+as the little Pilgrim remembered she herself had lain, not wishing to
+move, wondering what had happened to her; then she clutched the hands
+which grasped her, and said, muttering,--
+
+"You are some one new. Have you come to save me? Oh, save me! Oh, save
+me! Don't let me die!"
+
+This was very strange to the little Pilgrim, and went to her heart. She
+soothed the stranger, holding her hands warm and light, and stooping over
+her.
+
+"Dear," she said, "you must try and not be afraid."
+
+"You say so," said the woman, "because you are well and strong. You don't
+know what it is to be seized in the middle of your life, and told
+that you've got to die. Oh, I have been a sinful creature! I am not fit
+to die. Can't you give me something that will cure me? What is the good
+of doctors and nurses if they cannot save a poor soul that is not fit to
+die?"
+
+At this the little Pilgrim smiled upon her, always holding her fast, and
+said,--
+
+"Why are you so afraid to die?"
+
+The woman raised her head to see who it was who put such a strange
+question to her.
+
+"You are some one new," she said. "I have never seen you before. Is there
+any one that is not afraid to die? Would _you_ like to have to give
+your account all in a moment, without any time to prepare?"
+
+"But you have had time to prepare," said the Pilgrim.
+
+"Oh, only a very, very little time. And I never thought it was true. I am
+not an old woman, and I am not fit to die; and I'm poor. Oh, if I were
+rich, I would bribe you to give me something to keep me alive. Won't you
+do it for pity?--won't you do it for pity? When you are as bad as I am,
+oh, you will perhaps call for some one to help you, and find nobody, like
+me."
+
+"I will help you for love," said the little Pilgrim; "some one who loves
+you has sent me."
+
+The woman lifted herself up a little and shook her head. "There is nobody
+that loves me." Then she cast her eyes round her and began to tremble
+again (for the touch of the little Pilgrim had stilled her). "Oh, where
+am I?" she said. "They have taken me away; they have brought me to a
+strange place; and you are new. Oh, where have they taken me?--where am
+I?--where am I?" she cried. "Have they brought me here to die?"
+
+Then the little Pilgrim bent over her and soothed her. "You must not be
+so much afraid of dying; that is all over. You need not fear that any
+more," she said softly; "for here where you now are we have all died."
+
+The woman started up out of her arms, and then she gave a great shriek
+that made the air ring, and cried out, "Dead! am I dead?" with a shudder
+and convulsion, throwing herself again wildly with outstretched hands
+upon the ground.
+
+This was a great and terrible work for the little Pilgrim--the first she
+had ever had to do--and her heart failed her for a moment; but afterward
+she remembered our Brother who sent her, and knew what was best. She drew
+closer to the new-comer, and took her hand again.
+
+"Try," she said, in a soft voice, "and think a little. Do you feel now so
+ill as you were? Do not be frightened, but think a little. I will hold
+your hand. And look at me; you are not afraid of me?"
+
+The poor creature shuddered again, and then she turned her face and
+looked doubtfully, with great dark eyes dilated, and the brow and cheek
+so curved and puckered round them that they seemed to glow out of deep
+caverns. Her face was full of anguish and fear. But as she looked at the
+little Pilgrim, her troubled gaze softened. Of her own accord she clasped
+her other hand upon the one that held hers, and then she said with a
+gasp,--
+
+"I am not afraid of you; that was not true that you said! You are one of
+the sisters, and you want to frighten me and make me repent!"
+
+"You do repent," the Pilgrim said.
+
+"Oh," cried the poor woman, "what has the like of you to do with me? Now
+I look at you, I never saw any one that was like you before. Don't you
+hate me?--don't you loathe me? I do myself. It's so ugly to go wrong. I
+think now I would almost rather die and be done with it. You will say
+that is because I am going to get better. I feel a great deal better now.
+Do you think I am going to get over it? Oh, I am better! I could get up
+out of bed and walk about. Yes, but I am not in bed,--where have you
+brought me? Never mind, it is a fine air; I shall soon get well here."
+
+The Pilgrim was silent for a little, holding her hands. And then she
+said,--
+
+"Tell me how you feel now," in her soft voice.
+
+The woman had sat up and was gazing round her. "It is very strange," she
+said; "it is all confused. I think upon my mother and the old prayers I
+used to say. For a long, long time I always said my prayers; but now I've
+got hardened, they say. Oh, I was once as fresh as any one. It all comes
+over me now. I feel as if I were young again--just come out of the
+country. I am sure that I could walk."
+
+The little Pilgrim raised her up, holding her by her hands; and she stood
+and gazed round about her, making one or two doubtful steps. She was very
+pale, and the light was dim; her eyes peered into it with a scared yet
+eager look. She made another step, then stopped again.
+
+"I am quite well," she said. "I could walk a mile. I could walk any
+distance. What was that you said? Oh, I tell you I am better! I am not
+going to die."
+
+"You will never, never die," said the little Pilgrim; "are you not glad
+it is all over? Oh, I was so glad! And all the more you should be glad if
+you were so much afraid."
+
+But this woman was not glad. She shrank away from her companion, then
+came close to her again, and gripped her with her hands.
+
+"It is your--fun," she said, "or just to frighten me. Perhaps you think
+it will do me no harm as I am getting so well; you want to frighten me to
+make me good. But I mean to be good without that--I do!--I do! When one
+is so near dying as I have been and yet gets better,--for I am going to
+get better! Yes! you know it as well as I."
+
+The little Pilgrim made no reply, but stood by, looking at her charge,
+not feeling that anything was given her to say,--and she was so new to
+this work, that there was a little trembling in her, lest she should not
+do everything as she ought. And the woman looked round with those anxious
+eyes gazing all about. The light did not brighten as it had done when the
+Pilgrim herself first came to this place. For one thing, they had
+remained quite close to the gate, which no doubt threw a shadow. The
+woman looked at that, and then turned and looked into the dim morning,
+and did not know where she was, and her heart was confused and troubled.
+
+"Where are we?" she said. "I do not know where it is; they must have
+brought me here in my sleep,--where are we? How strange to bring a sick
+woman away out of her room in her sleep! I suppose it was the new
+doctor," she went on, looking very closely in the little Pilgrim's face;
+then paused, and drawing a long breath, said softly, "It has done me
+good. It is better air--it is--a new kind of cure!"
+
+But though she spoke like this, she did not convince herself; her eyes
+were wild with wondering and fear. She gripped the Pilgrim's arm more and
+more closely, and trembled, leaning upon her.
+
+"Why don't you speak to me?" she said; "why don't you tell me? Oh, I
+don't know how to live in this place! What do you do?--how do you speak?
+I am not fit for it. And what are you? I never saw you before, nor any
+one like you. What do you want with me? Why are you so kind to me?
+Why--why--"
+
+And here she went off into a murmur of questions. Why? why? always
+holding fast by the little Pilgrim, always gazing round her, groping as
+it were in the dimness with her great eyes.
+
+"I have come because our dear Lord who is our Brother sent me to meet
+you, and because I love you," the little Pilgrim said.
+
+"Love me!" the woman cried, throwing up her hands. "But no one loves me;
+I have not deserved it." Here she grasped her close again with a sudden
+clutch, and cried out, "If this is what you say, where is God?"
+
+"Are you afraid of him?" the little Pilgrim said. Upon which the woman
+trembled so, that the Pilgrim trembled too with the quivering of her
+frame; then loosed her hold, and fell upon her face, and cried,--
+
+"Hide me! hide me! I have been a great sinner. Hide me, that he may not
+see me;" and with one hand she tried to draw the Pilgrim's dress as a
+veil between her and something she feared.
+
+"How should I hide you from him who is everywhere? and why should I hide
+you from your Father?" the little Pilgrim said. This she said almost with
+indignation, wondering that any one could put more trust in her, who was
+no better than a child, than in the Father of all. But then she said,
+"Look into your heart, and you will see you are not so much afraid as you
+think. This is how you have been accustomed to frighten yourself. But now
+look into your heart. You thought you were very ill at first, but not now
+and you think you are afraid; but look into your heart--"
+
+There was a silence; and then the woman raised her head with a wonderful
+look, in which there was amazement and doubt, as if she had heard some
+joyful thing, but dared not yet believe that it was true. Once more she
+hid her face in her hands, and once more raised it again. Her eyes
+softened; a long sigh or gasp, like one taking breath after drowning,
+shook her breast. Then she said, "I think--that is true. But if I am not
+afraid, it is because I am--bad. It is because I am hardened. Oh, should
+not I fear him who can send me away into--the lake that burns--into the
+pit--" And here she gave a great cry, but held the little Pilgrim all the
+while with her eyes, which seemed to plead and ask for better news.
+
+Then there came into the Pilgrim's heart what to say, and she took the
+woman's hand again and held it between her own. "That is the change," she
+said, "that comes when we come here. We are not afraid any more of our
+Father. We are not all happy. Perhaps you will not be happy at first. But
+if he says to you, 'Go!'--even to that place you speak of--you will know
+that it is well, and you will not be afraid. You are not afraid now,--oh,
+I can see it in your eyes. You are not happy, but you are not afraid. You
+know it is the Father. Do not say God,--that is far off,--Father!" said
+the little Pilgrim, holding up the woman's hand clasped in her own. And
+there came into her soul an ecstasy, and tears that were tears of
+blessedness fell from her eyes, and all about her there seemed to shine a
+light. When she came to herself, the woman who was her charge had come
+quite close to her, and had added her other hand to that the Pilgrim
+held, and was weeping and saying, "I am not afraid," with now and then a
+gasp and sob, like a child who after a passion of tears has been
+consoled, yet goes on sobbing and cannot quite forget, and is afraid to
+own that all is well again. Then the Pilgrim kissed her, and bade her
+rest a little; for even she herself felt shaken, and longed for a little
+quiet, and to feel the true sense of the peace that was in her heart. She
+sat down beside her upon the ground, and made her lean her head against
+her shoulder, and thus they remained very still for a little time, saying
+no more. It seemed to the little Pilgrim that her companion had fallen
+asleep, and perhaps it was so, after so much agitation. All this time
+there had been people passing, entering by the many doors. And most of
+them paused a little to see where they were, and looked round them, then
+went on; and it seemed to the little Pilgrim that according to the doors
+by which they entered each took a different way. While she watched,
+another came in by the same door as that at which the woman who was her
+charge had come in. And he too stumbled and looked about him with an air
+of great wonder and doubt. When he saw her seated on the ground, he came
+up to her hesitating, as one in a strange place who does not want to
+betray that he is bewildered and has lost his way. He came with a little
+pretence of smiling, though his countenance was pale and scared, and
+said, drawing his breath quick, "I ought to know where I am, but I have
+lost my head, I think. Will you tell me which is--the way?"
+
+"What way?" cried the little Pilgrim; for her strength was gone from her,
+and she had no word to say to him. He looked at her with that
+bewilderment on his face, and said, "I find myself strange, strange. I
+ought to know where I am; but it is scarcely daylight yet. It is perhaps
+foolish to come out so early in the morning." This he said in his
+confusion, not knowing where he was, nor what he said.
+
+"I think all the ways lead to our Father," said the little Pilgrim
+(though she had not known this till now). "And the dear Lord walks about
+them all. Here you never go astray."
+
+Upon this the stranger looked at her, and asked in a faltering voice,
+"Are you an angel?" still not knowing what he said.
+
+"Oh, no, no; I am only a Pilgrim," she replied.
+
+"May I sit by you a little?" said the man. He sat down, drawing long
+breaths, as though he had gone through great fatigue; and looked about
+with wondering eyes. "You will wonder, but I do not know where I am," he
+said. "I feel as if I must he dreaming. This is not where I expected to
+come. I looked for something very different; do you think there can have
+been any--mistake?"
+
+"Oh, never that," she said; "there are no mistakes here."
+
+Then he looked at her again, and said,--
+
+"I perceive that you belong to this country, though you say you are a
+pilgrim. I should be grateful if you would tell me. Does one live--here?
+And is this all? Is there no--no--but I don't know what word to use. All
+is so strange, different from what I expected."
+
+"Do you know that you have died?"
+
+"Yes--yes, I am quite acquainted with that," he said, hurriedly; as if it
+had been an idea he disliked to dwell upon. "But then I expected--Is
+there no one to tell you where to go, or what you are to be? or to take
+any notice of you?"
+
+The little Pilgrim was startled by this tone. She did not understand its
+meaning, and she had not any word to say to him. She looked at him with
+as much bewilderment as he had shown when he approached her, and replied,
+faltering,--
+
+"There are a great many people here; but I have never heard if there is
+any one to tell you--"
+
+"What does it matter how many people there are if you know none of them?"
+he said.
+
+"We all know each other," she answered him but then paused and hesitated
+a little, because this was what had been said to her, and of herself she
+was not assured of it, neither did she know at all how to deal with this
+stranger, to whom she had not any commission. It seemed that he had no
+one to care for him, and the little Pilgrim had a sense of compassion,
+yet of trouble in her heart; for what could she say? And it was very
+strange to her to see one who was not content here.
+
+"Ah, but there should be some one to point out the way, and tell us which
+is our circle, and where we ought to go," he said. And then he too was
+silent for a while, looking about him as all were fain to do on their
+first arrival, finding everything so strange. There were people coming in
+at every moment, and some were met at the very threshold, and some went
+away alone with peaceful faces, and there were many groups about talking
+together in soft voices; but no one interrupted the other, and though so
+many were there, each voice was as clear as if it had spoken alone, and
+there was no tumult of sound as when many people assemble together in the
+lower world.
+
+The little Pilgrim wondered to find herself with the woman resting upon
+her on one side, and the man seated silent on the other, neither having,
+it appeared, any guide but only herself, who knew so little. How was she
+to lead them in the paths which she did not know?--and she was exhausted
+by the agitation of her struggle with the woman whom she felt to be her
+charge. But in this moment of silence she had time to remember the face
+of the Lord, when he gave her this commission, and her heart was
+strengthened. The man all this time sat and watched, looking eagerly all
+about him, examining the faces of those who went and came: and sometimes
+he made a little start as if to go and speak to some one he knew; but
+always drew back again and looked at the little Pilgrim, as if he had
+said, "This is the one who will serve me best." He spoke to her again
+after a while and said, "I suppose you are one of the guides that show
+the way."
+
+"No," said the little Pilgrim, anxiously. "I know so little! It is not
+long since I came here. I came in the early morning--"
+
+"Why, it is morning now. You could not come earlier than it is now. You
+mean yesterday."
+
+"I think," said the Pilgrim, "that yesterday is the other side; there is
+no yesterday here."
+
+He looked at her with the keen look he had, to understand her the better;
+and then he said,--
+
+"No division of time! I think that must be monotonous. It will be strange
+to have no night; but I suppose one gets used to everything. I hope
+though there is something to do. I have always lived a very busy life.
+Perhaps this is just a little pause before we go--to be--to have--to
+get our--appointed place."
+
+He had an uneasy look as he said this, and looked at her with an anxious
+curiosity, which the little Pilgrim did not understand.
+
+"I do not know," she said softly, shaking her head. "I have so little
+experience. I have not been told of an appointed place."
+
+The man looked at her very strangely.
+
+"I did not think," he said, "that I should have found such ignorance
+here. Is it not well known that we must all appear before the
+judgment-seat of God?"
+
+There words seemed to cause a trembling on the still air, and the woman
+on the other side raised herself suddenly up, clasping her hands and some
+of those who had just entered heard the words, and came and crowded about
+the little Pilgrim, some standing, some falling down upon their knee, all
+with their faces turned towards her. She who had always been so simple
+and small, so little used to teach; she was frightened with the sight of
+all these strangers crowding, hanging upon her lips, looking to her for
+knowledge. She knew not what to do or what to say. The tears came into
+her eyes.
+
+"Oh," she said, "I do not know anything about a judgment-seat. I know
+that our Father is here, and that when we are in trouble we are taken to
+him to be comforted, and that our dear Lord our Brother is among us every
+day, and every one may see him. Listen," she said, standing up suddenly
+among them, feeling strong as an angel. "I have seen him! though I am
+nothing, so little as you see, and often silly, never clever as some of
+you are, I have seen him! and so will all of you. There is no more that I
+know of," she said softly, clasping her hands. "When you see him it comes
+into your heart what you must do."
+
+And then there was a murmur of voices about her, some saying that was
+best, and some wondering if that were all, and some crying if he would
+but come now--while the little Pilgrim stood among them with her face
+shining, and they all looked at her, asking her to tell them more, to
+show them how to find him. But this was far above what she could do, for
+she too was not much more than a stranger, and had little strength. She
+would not go back a step, nor desert those who were so anxious to know,
+though her heart fluttered almost as it had used to do before she died,
+what with her longing to tell them, and knowing that she had no more to
+say.
+
+But in that land it is never permitted that one who stands bravely and
+fails not shall be left without succor; for it is no longer needful there
+to stand even to death, since all dying is over, and all souls are
+tested. When it was seen that the little Pilgrim was thus surrounded by
+so many that questioned her, there suddenly came about her many others
+from the brightness out of which she had come, who, one going to one
+hand, and one to another, safely led them into the ways in which their
+course lay: so that the Pilgrim was free to lead forth the woman who had
+been given her in charge, and whose path lay in a dim, but pleasant
+country, outside of that light and gladness in which the Pilgrim's home
+was.
+
+"But," she said, "you are not to fear or be cast down, because he goes
+likewise by these ways, and there is not a corner in all this land but he
+is to be seen passing by; and he will come and speak to you, and lay his
+hand upon you; and afterwards everything will be clear, and you will know
+what you are to do."
+
+"Stay with me till he comes,--oh, stay with me," the woman cried,
+clinging to her arm.
+
+"Unless another is sent," the little Pilgrim said. And it was nothing to
+her that the air was less bright there, for her mind was full of light,
+so that, though her heart still fluttered a little with all that had
+passed, she had no longing to return, nor to shorten the way, but went by
+the lower road sweetly, with the stranger hanging upon her, who was
+stronger and taller than she. Thus they went on, and the Pilgrim told her
+all she knew, and everything that came into her heart. And so full was
+she of the great things she had to say, that it was a surprise to her,
+and left her trembling, when suddenly the woman took away her clinging
+hand, and flew forward with arms out-spread and a cry of joy. The little
+Pilgrim stood still to see, and on the path before them was a child,
+coming towards them singing, with a look such as is never seen but upon
+the faces of children who have come here early, and who behold the face
+of the Father, and have never known fear nor sorrow. The woman flew and
+fell at the child's feet, and he put his hand upon her, and raised her
+up, and called her "mother." Then he smiled upon the little Pilgrim, and
+led her away.
+
+"Now she needs me no longer," said the Pilgrim; and it was a surprise to
+her, and for a moment she wondered in herself if it was known that this
+child should come so suddenly and her work be over; and also how she was
+to return again to the sweet place among the flowers from which she had
+come. But when she turned to look if there was any way, she found one
+standing by such as she had not yet seen. This was a youth, with a face
+just touched with manhood, as at the moment when the boy ends, when all
+is still fresh and pure in the heart; but he was taller and greater than
+a man.
+
+"I am sent," he said, "little sister, to take you to the Father; because
+you have been very faithful, and gone beyond your strength."
+
+And he took the little Pilgrim by the hand, and she knew he was an angel;
+and immediately the sweet air melted about them into light, and a hush
+came upon her of all thought and all sense, attending till she should
+receive the blessing, and her new name, and see what is beyond telling,
+and hear and understand.
+
+
+
+
+II.
+
+THE LITTLE PILGRIM GOES UP HIGHER.
+
+
+When the little Pilgrim came out of the presence of the Father, she found
+herself in the street of a great city. But what she saw and heard when
+she was with Him it is not given to the tongue of mortal to say, for it
+is beyond words, and beyond even thought. As the mystery of love is not
+to be spoken but to be felt, even in the lower earth, so, but much less,
+is that great mystery of the love of the Father to be expressed in sound.
+The little Pilgrim was very happy when she went into that sacred place,
+but there was a great awe upon her, and it might even be said that she
+was afraid; but when she came out again she feared nothing, but looked
+with clear eyes upon all she saw, loving them, but no more overawed by
+them, having seen that which is above all. When she came forth again to
+her common life--for it is not permitted save for those who have attained
+the greatest heights to dwell there--she had no longer need of any guide,
+but came alone, knowing where to go, and walking where it pleased her,
+with reverence and a great delight in seeing and knowing all that was
+around, but no fear. It was a great city, but it was not like the great
+cities which she had seen. She understood as she passed along how it was
+that those who had been dazzled but by a passing glance had described the
+walls and the pavement as gold. They were like what gold is, beautiful
+and clear, of a lovely color, but softer in tone than metal ever was, and
+as cool and fresh to walk upon and to touch as if they had been velvet
+grass. The buildings were all beautiful, of every style and form that it
+is possible to think of, yet in great harmony, as if every man had
+followed his own taste, yet all had been so combined and grouped by the
+master architect that each individual feature enhanced the effect of the
+rest. Some of the houses were greater and some smaller, but all of them
+were rich in carvings and pictures and lovely decorations, and the effect
+was as if the richest materials had been employed, marbles and beautiful
+sculptured stone, and wood of beautiful tints, though the little Pilgrim
+knew that these were not like the marble and stone she had once known,
+but heavenly representatives of them, far better than they. There were
+people at work upon them, building new houses and making additions, and a
+great many painters painting upon them the history of the people who
+lived there, or of others who were worthy that commemoration. And the
+streets were full of pleasant sound, and of crowds going and coming, and
+the commotion of much business, and many things to do. And this movement,
+and the brightness of the air, and the wonderful things that were to be
+seen on every side, made the Pilgrim gay, so that she could have sung
+with pleasure as she went along. And all who met her smiled, and every
+group exchanged greetings as they passed along, all knowing each other.
+Many of them, as might be seen, had come there, as she did, to see the
+wonders of the beautiful city; and all who lived there were ready to tell
+them whatever they desired to know, and show them the finest houses and
+the greatest pictures. And this gave a feeling of holiday and pleasure
+which was delightful beyond description, for all the busy people about
+were full of sympathy with the strangers, bidding them welcome, inviting
+them into their houses, making the warmest fellowship. And friends were
+meeting continually on every side; but the Pilgrim had no sense that she
+was forlorn in being alone, for all were friends; and it pleased her to
+watch the others, and see how one turned this way and one another, every
+one finding something that delighted him above all other things. She
+herself took a great pleasure in watching a painter, who was standing
+upon a balcony a little way above her, painting upon a great fresco: and
+when he saw this he asked her to come up beside him and see his work. She
+asked him a great many questions about it, and why it was that he was
+working only at the draperies of the figures, and did not touch their
+faces, some of which were already finished and seemed to be looking at
+her, as living as she was, out of the wall, while some were merely
+outlined as yet. He told her that he was not a great painter to do this,
+or to design the great work, but that the master would come presently,
+who had the chief responsibility. "For we have not all the same genius,"
+he said, "and if I were to paint this head it would not have the gift of
+life as that one has; but to stand by and see him put it in, you cannot
+think what a happiness that is; for one knows every touch, and just what
+effect it will have, though one could not do it one's self; and it is a
+wonder and a delight perpetual that it should be done."
+
+The little Pilgrim looked up at him and said, "That is very beautiful to
+say. And do you never wish to be like him--to make the lovely, living
+faces as well as the other parts?"
+
+"Is not this lovely too?" he said; and showed her how he had just put in
+a billowy robe, buoyed out with the wind, and sweeping down from the
+shoulders of a stately figure in such free and graceful folds that she
+would have liked to take it in her hand and feel the silken texture; and
+then he told her how absorbing it was to study the mysteries of color and
+the differences of light. "There is enough in that to make one happy,"
+he said. "It is thought by some that we will all come to the higher point
+with work and thought: but that is not my feeling; and whether it is so
+or not what does it matter, for our Father makes no difference: and all
+of us are necessary to everything that is done: and it is almost more
+delight to see the master do it than to do it with one's own hand. For
+one thing, your own work may rejoice you in your heart, but always
+with a little trembling because it is never so perfect as you would have
+it--whereas in your master's work you have full content, because his idea
+goes beyond yours, and as he makes every touch you can feel 'That is
+right--that is complete--that is just as it ought to be.' Do you
+understand what I mean?" he said, turning to her with a smile.
+
+"I understand it perfectly," she cried, clasping her hands together with
+the delight of accord. "Don't you think that is one of the things that
+are so happy here? you understand at half a word."
+
+"Not everybody," he said, and smiled upon her like a brother; "for we are
+not all alike even here."
+
+"Were you a painter?" she said, "in--in the other--"
+
+"In the old times. I was one of those that strove for the mastery, and
+sometimes grudged--We remember these things at times," he said gravely,
+"to make us more aware of the blessedness of being content."
+
+"It is long since then?" she said with some wistfulness; upon which he
+smiled again.
+
+"So long," he said, "that we have worn out most of our links to the world
+below. We have all come away, and those who were after us for
+generations. But you are a new-comer."
+
+"And are they all with you? are you all--together? do you live--as in the
+old time?"
+
+Upon this the painter smiled, but not so brightly as before.
+
+"Not as in the old time," he said, "nor are they all here. Some are still
+upon the way, and of some we have no certainty, only news from time to
+time. The angels are very good to us. They never miss an occasion to
+bring us news; for they go everywhere, you know."
+
+"Yes," said the little Pilgrim, though indeed she had not known it till
+now; but it seemed to her as if it had come to her mind by nature and she
+had never needed to be told.
+
+"They are so tender-hearted," the painter said; "and more than that, they
+are very curious about men and women. They have known it all from the
+beginning, and it is a wonder to them. There is a friend of mine, an
+angel, who is more wise in men's hearts than any one I know; and yet he
+will say to me sometimes, 'I do not understand you,--you are wonderful.'
+They like to find out all we are thinking. It is an endless pleasure to
+them, just as it is to some of us to watch the people in the other
+worlds."
+
+"Do you mean--where we have come from?" said the little Pilgrim.
+
+"Not always there. We in this city have been long separated from that
+country, for all that we love are out of it."
+
+"But not here?" the little Pilgrim cried again, with a little sorrow--a
+pang that she knew was going to be put away--in her heart.
+
+"But coming! coming!" said the painter, cheerfully; "and some were here
+before us, and some have arrived since. They are everywhere."
+
+"But some in trouble--some in trouble!" she cried, with the tears in her
+eyes.
+
+"We suppose so," he said, gravely; "for some are in that place which once
+was called among us the place of despair."
+
+"You mean--" and though the little Pilgrim had been made free of fear, at
+that word which she would not speak, she trembled, and the light grew dim
+in her eyes.
+
+"Well!" said her new friend, "and what then? The Father sees through and
+through it as he does here; they cannot escape him: so that there is Love
+near them always. I have a son," he said, then sighed a little, but
+smiled again, "who is there."
+
+The little Pilgrim at this clasped her hands with a piteous cry.
+
+"Nay, nay," he said, "little sister; my friend I was telling you of, the
+angel, brought me news of him just now. Indeed there was news of him
+through all the city. Did you not hear all the bells ringing? But perhaps
+that was before you came. The angels who know me best came one
+after another to tell me, and our Lord himself came to wish me joy. My
+son had found the way."
+
+The little Pilgrim did not understand this, and almost thought that the
+painter must be mistaken or dreaming. She looked at him very anxiously
+and said,--
+
+"I thought that those unhappy--never came out any more."
+
+The painter smiled at her in return, and said,--
+
+"Had you children in the old time?"
+
+She paused a little before she replied.
+
+"I had children in love," she said, "but none that were born mine."
+
+"It is the same," he said, "it is the same; and if one of them had sinned
+against you, injured you, done wrong in any way, would you have cast him
+off, or what would you have done?"
+
+"Oh!" said the little Pilgrim again, with a vivid light of memory coming
+into her face, which showed she had no need to think of this as a thing
+that might have happened, but knew. "I brought him home. I nursed him
+well again. I prayed for him night and day. Did you say cast him off?
+when he had most need of me? then I never could have loved him," she
+cried.
+
+The painter nodded his head, and his hand with the pencil in it, for he
+had turned from his picture to look at her.
+
+"Then you think you love better than our Father?" he said; and turned to
+his work, and painted a new fold in the robe, which looked as if a soft
+air had suddenly blown into it, and not the touch of a skilful hand.
+
+This made the Pilgrim tremble, as though in her ignorance she had done
+something wrong. After that there came a great joy into her heart. "Oh,
+how happy you have made me!" she cried. "I am glad with all my heart for
+you and your son--" Then she paused a little and added, "But you said he
+was still there."
+
+"It is true; for the land of darkness is very confusing, they tell me,
+for want of the true light, and our dear friends the angels are not
+permitted to help: but if one follows them, that shows the way. You may
+be in that land yet on your way hither. It was very hard to understand at
+first," said the painter; "there are some sketches I could show you. No
+one has ever made a picture of it, though many have tried; but I could
+show you some sketches--if you wish to see."
+
+To this the little Pilgrim's look was so plain an answer that the painter
+laid down his pallet and his brush, and left his work, to show them to
+her as he had promised. They went down from the balcony and along the
+street until they came to one of the great palaces, where many were
+coming and going. Here they walked through some vast halls, where
+students were working at easels, doing every kind of beautiful work: some
+painting pictures, some preparing drawings, planning houses and palaces.
+The Pilgrim would have liked to pause at every moment to see one lovely
+thing or another; but the painter walked on steadily till he came to a
+room which was full of sketches, some of them like pictures in little,
+with many figures,--some of them only a representation of a flower, or
+the wing of a bird. "These are all the master's," he said; "sometimes the
+sight of them will be enough to put something great into the mind of
+another. In this corner are the sketches I told you of." There were two
+of them hanging together upon the wall, and at first it seemed to the
+little Pilgrim as if they represented the flames and fire of which she
+had read, and this made her shudder for the moment. But then she saw that
+it was a red light like a stormy sunset, with masses of clouds in the
+sky, and a low sun very fiery and dazzling, which no doubt to a hasty
+glance must have looked, with its dark shadows and high lurid lights,
+like the fires of the bottomless pit. But when you looked down you saw
+the reality what it was. The country that lay beneath was full of
+tropical foliage, but with many stretches of sand and dry plains, and in
+the foreground was a town, that looked very prosperous and crowded,
+though the figures were very minute, the subject being so great; but no
+one to see it would have taken it for anything but a busy and wealthy
+place, in a thunderous atmosphere, with a storm coming on. In the next
+there was a section of a street with a great banqueting hall open to the
+view, and many people sitting about the table. You could see that there
+was a great deal of laughter and conversation going on, some very noisy
+groups, but others that sat more quietly in corners and conversed, and
+some who sang, and every kind of entertainment. The little Pilgrim was
+very much astonished to see this, and turned to the painter, who answered
+her directly, though she had not spoken. "We used to think differently
+once. There are some who are there and do not know it. They think only it
+is the old life over again, but always worse, and they are led on in the
+ways of evil; but they do not feel the punishment until they begin to
+find out where they are and to struggle, and wish for other things."
+
+The little Pilgrim felt her heart beat very wildly while she looked at
+this, and she thought upon the rich man in the parable, who, though he
+was himself in torment, prayed that his brother might be saved, and she
+said to herself, "Our dear Lord would never leave him there who could
+think of his brother when he was himself in such a strait." And when she
+looked at the painter he smiled upon her, and nodded his head. Then he
+led her to the other corner of the room where there were other pictures.
+One of them was of a party seated round a table and an angel looking
+on. The angel had the aspect of a traveller, as if he were passing
+quickly by and had but paused a moment to look, and one of the men
+glancing up suddenly saw him. The picture was dim, but the startled look
+upon this man's face, and the sorrow on the angel's, appeared out of the
+misty background with such truth that the tears came into the little
+Pilgrim's eyes, and she said in her heart, "Oh that I could go to him and
+help him!" The other sketches were dimmer and dimmer. You seemed to see
+out of the darkness, gleaming lights, and companies of revellers, out of
+which here and there was one trying to escape. And then the wide plains
+in the night, and the white vision of the angel in the distance, and here
+and there by different paths a fugitive striving to follow. "Oh, sir,"
+said the little Pilgrim, "how did you learn to do it? You have never been
+there."
+
+"It was the master, not I; and I cannot tell you if he has ever been
+there. When the Father has given you that gift, you can go to many
+places, without leaving the one where you are. And then he has heard what
+the angels say."
+
+"And will they all get safe at the last? and even that great spirit, he
+that fell from heaven--"
+
+The painter shook his head and said, "It is not permitted to you and me
+to know such great things. Perhaps the wise will tell you if you ask
+them: but for me I ask the Father in my heart and listen to what he
+says."
+
+"That is best!" the little Pilgrim said; and she asked the Father in her
+heart: and there came all over her such a glow of warmth and happiness
+that her soul was satisfied. She looked in the painter's face and laughed
+for joy. And he put out his hands as if welcoming some one, and his
+countenance shone; and he said,--
+
+"My son had a great gift. He was a master born, though it was not given
+to me. He shall paint it all for us so that the heart shall rejoice; and
+you will come again and see."
+
+After that it happened to the little Pilgrim to enter into another great
+palace where there were many people reading, and some sitting at their
+desks and writing, and some consulting together, with many great volumes
+stretched out open upon the tables. One of these who was seated alone
+looked up as she paused wondering at him, and smiled as every one did,
+and greeted her with such a friendly tone that the Pilgrim, who always
+had a great desire to know, came nearer to him and looked at the book,
+then begged his pardon, and said she did not know that books were needed
+here. And then he told her that he was one of the historians of the city
+where all the records of the world were kept, and that it was his
+business to work upon the great history, and to show what was the meaning
+of the Father in everything that had happened, and how each event came in
+its right place.
+
+"And do you get it out of books?" she asked; for she was not learned, nor
+wise, and knew but little, though she always loved to know.
+
+"The books are the records," he said; "and there are many here that were
+never known to us in the old days; for the angels love to look into
+these things, and they can tell us much, for they saw it; and in the
+great books they have kept there is much put down that was never in the
+books we wrote, for then we did not know. We found out about the kings
+and the state, and tried to understand what great purposes they were
+serving; but even these we did not know, for those purposes were too
+great for us, not knowing the end from the beginning, and the hearts of
+men were too great for us. We comprehended the evil sometimes, but never
+fathomed the good. And how could we know the lesser things which were
+working out God's way? for some of these even the angels did not know;
+and it has happened to me that our Lord himself has come in sometimes to
+tell me of one that none of us had discovered."
+
+"Oh," said the little Pilgrim, with tears in her eyes, "I should like to
+have been that one!--that was not known even to the angels, but only
+to Himself!"
+
+The historian smiled. "It was my brother," he said.
+
+The Pilgrim looked at him with great wonder. "Your brother, and you did
+not know him!"
+
+And then he turned over the pages and showed her where the story was.
+
+"You know," he said, "that we who live here are not of your time, but
+have lived and lived here till the old life is far away and like a dream.
+There were great tumults and fightings in our time, and it was settled by
+the prince of the place that our town was to be abandoned, and all the
+people left to the mercy of an enemy who had no mercy. But every day as
+he rode out he saw at one door a child, a little fair boy, who sat on the
+steps, and sang his little song like a bird. This child was never afraid
+of anything,--when the horses pranced past him, and the troopers pushed
+him aside, he looked up into their faces and smiled. And when he had
+anything, a piece of bread, or an apple, or a plaything, he shared it
+with his playmates; and his little face, and his pretty voice, and all
+his pleasant ways, made that corner bright. He was like a flower growing
+there; everybody smiled that saw him."
+
+"I have seen such a child," the little Pilgrim said.
+
+"But we made no account of him," said the historian. "The Lord of the
+place came past him every day, and always saw him singing in the sun by
+his father's door. And it was a wonder then, and it has been a wonder
+ever since, why, having resolved upon it, that prince did not abandon the
+town, which would have changed all his fortune after. Much had been made
+clear to me since I began to study, but not this: till the Lord himself
+came to me and told me. The prince looked at the child till he loved him,
+and he reflected how many children there were like this that would be
+murdered, or starved to death, and he could not give up the little
+singing boy to the sword. So he remained; and the town was saved, and he
+became a great king. It was so secret that even the angels did not know
+it. But without that child the history would not have been complete."
+
+"And is he here?" the little Pilgrim said.
+
+"Ah," said the historian, "that is more strange still; for that which
+saved him was also to his harm. He is not here. He is Elsewhere."
+
+The little Pilgrim's face grew sad; but then she remembered what she had
+been told.
+
+"But you know," she said, "that he is coming?"
+
+"I know that our Father will never forsake him, and that everything that
+is being accomplished in him is well."
+
+"Is it well to suffer? Is it well to live in that dark stormy country?
+Oh, that they were all here, and happy like you!"
+
+He shook his head a little and said,--
+
+"It was a long time before I got here; and as for suffering that matters
+little. You get experience by it. You are more accomplished and fit for
+greater work in the end. It is not for nothing that we are permitted to
+wander; and sometimes one goes to the edge of despair--"
+
+She looked at him with such wondering eyes that he answered her without a
+word.
+
+"Yes," he said, "I have been there."
+
+And then it seemed to her that there was something in his eyes which she
+had not remarked before. Not only the great content that was everywhere,
+but a deeper light, and the air of a judge who knew both good and evil,
+and could see both sides, and understood all, both to love and to hate.
+
+"Little sister," he said, "you have never wandered far; it is not needful
+for such as you. Love teaches you, and you need no more; but when we have
+to be trained for an office like this, to make the way of the Lord clear
+through all the generations, reason is that we should see everything, and
+learn all that man is and can be. These things are too deep for us; we
+stumble on, and know not till after. But now to me it is all clear."
+
+She looked at him again and again while he spoke, and it seemed to her
+that she saw in him such great knowledge and tenderness as made her glad;
+and how he could understand the follies that men had done, and fathom
+what real meaning was in them, and disentangle all the threads. He smiled
+as she gazed at him, and answered as if she had spoken.
+
+"What was evil perishes, and what was good remains; almost everywhere
+there is a little good. We could not understand all if we had not seen
+all and shared all."
+
+"And the punishment too," she said, wondering more and more.
+
+He smiled so joyfully that it was like laughter.
+
+"Pain is a great angel," he said. "The reason we hated him in the old
+days was because he tended to death and decay; but when it is towards
+life he leads, we fear him no more. The welcome thing of all in the land
+of darkness is when you see him first and know who he is; for by this you
+are aware that you have found the way."
+
+The little Pilgrim did nothing but question with her anxious eyes, for
+this was such a wonder to her, and she could not understand. But he only
+sat musing with a smile over the things he remembered. And at last he
+said,--
+
+"If this is so interesting to you, you shall read it all in another
+place, in the room where we have laid up our own experiences, in order to
+serve for the history afterwards. But we are still busy upon the work of
+the earth. There is always something new to be discovered. And it is
+essential for the whole world that the chronicle should be full. I am in
+great joy because it was but just now that our Lord told me about that
+child. Everything was imperfect without him, but now it is clear."
+
+"You mean your brother? And you are happy though you are not sure if he
+is happy?" the little Pilgrim said.
+
+"It is not to be happy that we live," said he; and then, "We are all
+happy so soon as we have found the way."
+
+She would have asked him more, but that he was called to a consultation
+with some others of his kind, and had to leave her, waving his hand to
+her with a tender kindness which went to her heart. She looked after him
+with great respect, scarcely knowing why; but it seemed to her that a man
+who had been in the land of darkness, and made his way out of it, must be
+more wonderful than any other. She looked round for a little upon the
+great library, full of all the books that had ever been written, and
+where people were doing their work, examining and reading and making
+extracts, every one with looks of so much interest, that she almost
+envied them,--though it was a generous delight in seeing people so
+happy in their occupation, and a desire to associate herself somehow in
+it, rather than any grudging of their satisfaction, that was in her
+mind. She went about all the courts of this palace alone, and everywhere
+saw the same work going on, and everywhere met the same kind looks. Even
+when the greatest of all looked up from his work and saw her, he would
+give her a friendly greeting and a smile; and nobody was too wise to lend
+an ear to the little visitor, or to answer her questions. And this was
+how it was that she began to talk to another, who was seated at a great
+table with many more, and who drew her to him by something that was in
+his looks, though she could not have told what it was. It was not that he
+was kinder than the rest, for they were all kind. She stood by him a
+little, and saw how he worked and would take something from one book and
+something from another, putting them ready for use. And it did not seem
+any trouble to do this work, but only pleasure, and the very pen in his
+hand was like a winged thing, as if it loved to write. When he saw her
+watching him, he looked up and showed her the beautiful book out of which
+he was copying, which was all illuminated with lovely pictures.
+
+"This is one of the volumes of the great history," he said. "There are
+some things in it which are needed for another, and it is a pleasure to
+work at it. If you will come here you will be able to see the page while
+I write."
+
+Then the little Pilgrim asked him some questions about the pictures, and
+he answered her, describing and explaining them; for they were in the
+middle of the history, and she did not understand what it was. When she
+said, "I ought not to trouble you, for you are busy," he laughed so
+kindly that she laughed too for pleasure. And he said,--
+
+"There is no trouble here. When we are not allowed to work, as sometimes
+happens, that makes us not quite so happy, but it is very seldom that it
+happens so."
+
+"Is it for punishment?" she said.
+
+And then he laughed out with a sound which made all the others look up
+smiling; and if they had not all looked so tenderly at her, as at a child
+who has made such a mistake as it is pretty for the child to make, she
+would have feared she had said something wrong; but she only laughed at
+herself too, and blushed a little, knowing that she was not wise: and to
+put her at her ease again, he turned the leaf and showed her other
+pictures, and the story which went with them, from which he was copying
+something. And he said,--
+
+"This is for another book, to show how the grace of the Father was
+beautiful in some homes and families. It is not the great history, but
+connected with it; and there are many who love that better than the story
+which is more great."
+
+Then the Pilgrim looked in his face and said,--
+
+"What I want most is, to know about your homes here."
+
+"It is all home here," he said, and smiled; and then, as he met her
+wistful looks, he went on to tell her that he and his brothers were not
+always there. "We have all our occupations," he said, "and sometimes I am
+sent to inquire into facts that have happened, of which the record is not
+clear; for we must omit nothing; and sometimes we are told to rest and
+take in new strength; and sometimes--"
+
+"But oh, forgive me," cried the little Pilgrim, "you had some who were
+more dear to you than all the world in the old time?"
+
+And the others all looked up again at the question, and looked at her
+with tender eyes, and said to the man whom she questioned,--"Speak!"
+
+He made a little pause before he spoke, and he looked at one here and
+there, and called to them,--
+
+"Patience, brother," and "Courage, brother." And then he said, "Those
+whom we loved best are nearly all with us; but some have not yet come."
+
+"Oh," said the little Pilgrim, "but how then do you bear it, to be parted
+so long--so long?"
+
+Then one of those to whom the first speaker had called out "Patience"
+rose, and came to her smiling; and he said,--
+
+"I think every hour that perhaps she will come, and the joy will be so
+great, that thinking of that makes the waiting short: and nothing here is
+long, for it never ends; and it will be so wonderful to hear her tell how
+the Father has guided her, that it will be a delight to us all; and she
+will be able to explain many things, not only for us, but for all; and we
+love each other so that this separation is as nothing in comparison with
+what is to come."
+
+It was beautiful to hear this, but it was not what the little Pilgrim
+expected, for she thought they would have told her of the homes to which
+they all returned when their work was over, and a life which was like the
+life of the old time; but of this they said nothing, only looking at her
+with smiling eyes, as at the curious questions of a child. And there were
+many other things she would have asked, but refrained when she looked at
+them, feeling as if she did not yet understand; when one of them broke
+forth suddenly in a louder voice, and said,--
+
+"The little sister knows only the little language and the beginning of
+days. She has not learned the mysteries, and what Love is, and what life
+is."
+
+And another cried, "It is sweet to hear it again;" and they all gathered
+round her with tender looks, and began to talk to each other, and tell
+her, as men will tell of the games of their childhood, of things that
+happened, which were half-forgotten, in the old time.
+
+After this the little Pilgrim went out again into the beautiful city,
+feeling in her heart that everything was a mystery, and that the days
+would never be long enough to learn all that had yet to be learned, but
+knowing now that this too was the little language, and pleased with the
+sweet thought of so much that was to come. For one had whispered to her
+as she went out that the new tongue, and every explanation, as she was
+ready for it, would come to her through one of those whom she loved best,
+which is the usage of that country. And when the stranger has no one
+there that is very dear, then it is an angel who teaches the greater
+language, and that is what happens often to the children who are
+brought up in that heavenly place. When she reached the street again, she
+was so pleased with this thought that it went out of her mind to ask her
+way to the great library, where she was to read the story of the
+historian's journey through the land of darkness; indeed she forgot that
+land altogether, and thought only of what was around her in the great
+city, which is beyond everything that eye has seen, or that ear has
+heard, or that it has entered into the imagination to conceive. And now
+it seemed to her that she was much more familiar with the looks of the
+people, and could distinguish between those who belonged to the city and
+those who were visitors like herself; and also could tell which they were
+who had entered into the mysteries of the kingdom, and which were, like
+herself, only acquainted with the beginning of days. And it came to her
+mind, she could not tell how, that it was best not to ask questions, but
+to wait until the beloved one should come, who would teach her the first
+words. For in the mean time she did not feel at all impatient or
+disturbed by her want of knowledge, but laughed a little at herself to
+suppose that she could find out everything, and went on looking round
+her, and saying a word to every one she met, and enjoying the holiday
+looks of all the strangers, and the sense she had in her heart of holiday
+too. She was walking on in this pleasant way, when she heard a sound that
+was like silver trumpets, and saw the crowd turn towards an open space in
+which all the beautiful buildings were shaded with fine trees, and
+flowers were springing at the very edge of the pavements. The strangers
+all hastened along to hear what it was, and she with them, and some also
+of the people of the place. And as the little Pilgrim found herself
+walking by a woman who was of these last, she asked her what it was.
+
+And the woman told her it was a poet who had come to say to them what had
+been revealed to him, and that the two with the silver trumpets were
+angels of the musicians' order, whose office it was to proclaim
+everything that was new, that the people should know. And many of those
+who were at work in the palaces came out and joined the crowd, and the
+painter who had showed the little Pilgrim his picture, and many whose
+faces she began to be acquainted with. The poet stood up upon a beautiful
+pedestal all sculptured in stone, and with wreaths of living flowers hung
+upon it--and when the crowd had gathered in front of him, he began his
+poem. He told them that it was not about this land, or anything that
+happened in it, which they knew as he did, but that it was a story of the
+old time, when men were walking in darkness, and when no one knew the
+true meaning even of what he himself did, but had to go on as if blindly,
+stumbling and groping with their hands. And "Oh, brethren," he said,
+"though all is more beautiful and joyful here where we know, yet to
+remember the days when we knew not, and the ways when all was uncertain,
+and the end could not be distinguished from the beginning, is sweet and
+dear; and that which was done in the dim twilight should be celebrated in
+the day; and our Father himself loves to hear of those who, having not
+seen, loved, and who learned without any teacher, and followed the light,
+though they did not understand."
+
+And then he told them the story of one who had lived in the old time; and
+in that air, which seemed to be made of sunshine, and amid all those
+stately palaces, he described to them the little earth which they had
+left behind--the skies that were covered with clouds, and the ways that
+were so rough and stony, and the cruelty of the oppressor, and the cries
+of those that were oppressed. And he showed the sickness and the
+troubles, and the sorrow and danger; and how Death stalked about, and
+tore heart from heart; and how sometimes the strongest would fail, and
+the truest fall under the power of a lie, and the tenderest forget to be
+kind; and how evil things lurked in every corner to beguile the dwellers
+there; and how the days were short and the nights dark, and life so
+little that by the time a man had learned something it was his hour to
+die. "What can a soul do that is born there?" he cried; "for war is there
+and fighting, and perplexity and darkness; and no man knows if that
+which he does will be for good or evil, or can tell which is the best
+way, or know the end from the beginning; and those he loves the most are
+a mystery to him, and their thoughts beyond his reach. And clouds are
+between him and the Father, and he is deceived with false gods and false
+teachers, who make him to love a lie." The people who were listening held
+their breath, and a shadow like a cloud fell on them, and they remembered
+and knew that it was true. But the next moment their hearts rebelled, and
+one and another would have spoken, and the little Pilgrim herself had
+almost cried out and made her plea for the dear earth which she loved;
+when he suddenly threw forth his voice again like a great song. "Oh, dear
+mother earth," he cried; "oh, little world and great, forgive thy son!
+for lovely thou art and dear, and the sun of God shines upon thee, and
+the sweet dews fall; and there were we born, and loved and died, and are
+come hence to bless the Father and the Son. For in no other world, though
+they are so vast, is it given to any to know the Lord in the darkness,
+and follow him groping, and make way through sin and death, and overcome
+the evil, and conquer in his name." At which there was a great sound of
+weeping and of triumph, and the little Pilgrim could not contain herself,
+but cried out too in joy as if for a deliverance. And then the poet told
+his tale. And as he told them of the man who was poor and sorrowful and
+alone, and how he loved and was not loved again, and trusted and was
+betrayed, and was tempted and drawn into the darkness, so that it seemed
+as if he must perish; but when hope was almost gone, turned again from
+the edge of despair, and confronted all his enemies, and fought and
+conquered--the people followed every word with great outcries of love and
+pity and wonder. For each one as he listened remembered his own career
+and that of his brethren in the old life, and admired to think that all
+the evil was past, and wondered that out of such tribulation and through
+so many dangers all were safe and blessed here. And there were others
+that were not of them, who listened, some seated at the windows of the
+palaces and some standing in the great square,--people who were not like
+the others, whose bearing was more majestic, and who looked upon the
+crowd all smiling and weeping, with wonder and interest, but had no
+knowledge of the cause, and listened as it were to a tale that is told.
+The poet and his audience were as one, and at every period of the story
+there was a deep breathing and pause, and every one looked at his
+neighbor, and some grasped each other's hands as they remembered all that
+was in the past; but the strangers listened and gazed and observed all,
+as those who listen and are instructed in something beyond their
+knowledge. The little Pilgrim stood all this time not knowing where she
+was, so intent was she upon the tale; and as she listened it seemed to
+her that all her own life was rolling out before her, and she remembered
+the things that had been, and perceived how all had been shaped and
+guided, and trembled a little for the brother who was in danger, yet knew
+that all would be well.
+
+The woman who had been at her side listened too with all her heart,
+saying to herself, as she stood in the crowd, "He has left nothing out!
+The little days they were so short, and the skies would change all in a
+moment and one's heart with them. How he brings it all back!" And she put
+up her hand to dry away a tear from her eyes, though her face all the
+time was shining with the recollection. The little Pilgrim was glad to be
+by the side of a woman after talking with so many men, and she put out
+her hand and touched the cloak that this lady wore, and which was white
+and of the most beautiful texture, with gold threads woven in it, or
+something that looked like gold.
+
+"Do you like," she said, "to think of the old time?"
+
+The woman turned and looked down upon her, for she was tall and stately,
+and immediately took the hand of the little Pilgrim into hers, and held
+it without answering, till the poet had ended and come down from the
+place where he had been standing. He came straight through the crowd to
+where this lady stood, and said something to her. "You did well to tell
+me," looking at her with love in his eyes,--not the tender sweetness
+of all those kind looks around, but the love that is for one. The little
+Pilgrim looked at them with her heart beating, and was very glad for
+them, and happy in herself; for she had not seen this love before since
+she came into the city, and it had troubled her to think that perhaps it
+did not exist any more. "I am glad," the lady said, and gave him her
+other hand; "but here is a little sister who asks me something, and I
+must answer her. I think she has but newly come."
+
+"She has a face full of the morning," the poet said. It did the little
+Pilgrim good to feel the touch of the warm, soft hand; and she was not
+afraid, but lifted her eyes and spoke to the lady and to the poet. "It is
+beautiful what you said to us. Sometimes in the old time we used to look
+up to the beautiful skies and wonder what there was above the clouds; but
+we never thought that up here in this great city you would be thinking of
+what we were doing, and making beautiful poems all about us. We thought
+that you would sing wonderful psalms, and talk of things high, high above
+us."
+
+"The little sister does not know what the meaning of the earth is," the
+poet said. "It is but a little speck, but it is the centre of all. Let
+her walk with us, and we will go home, and you will tell her, Ama, for I
+love to hear you talk."
+
+"Will you come with us?" the lady said.
+
+And the little Pilgrim's heart leaped up in her, to think she was now
+going to see a home in this wonderful city; and they went along, hand in
+hand, and though they were three together, and many were coming and
+going, there was no difficulty, for every one made way for them. And
+there was a little murmur of pleasure as the poet passed, and those who
+had heard his poem made obeisance to him, and thanked him, and thanked
+the Father for him that he was able to show them so many beautiful
+things. And they walked along the street which was shining with color,
+and saw as they passed how the master painter had come to his work, and
+was standing upon the balcony where the little Pilgrim had been, and
+bringing out of the wall, under his hand, faces which were full of life,
+and which seemed to spring forth as if they had been hidden there. "Let
+us wait a little and see him working," the poet said; and all round about
+the people stopped on their way, and there was a soft cry of pleasure and
+praise all through the beautiful street. And the painter with whom the
+little Pilgrim had talked before came, and stood behind her as if he had
+been an old friend, and called out to her at every new touch to mark how
+this and that was done. She did not understand as he did, but she saw how
+beautiful it was, and she was glad to have seen the great painter, as she
+had been glad to hear the great poet. It seemed to the little Pilgrim as
+if everything happened well for her, and that no one had ever been so
+blessed before. And to make it all more sweet, this new friend, this
+great and sweet lady, always held her hand, and pressed it softly when
+something more lovely appeared; and even the pictured faces on the wall
+seemed to beam upon her, as they came out one by one like the stars in
+the sky. Then the three went on again, and passed by many more beautiful
+palaces, and great streets leading away into the light, till you could
+see no further; and they met with bands of singers who sang so sweetly
+that the heart seemed to leap out of the Pilgrim's breast to meet with
+them, for above all things this was what she had loved most. And out of
+one of the palaces there came such glorious music that everything she had
+seen and heard before seemed as nothing in comparison. And amid all these
+delights they went on and on, but without wearying, till they came out of
+the streets into lovely walks and alleys, and made their way to the banks
+of a great river, which seemed to sing, too, a soft melody of its own.
+
+And here there were some fair houses surrounded by gardens and flowers
+that grew everywhere, and the doors were all open, and within everything
+was lovely and still, and ready for rest if you were weary. The little
+Pilgrim was not weary; but the lady placed her upon a couch in the porch,
+where the pillars and the roof were all formed of interlacing plants and
+flowers; and there they sat with her, and talked, and explained to her
+many things. They told her that the earth though so small was the place
+in all the world to which the thoughts of those above were turned. "And
+not only of us who have lived there, but of all our brothers in the other
+worlds; for we are the race which the Father has chosen to be the
+example. In every age there is one that is the scene of the struggle and
+the victory, and it is for this reason that the chronicles are made, and
+that we are all placed here to gather the meaning of what has been done
+among men. And I am one of those," the lady said, "that go back to the
+dear earth and gather up the tale of what our little brethren are doing.
+I have not to succor like some others, but only to see and bring the
+news; and he makes them into great poems, as you have heard; and
+sometimes the master painter will take one and make of it a picture; and
+there is nothing that is so delightful to us as when we can bring back
+the histories of beautiful things."
+
+"But, oh," said the little Pilgrim, "what can there be on earth so
+beautiful as the meanest thing that is here?"
+
+Then they both smiled upon her and said, "It is more beautiful than the
+most beautiful thing here to see how, under the low skies and in the
+short days, a soul will turn to our Father. And sometimes," said Ama,
+"when I am watching, one will wander and stray, and be led into the
+dark till my heart is sick; then come back and make me glad. Sometimes I
+cry out within myself to the Father, and say, 'O my Father, it is
+enough!' and it will seem to me that it is not possible to stand by and
+see his destruction.  And then while you are gazing, while you are
+crying, he will recover and return, and go on again. And to the angels it
+is more wonderful than to us, for they have never lived there. And all
+the other worlds are eager to hear what we can tell them. For no one
+knows except the Father how the battle will turn, or when it will all be
+accomplished; and there are some who tremble for our little brethren. For
+to look down and see how little light there is, and how no one knows what
+may happen to him next, makes them afraid who never were there."
+
+The little Pilgrim listened with an intent face, clasping her hands, and
+said,--
+
+"But it never could be that our Father should be overcome by evil. Is not
+that known in all the worlds?"
+
+Then the lady turned and kissed her; and the poet broke forth in singing,
+and said, "Faith is more heavenly than heaven; it is more beautiful than
+the angels. It is the only voice that can answer to our Father. We praise
+him, we glorify him, we love his name; but there is but one response to
+him through all the worlds, and that is the cry of the little brothers,
+who see nothing and know nothing, but believe that he will never fail."
+
+At this the little Pilgrim wept, for her heart was touched; but she
+said,--
+
+"We are not so ignorant; for we have our Lord who is our Brother, and he
+teaches us all that we require to know."
+
+Upon this the poet rose and lifted up his hands and sang again a great
+song; it was in the other language which the little Pilgrim still did not
+understand, but she could make out that it sounded like a great
+proclamation that He was wise as he was good, and called upon all to see
+that the Lord had chosen the only way: and the sound of the poet's voice
+was like a great trumpet sounding bold and sweet, as if to tell this to
+those who were far away.
+
+"For you must know," said the Lady Ama, who all the time held the
+Pilgrim's hand, "that it is permitted to all to judge according to the
+wisdom that has been given them. And there are some who think that our
+dear Lord might have found another way, and that wait, sometimes with
+trembling, lest he should fail; but not among us who have lived on earth,
+for we know. And it is our work to show to all the worlds that his way
+never fails, and how wonderful it is, and beautiful above all that heart
+has conceived. And thus we justify the ways of God, who is our Father.
+But in the other worlds there are many who will continue to fear until
+the history of the earth is all ended and the chronicles are made
+complete."
+
+"And will that be long?" the little Pilgrim cried, feeling in her heart
+that she would like to go to all the worlds and tell them of our Lord,
+and of his love, and how the thought of him makes you strong; and it
+troubled her a little to hear her friends speak of the low skies, and the
+short days, and the dimness of that dear country which she had left
+behind, in which there were so many still whom she loved.
+
+Upon this Ama shook her head, and said that of that day no one knew, not
+even our Lord, but only the Father; and then she smiled and answered the
+little Pilgrim's thought. "When we go back," she said, "it is not as when
+we lived there; for now we see all the dangers of it and the mysteries
+which we did not see before. It was by the Father's dear love that we did
+not see what was around us and about us while we lived there, for then
+our hearts would have fainted; and that makes us wonder now that any one
+endures to the end."
+
+"You are a great deal wiser than I am," said the little Pilgrim; "but,
+though our hearts had fainted, how could we have been overcome? For He
+was on our side."
+
+At this neither of them made any reply at first, but looked at her; and
+at length the poet said that she had brought many thoughts back to his
+mind, and how he had himself been almost worsted when one like her came
+to him and gave strength to his soul. "For that He was on our side was
+the only thing she knew," he said, "and all that could be learned or
+discovered was not worthy of naming beside it. And this I must tell when
+next I speak to the people, and how our little sister brought it to my
+mind."
+
+And then they paused from this discourse, and the little Pilgrim looked
+round upon the beautiful houses and the fair gardens, and she said,--
+
+"You live here? and do you come home at night?--but I do not mean at
+night, I mean when your work is done. And are they poets like you that
+dwell all about in these pleasant places, and the--"
+
+She would have said the children, but stopped, not knowing if perhaps it
+might be unkind to speak of the children when she saw none there.
+
+Upon this the lady smiled once more, and said,--
+
+"The door stands open always, so that no one is shut out, and the
+children come and go when they will. They are children no longer, and
+they have their appointed work like him and me."
+
+"And you are always among those you love?" the Pilgrim said; upon which
+they smiled again and said, "We all love each other;" and the lady held
+her hand in both of hers, and caressed it, and softly laughed and said,
+"You know only the little language. When you have been taught the other
+you will learn many beautiful things."
+
+She rested for some time after this, and talked much with her new
+friends; and then there came into the heart of the little Pilgrim a
+longing to go to the place which was appointed for her, and which was her
+home, and to do the work which had been given her to do. And when the
+lady saw this she rose and said that she would accompany her a little
+upon her way. But the poet bid her farewell and remained under the porch,
+with the green branches shading him, and the flowers twining round the
+pillars, and the open door of this beautiful house behind him. When
+she looked back upon him he waved his hand to her as if bidding her
+God-speed, and the lady by her side looked back too and waved her hand,
+and the little Pilgrim felt tears of happiness come to her eyes; for she
+had been wondering with a little disappointment to see that the people in
+the city, except those who were strangers, were chiefly alone, and not
+like those in the old world where the husband and wife go together. It
+consoled her to see again two who were one. The lady pressed her hand in
+answer to her thought, and bade her pause a moment and look back into the
+city as they passed the end of the great street out of which they came.
+And then the Pilgrim was more and more consoled, for she saw many who
+had before been alone now walking together hand in hand.
+
+"It is not as it was," Ama said. "For all of us have work to do which is
+needed for the worlds, and it is no longer needful that one should sit at
+home while the other goes forth; for our work is not for our life as of
+old, or for ourselves, but for the Father who has given us so great a
+trust. And, little sister, you must know that though we are not so great
+as the angels, nor as many that come to visit us from the other worlds,
+yet we are nearer to him. For we are in his secret, and it is ours to
+make it clear."
+
+The little Pilgrim's heart was very full to hear this; but she said,--
+
+"I was never clever, nor knew much. It is better for me to go away to my
+little border-land, and help the strangers who do not know the way."
+
+"Whatever is your work is the best," the lady said; "but though you are
+so little you are in the Father's secret too, for it is nature to you to
+know what the others cannot be sure of, that we must have the victory at
+the last: so that we have this between us, the Father and we. And though
+all are his children, we are of the kindred of God, because of our Lord
+who is our Brother." And then the Lady Ama kissed her, and bade her when
+she returned to the great city, either for rest or for love, or because
+the Father sent for her, that she should come to the house by the river.
+"For we are friends for ever," she said, and so threw her white veil over
+her head, and was gone upon her mission, whither the little Pilgrim did
+not know.
+
+And now she found herself at a distance from the great city, which shone
+in the light with its beautiful towers, and roofs, and all its monuments,
+softly fringed with trees, and set in a heavenly firmament. And the
+Pilgrim thought of those words that described this lovely place as a
+bride adorned for her husband, and did not wonder at him who had said
+that her streets were of gold and her gates of pearl, because gold and
+pearls and precious jewels were as nothing to the glory and the beauty of
+her. The little Pilgrim was glad to have seen these wonderful things, and
+her mind was like a cup running over with almost more than it could
+contain. It seemed to her that there never could be a time when she
+should want for wonder and interest and delight, so long as she had this
+to think of. Yet she was not sorry to turn her back upon the beautiful
+city, but went on her way singing in unutterable content, and thinking
+over what the lady had said, that we were in God's secret, more than all
+the great worlds above and even the angels, because of knowing how it is
+that in darkness and doubt, and without any open vision, a man may still
+keep the right way. The path lay along the bank of the river which flowed
+beside her and made the air full of music, and a soft air blew across the
+running stream and breathed in her face and refreshed her, and the birds
+sang in all the trees. And as she passed through the villages the people
+came out to meet her, and asked of her if she had come from the city, and
+what she had seen there. And everywhere she found friends, and kind
+voices that gave her greeting. But some would ask her why she still spoke
+the little language, though it was sweet to their ears; and others when
+they heard it hastened to call from the houses and the fields some among
+them who knew the other tongue but a little, and who came and crowded
+round the little Pilgrim, and asked her many questions both about the
+things she had been seeing and about the old time. And she perceived that
+the village folk were a simple folk, not learned and wise like those she
+had left; and that though they lived within sight of the great city, and
+showed every stranger the beautiful view of it, and the glory of its
+towers, yet few among them had travelled there; for they were so content
+with their fields, and their river, and the shade of their trees, and the
+birds singing, and their simple life, that they wanted no change; though
+it pleased them to receive the little Pilgrim, and they brought her into
+their villages rejoicing, and called every one to see her. And they told
+her that they had all been poor and labored hard in the old time, and had
+never rested; so that now it was the Father's good pleasure that they
+should enjoy great peace and consolation among the fresh-breathing fields
+and on the riverside, so that there were many who even now had little
+occupation except to think of the Father's goodness, and to rest. And
+they told her how the Lord himself would come among them, and sit down
+under a tree, and tell them one of his parables, and make them all more
+happy than words could say; and how sometimes he would send one out of
+the beautiful city, with a poem or tale to say to them, and bands of
+lovely music, more lovely than anything beside, except the sound of the
+Lord's own voice. "And what is more wonderful, the angels themselves come
+often and listen to us," they said, "when we begin to talk and remind
+each other of the old time, and how we suffered heat and cold, and were
+bowed down with labor, and bending over the soil, and how sometimes the
+harvest would fail us, and sometimes we had not bread, and sometimes
+would hush the children to sleep because there was nothing to give them;
+and how we grew old and weary, and still worked on and on." "We are
+those who were old," a number of them called out to her, with a murmuring
+sound of laughter, one looking over another's shoulder. And one woman
+said, "The angels say to us, 'Did you never think the Father had forsaken
+you and the Lord forgotten you?'" And all the rest answered as in a
+chorus, "There were moments that we thought this; but all the time we
+knew that it could not be." "And the angels wonder at us," said another.
+All this they said, crowding one before another, every one anxious to say
+something, and sometimes speaking together, but always in accord. And
+then there was a sound of laughter and pleasure, both at the strange
+thought that the Lord could have forgotten them, and at the wonder of the
+angels over their simple tales. And immediately they began to remind each
+other, and say, "Do you remember?" and they told the little Pilgrim a
+hundred tales of the hardships and troubles they had known, all smiling
+and radiant with pleasure; and at every new account the others would
+applaud and rejoice, feeling the happiness all the more for the evils
+that were past. And some of them led her into their gardens to show her
+their flowers, and to tell her how they had begun to study and learn
+how colors were changed and form perfected, and the secrets of the growth
+and of the germ, of which they had been ignorant. And others arranged
+themselves in choirs, and sang to her delightful songs of the fields, and
+accompanied her out upon her way, singing and answering to each other.
+The difference between the simple folk and the greatness of the others
+made the little Pilgrim wonder and admire; and she loved them in her
+simplicity, and turned back many a time to wave her hand to them, and to
+listen to the lovely simple singing as it went further and further away.
+It had an evening tone of rest and quietness, and of protection and
+peace. "He leadeth me by the green pastures and beside the quiet waters,"
+she said to herself; and her heart swelled with pleasure to think that it
+was those who had been so old, and so weary and poor, who had this rest
+to console them for all their sorrows.
+
+And as she went along, not only did she pass through many other villages,
+but met many on the way who were travelling towards the great city, and
+would greet her sweetly as they passed, and sometimes stop to say a
+pleasant word, so that the little Pilgrim was never lonely wherever she
+went. But most of them began to speak to her in the other language, which
+was as beautiful and sweet as music, but which she could not understand;
+and they were surprised to find her ignorant of it, not knowing that she
+was but a new-comer into these lands. And there were many things that
+could not be told but in that language, for the earthly tongue had no
+words to express them. The little Pilgrim was a little sad not to
+understand what was said to her, but cheered herself with the thought
+that it should be taught to her by one whom she loved best. The way by
+the riverside was very cheerful and bright, with many people coming and
+going, and many villages, some of them with a bridge across the stream,
+some withdrawn among the fields, but all of them bright and full of life,
+and with sounds of music, and voices, and footsteps: and the little
+Pilgrim felt no weariness, and moved along as lightly as a child, taking
+great pleasure in everything she saw, and answering all the friendly
+greetings with all her heart, yet glad to think that she was approaching
+ever nearer to the country where it was ordained that she should dwell
+for a time and succor the strangers, and receive those who were newly
+arrived. And she consoled herself with the thought that there was no need
+of any language but that which she knew. As this went through her mind,
+making her glad, she suddenly became aware of one who was walking by her
+side, a lady who was covered with a veil white and shining like that
+which Ama had worn in the beautiful city. It hung about this stranger's
+head so that it was not easy to see her face, but the sound of her voice
+was very sweet in the pilgrim's ear, yet startled her like the sound of
+something which she knew well, but could not remember. And as there
+were few who were going that way, she was glad and said, "Let us walk
+together, if that pleases you." And the stranger said, "It is for that I
+have come," which was a reply which made the little Pilgrim wonder more
+and more, though she was very glad and joyful to have this companion upon
+her way. And then the lady began to ask her many questions, not about the
+city, or the great things she had seen, but about herself, and what the
+dear Lord had given her to do.
+
+"I am little and weak, and I cannot do much," the little Pilgrim said.
+"It is nothing but pleasure. It is to welcome those that are coming, and
+tell them. Sometimes they are astonished and do not know. I was so
+myself. I came in my sleep, and understood nothing. But now that I know,
+it is sweet to tell them that they need not fear."
+
+"I was glad," the lady said, "that you came in your sleep; for sometimes
+the way is dark and hard, and you are little and tender. When your
+brother comes you will be the first to see him, and show him the way."
+
+"My brother! is he coming?" the little Pilgrim cried. And then she said
+with a wistful look, "But we are all brethren, and you mean only one of
+those who are the children of our Father. You must forgive me that I do
+not know the higher speech, but only what is natural, for I have not yet
+been long here."
+
+"He whom I mean is called--" and here the lady said a name which was the
+true name of a brother born whom the Pilgrim loved above all others. She
+gave a cry, and then she said, trembling, "I know your voice, but I
+cannot see your face. And what you say makes me think of many things. No
+one else has covered her face when she has spoken to me. I know you, and
+yet I cannot tell who you are."
+
+The woman stood for a little without saying a word, and then very softly,
+in a voice which only the heart heard, she called the little Pilgrim by
+her name.
+
+"MOTHER," cried the Pilgrim, with such a cry of joy that it echoed all
+about in the sweet air, and flung herself upon the veiled lady, and drew
+the veil from her face, and saw that it was she. And with this sight
+there came a revelation which flooded her soul with happiness. For the
+face which had been old and feeble was old no longer, but fair in the
+maturity of day; and the figure that had been bent and weary was full of
+a tender majesty, and the arms that clasped her about were warm and soft
+with love and life. And all that had changed their relations in the other
+days and made the mother in her weakness seem as a child, and transferred
+all protection and strength to the daughter, was gone for ever and the
+little Pilgrim beheld in a rapture one who was her sister and equal, yet
+ever above her,--more near to her than any, though all were so near,--one
+of whom she herself was a part, yet another, and who knew all her
+thoughts and the way of them before they arose in her. And to see her
+face as in the days of her prime, and her eyes so clear and wise, and to
+feel once more that which is different from the love of all, that which
+is still most sweet where all is sweet, the love of one, was like a crown
+to her in her happiness. The little Pilgrim could not think for joy, nor
+say a word, but held this dear mother's hands and looked in her face, and
+her heart soared away to the Father in thanks and joy. They sat down by
+the roadside under the shade of the trees,--while the river ran softly
+by, and everything was hushed out of sympathy and kindness,--and
+questioned each other of all that had been and was to be. And the little
+Pilgrim told all the little news of home, and of the brothers and sisters
+and the children that had been born, and of those whose faces were turned
+towards this better country; and the mother smiled and listened and would
+have heard all over and over, although many things she already knew. "But
+why should I tell you, for did not you watch over us and see all we did,
+and were not you near us always?" the little Pilgrim said.
+
+"How could that be?" said the mother; "for we are not like our Lord, to
+be everywhere. We come and go where we are sent. But sometimes we knew,
+and sometimes saw, and always loved. And whenever our hearts were sick
+for news it was but to go to him, and he told us everything. And now, my
+little one, you are as we are, and have seen the Lord. And this has been
+given us, to teach our child once more, and show you the heavenly
+language, that you may understand all, both the little and the great."
+
+Then the Pilgrim lifted her head from her mother's bosom, and looked in
+her face with eyes full of longing. "You said 'we,'" she said.
+
+The mother did nothing but smile; then lifted her eyes and looked along
+the beautiful path of the river to where some one was coming to join
+them. And the little Pilgrim cried out again, in wonder and joy; and
+presently found herself seated between them, her father and her mother,
+the two who had loved her most in the other days. They looked more
+beautiful than the angels and all the great persons whom she had seen;
+for still they were hers and she was theirs more than all the angels and
+all the blessed could be. And thus she learned that though the new may
+take the place of the old, and many things may blossom out of it like
+flowers, yet that the old is never done away. And then they sat together,
+telling of everything that had befallen, and all the little tender things
+that were of no import, and all the great changes and noble ways, and the
+wonders of heaven above--and the earth beneath, for all, were open to
+them, both great and small; and when they had satisfied their souls with
+these, her father and mother began to teach her the other language,
+smiling often at her faltering tongue, and telling her the same thing
+over and over till she learnt it; and her father called her his little
+foolish one, as he had done in the old days; and at last, when they had
+kissed her and blessed her, and told her how to come home to them when
+she was weary, they gave her, as the Father had permitted them, with joy
+and blessing, her new name.
+
+The little Pilgrim was tired with happiness and all the wonder and
+pleasure; and as she sat there in the silence; leaning upon those who
+were so dear to her, the soft air grew sweeter and sweeter about her, and
+the light faded softly into a dimness of tender indulgence and privilege
+for her, because she was still little and weak. And whether that heavenly
+suspense of all her faculties was sleep or not she knew not, but it was
+such as in all her life she had never known. When she came back to
+herself, it was by the sound of many voices calling her, and many people
+hastening past and beckoning to her to join them.
+
+"Come, come," they said, "little sister: there has been great trouble in
+the other life, and many have arrived suddenly and are afraid. Come,
+come, and help them,--come and help them!"
+
+And she sprang up from her soft seat, and found that she was no longer by
+the riverside, or within sight of the great city, or in the arms of those
+she loved, but stood on one of the flowery paths of her own border-land,
+and saw her fellows hastening towards the gates where there seemed a
+great crowd. And she was no longer weary, but full of life and strength;
+and it seemed to her that she could take them up in her arms, those
+trembling strangers, and carry them straight to the Father, so strong was
+she, and light, and full of force. And above all the gladness she had
+felt, and all her pleasure in what she had seen, and more happy even than
+the meeting with those she loved most, was her happiness how, as she went
+along as light as the breeze to receive the strangers. She was so eager
+that she began to sing a song of welcome as she hastened on. "Oh,
+welcome, welcome!" she cried; and as she sang she knew it was one of the
+heavenly melodies which she had heard in the great city; and she hastened
+on, her feet flying over the flowery ways, thinking how the great worlds
+were all watching, and the angels looking on, and the whole universe
+waiting till it should be proved to them that the dear Lord, the Brother
+of us all, had chosen the perfect way, and that over all evil and the
+sorrow he was the Conqueror alone.
+
+And the little Pilgrim's voice, though it was so small, echoed away
+through the great firmament to where the other worlds were watching to
+see what should come, and cheered the anxious faces of some great lords
+and princes far more great than she, who were of a nobler race than man;
+for it was said among the stars that when such a little sound could reach
+so far, it was a token that the Lord had chosen aright, and that his
+method must be the best. And it breathed over the earth like some one
+saying Courage! to those whose hearts were failing; and it dropped down,
+down, into the great confusions and traffic of the Land of Darkness, and
+startled many, like the cry of a child calling and calling, and never
+ceasing, "Come! and come! and come!"
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's A Little Pilgrim, by Margaret O. (Wilson) Oliphant
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