When one of Christ’s followers desired to express the true nature of his work and office, he called himself a servant.  He used a word, ‘doulos,’ which means, in the Greek language, a slave or a bond-servant.  By the word ‘doulos’ he meant to say that his mission in life was to work, to do good, to serve.  This man was a great preacher, but it is possible for any one to become a ‘doulos’ in so far as he is willing to serve God and his fellowman.  You see, Sibylla, the spirit of Christian work and brotherly love is the spirit of ‘doulos.’  The word has been transformed by service and unselfish devotion to duty.  Great men who have blessed the world, and good and noble women who have helped to uplift humanity, have done it through service.  It is just as honorable to bake well, and cook well, and to do the humblest daily tasks efficiently, as it is to play well on the piano and talk fluently about the latest books.”

At the conclusion of the Professor’s little talk on the dignity of labor, a new light shone in Sibylla’s eyes and a new thought gripped her soul.  The spirit of “doulos” had displaced her antipathy toward the word servant.

“I’ll take that butter over to the Professer’s home right away,” she said, to herself.

Before leaving Sibylla, the Professor quoted from the “Toiling of Felix,” by Henry Vandyke: 

“Hewing wood and drawing water, splitting stones and cleaving sod, All the dusty ranks of labour, in the regiment of God, March together toward His triumph, do the task His hands prepare; Honest toil is holy service, faithful work is praise and prayer.”

     They who work without complaining, do the holy will of God.

     Heaven is blest with perfect rest, but the blessing of earth is
     toil.

Sibylla Linsabigler was a healthy, large-boned, solidly-built, typical “Pennsylvania German” girl.  Her clear, pinkish complexion looked as if freshly scrubbed with soap and water.  A few large, brown freckles adorned the bridge of her rather broad, flat nose.  She possessed red hair and laughing, red-brown eyes, a large mouth, which disclosed beautiful even, white teeth when she smiled, extraordinary large feet and hands, strong, willing and usually good-natured, although possessed of a quick temper, as her red hair indicated.  Kind-hearted to a fault, she was of great assistance to Aunt Sarah, although she preferred any other work to that of cooking or baking.  She kept the kitchen as well as other parts of the house, to quote Aunt Sarah, “neat as a pin,” and did not object to any work, however hard or laborious, as long as she was not expected to do the thinking and planning.  She was greatly attached to both Aunt Sarah and Mary, but stood rather in awe of John Landis, who had never spoken a cross word to her in the three years she had lived at the farm.

Sarah Landis, knowing Sibylla to be an honest, industrious girl, appreciated her good qualities, thought almost as much of Sibylla as if she had been her daughter, and treated her in like manner, and for this reason, if for no other, she received willing service from the girl.