“I see you have had some experience, for very few entertain that sentiment.”

“I have seen enough to know that those whose time is at their own disposal rarely accomplish anything, either practical or beautiful.  The one helps the other, and one who delves hardest in the practical, rises ofttimes highest in the ideal.”

“It is true of my own self, and others.  My experiences have been varied and deep in human life and I have learned that time is of no value unless it is estimated by the amount of labor that can be accomplished.  When thus estimated, however it may be employed, the results are productive of good to the individual.”

“How I wish, Miss Bernard, that the whole human family might have just enough labor and time for improvement which they need.  Life looks so hard and inharmonious at times, when we see thousands toiling from early morn till night, with no moments for thought or culture, that we cannot but ask where justice to God’s children is meted out.”

“Life is strangely interspersed with clouds and sunshine.  I know that somewhere all will find recompense for such seeming losses, and that what we now look upon as evil will be seen to be good and best for all.  Did I not know this, Miss Wyman, I should have little heart to go on.  Of one thing I am certain, and that is, we must each keep working, performing the labor of the day, and some time the great united good will come from all this individual work.  It is but an atom that each one does, but it counts as the grain of sand on the sea-shore, and helps by its infinitesimal portion toward the aggregate.”

“Did you ever feel, Miss Bernard, that extended vision of life’s conditions incapacitated us for real, vigorous service?”

“I have felt at times it might be so, but am convinced that it does not; it only deepens our effort and endeavor.”

“I have often thought that I was unfitted for life, from the very fact that I saw so much to be done.”

“When we see so much it makes us meditate, and that very condition gives birth to greater power.”

“True, and yet I often wish I did not see so much.  Why do I not oftener feel a power somewhat commensurate with the demand and wish?”

“I suppose, because the power is born of the time and the need, and not a burden to encumber us on our way.  It is not of material nature; cannot be packed and stored away for some occasion that may arise, but is proportioned and adapted to the kind and quality of the requirement.”

“You have explained it just as I felt it somewhere in my soul.  The thought in me needed the quickening of another mind.  You do me good, Miss Bernard, every moment.  O, how much we need interchange of thought.”

“We do, indeed, in order to know ourselves, if nothing more.  But I see that you are weary.  Stay with us and rest, will you?  New atmospheres are good to throw off fatigue in.”

“I should indeed be delighted to stay here.  Was Ralph fond of being here?”