Everyone, she knew, wants to fill his stomach to-day, and no one wants to put his dinner off even for a week, if he can eat it up at once.

Not many would consent to travel the long and difficult road; and not all eyes could see at the end the promised kingdom where all men are brothers.

That's why all these good people, despite their beards and worn faces, seemed to her mere children.
"My dear ones!" she thought, shaking her head.
But they all now lived a good, earnest, and sensible life; they all spoke of the common weal; and in their desire to teach other people what they knew, they did not spare themselves.

She understood that it was possible to love such a life, despite its dangers; and with a sigh she looked back to bygone days in which her past dragged along flatly and monotonously, a thin, black thread.

Imperceptibly she grew conscious of her usefulness in this new life--a consciousness that gave her poise and assurance.