They were Pilgrim's and
his godson's. Their great delight was trying to see which could imitate
the greater number of animal sounds. Bubby joined in with a genuine
bark, and Petrovitsch laughed till his laughing was cut short by his
cough. For years the old man had not been out of the village. As for
trying any baths, he maintained that the laughing he did at home was
better than all the washing in the world.

Lenz's friends showed themselves eager to help in the rebuilding of the
house on the Morgenhalde. They flocked from all sides, bringing
contributions of wood and stone. But the prospect of returning to his
old life gave Lenz no pleasure; he wanted to start on a new and wider
field. As a man recovering from a severe illness is not satisfied with
resuming the threads of his life where his illness interrupted them, so
Lenz felt himself a wiser and stronger man, able to undertake larger
works.

All seemed ready now for the execution of his old pet plan, and no one
favored it more than Annele. Her hearty encouragement strengthened and
cheered her husband. "You have always had at heart the happiness of
your fellow-men. I remember your saying soon after our marriage that
you rejoiced in a bright Sunday because it made thousands and thousands
of persons happy. Go about among men; wherever you go, you will bring
the sunlight with you. I wish I could go too and tell them all how good
you are."

Accompanied by the engineer, the doctor, Pilgrim, the schoolmaster, and
the weight-manufacturer, Lenz went from house to house, and from
village to village, where his eloquence, his wisdom and goodness were
praised by all, as well as his ready sympathy with others' needs and
his quick suggestions of relief.

What in his days of prosperity he could not succeed in accomplishing
was effected now as by tacit agreement; the various independent
clockmakers were united in a general association.

After building afresh his old house, and bringing prosperity into those
of his fellow-workmen, he now had the happiness of helping to found a
new home.

He performed for Pilgrim the office which Pilgrim had once offered to
perform for him in the doctor's house, and won for his friend the hand
of Amanda, Pilgrim became overseer of the case-making department of the
factory, and to him are due the many graceful forms of clock-cases,
carved with leaves and other ornamentations, for which the wood of the
new Spannreute forest, and the well-season