g all along the village. The brother and
sister then went back into the house.

"I can't tell you how much good it does me to see and to hear your
husband again," said the young man to his sister, when they were once
more in the sitting-room. "It seems to me, that, as he becomes older,
his pure and pious nature becomes more developed--or does this proceed
from my being now better able to appreciate him?"

His sister smiled, and said, "You are certainly sincerely attached to
my husband, but you cannot fully know his pure soul and pious heart;
people may say he is not sufficiently observant of church forms and
ceremonies, but he is a church in himself; piety prevails through his
example; he needs do no more than simply live here, to exercise a
beneficial influence; his gentle disposition, his untiring love and
strict integrity, cause all those who witness his daily life to become
good and pious: and his style of preaching is just the same; his soul
is in every phrase; every word is sound grain; he is well treated by
all, and never meets with rudeness or incivility. The painter
Schwarzmann, near this, who once stayed a week with us, and saw the
respectful behaviour of the rude peasantry towards him, said a good
thing on the subject: 'Our Pastor seems to prevail on every man, to
think in pure German in his presence, and not in patois.' Formerly it
used to distress me very much, to think that such a man was destined to
pass his life in this obscure place, among a set of illiterate
peasants; but I have since that time learned that the highest
cultivation of intellect, which is after all as simple as the Bible
itself, is here in its right and fitting place."

It would not be easy to say which was the greatest--the enthusiasm with
which the sister spoke, or that of the brother in listening to her; so
difficult is it to determine, whether a good heart rejoices most in
contemplating perfect felicity, or in possessing it. There is a kind of
happiness attainable, not by one only, but by all who are capable of
enjoying it, and that is the appreciation and love of a pure and pious
heart.

"I know where he is now," continued the sister, fixing her eyes as if
on some distant object; "he has passed the great elm, and by this time
they are driving on to Harzeneck, where there is always a bitter blast.
Wrap yourself well up; I believe you will convert that fierce hard
woman at last; I do believe you will, for what is there you cannot