t was useless. No one dreamed of
possessing more than his neighbor, but each and all must share alike.
Time dealt kindly with these simple people, for they dealt kindly with
time, and life flowed on smoothly and pleasantly. Men and women of
seventy years were hale and hearty, for it is not so much the _number_
of years we live that leave their traces, as the events which transpire
in those years; each event, each sorrow, each disappointment making an
era and each one leaving a trace. For the inhabitants of the valley
there were few disappointments and fewer sorrows. If the angel of death
entered and took one of their number, each and all took the sorrow home
for it was looked upon as a personal calamity when any one of the little
community was taken from them.

The sun seemed to shine brighter, the water to be clearer and more
limpid, the foliage more brilliant in this little world than elsewhere.
Perhaps because the eyes of the people were undimmed by sorrow, perhaps
because their souls were unclouded by sin, or perchance they were in
complete harmony with nature and were able to see all her beauty, each
charm enhanced by something within themselves.

Nowhere else did the earth yield such abundant harvest. The wheat bent
its yellow head from over weight. The trees were laden with fruit and
here again nature seemed to be in sympathy with her children. No sordid
motives, no love of gain, no thought of barter and sale entered their
minds while sowing their fields or reaping their grain, but every one
labored that each and all might be benefitted. The men were strong and
self-reliant, the women contented and happy, the children rosy and
healthy.

Every Sabbath morning the old church bell rang a sweet summons to meet
together to worship God. One church was sufficient for all. They knew
nothing about heresies and schisms but assembled together to hear a
simple story simply told. The venerable clergyman, with white hair and
beard, in the dimly lighted church resembled the pictures of the
martyrs, his face telling the story of a simple, true, pure life. His
sermons were eloquent from their very simplicity; no need there of
learned dissertations, for the people would not have comprehended had he
been able to give them, and had they been able to understand, their
pastor was unable to teach. It was a pleasant sight, the old men, young
maidens, happy matrons and rosy children assembled together in their
quaint old fashioned dre