ended rapture of religious enthusiasm, youth and health.

"The Lord be with thee and make thy ministrations fruitful," his mother
said, and with this blessing he set off.

As the young mystic had yesterday thought the world dark and stormy
because of the tempest in his soul, so now he thought it still and
peaceful, because of his inward calm. The very intensity of his recent
struggles had rendered his soul acutely sensitive, like a delicate
musical instrument which responded freely to the innumerable fingers
wherewith Nature struck its keys. Her manifold forms, her gorgeous
colors, her gigantic forces thrilled and intoxicated him.

That sense of fellowship with all the forms of life about him, which is
characteristic of all our moments of deepest rapture in the embrace of
Nature, filled his soul with joy. He accosted the trees as one greets a
friend; he chatted with the brooks; he held conversation with the little
lambs skipping in the pastures, and with the horses that whinnied as he
passed.

Such opulent moments come to all in youth; moments when the soul,
unconscious of its chains because they have not been stretched to their
limits, roams the universe with God-like liberty and joy.

Had he been asked to analyze these exquisite emotions, the young Quaker
would have said that they were the joys of the indwelling of the Divine
Spirit. He did not realize how much of his exhilaration came from the
feelings awakened by the experiences of the day before. One might almost
say that a spiritual fragrance from the woman who had crossed his path
was diffusing itself through the chambers of his soul. It was like the
odor of violets which lingers after the flowers themselves are gone.

Up to this time, he had never felt the mighty and mysterious emotion of
love. More than once, when he had seen the calm face of Dorothy Fraser,
soft and tender feelings had arisen in his heart; but they were only the
first faint gleams of that conflagration which sooner or later breaks
forth in the souls of men like him.

It was this confusion of the sources of his happiness which made him
oblivious to the struggle that was still going on within his mind. The
question had been raised there as to whether he had chosen wisely in
turning his back upon the joys of an earthly life for the joys of
heaven. It had not been settled, and was waiting an opportunity to
thrust itself again before his consciousness. In the meantime he was
happy. Never had