ould have failed to smile back into the roguish face or have treated
churlishly the sweet, confident little greeting. The heart of a real man
must have an occasional throb of the father, and when Daniel Gray rose
from his seat under the maple and called, "More love, child!" there was
something strange and touching in his tone. He moved away from the tree
to his morning labors with the consciousness of something new to
conquer. Long, long ago he had risen victorious above many of the
temptations that flesh is heir to. Women were his good friends, his
comrades, his sisters; they no longer troubled the waters of his soul;
but here was a child who stirred the depths; who awakened the potential
father in him so suddenly and so strongly that he longed for the
sweetness of a human tie that could bind him to her. But the current of
the Elder's being was set towards sacrifice and holiness, and the common
joys of human life he felt could never and must never be his; so he went
to the daily round, the common task, only a little paler, a little
soberer than was his wont.

"More love, Martha!" said Susanna when she met Martha a little later in
the day.

"More love, Susanna!" Martha replied cheerily. "You heard our Shaker
greeting, I see! It was the beautiful weather, the fine air and glorious
colors, that brought the inspiration this morning, I guess! It took us
all out of doors, and then it seemed to get into the blood. Besides,
to-morrow's the Day of Sacrifice, and that takes us all on to the
mountain-tops of feeling. There have been times when I had to own up to
a lack of love."

"You, Martha, who have such wonderful influence over the children, such
patience, such affection!"

"It wasn't always so. When I was first put in charge of the children, I
didn't like the work. They didn't respond to me somehow, and when they
were out of my sight they were ugly and disobedient. My natural mother,
Maria Holmes, took care of the girls' clothing. One day she said to me,
'Martha, do you love the girls?'

"'Some of them are very unlovely,' I replied.

"'I know that,' she said, 'but you can never help them unless you love
them.'

"I thought mother very critical, for I strove scrupulously to do my
duty. A few days after this the Elder said to me: Martha, do you love
the girls?' I responded, 'Not very much.'

"'You cannot save them unless you love them,' he said.

"Then I answered, 'I will labor for a gift of love.'

"When the work