s all gone. When a bird sang we always
stopped to listen; and the song acted upon them as the music of a
band acts upon drooping soldiers. On the next stage of the journey
their eyes sparkled, and their step was more elastic. When one
stumbled and fell, we helped him to his feet and praised his effort,
wholly ignoring the fall. Sometimes one would become discouraged and
would want to drop out of the company and return home. When this
happened, we would gather about him and tell him how good it was to
have him with us, how he helped us on, and how sorry we should be to
have him absent when we reached the top. When he decided to keep on
with us, we gave a mighty cheer and then went whistling on our upward
way.

We constantly vied with one another in discovering chaste bits of
scenery along the way, and we were ever too generous to withhold
praise or to appropriate to ourselves the credit that belonged to
another. If one found the nest of a bird hidden away in the foliage,
we all stopped in admiration. When another discovered a spring
gushing out from beneath the rocks, we all refreshed ourselves with
the limpid water and poured out our thanks to the discoverer. When a
rare flower was found, we took time to examine it minutely till we
all felt joy in the flower and in the finder. To us nothing was ever
small or negligible that any one of our company discovered. If one
started a song we all joined in heartily as if we had been waiting
for that one to lead us in the singing. Thus each one, according to
his gifts and inclinations, became a leader on one or another of the
enterprises connected with our journey.

So, in time, it seemed to us that the big tree came to meet us in
order to give its kindly shade for our comfort; that the bird poured
forth its song as a special gift to us to give us new courage; that
the flower met us at the right time and place to smile its beauty
into our lives; that each stream laughed its way to our feet to
quench our thirst, and to share with us its coolness; that the mossy
bank gave us a special invitation to enjoy its hospitality; that the
cloud had heard our wishes and came to shield us from the sun, and
that the path came forth from among the thickets to guide us on our
way. Because we were winning, all nature seemed to be cheering us on
as the people cheered the man at Vesuvius.

Having reached the summit, we sat together in eloquent silence. We
had toiled, and struggled