conspicuous failures and now and then a half-hearted success, I
have at last rejoiced Mother's heart--and my own as well--with the
largest crop within my memory or hers. The fruit, too, has been finer
than ever before.

[Sidenote: Drudgery]

"The school, also, which I have hated ever since I had it, begins to
appear before me in a new light. It is not only those dull and stupid
children who are to learn lessons in that one-roomed schoolhouse--it is
I. While they struggle with the alphabet and multiplication-table and
the spelling of words in four syllables, their teacher has before him
invaluable opportunities to acquire patience, self-control, and a sense
of justice, if not to inspire affection.

"Before, I went my way in sullen discontent. Because I could not do the
things I wanted to do, I disdained the humble tasks assigned me,
forgetting that in the great scheme of things each one of us has his
work. Some of us must scrub floors, others carry bricks or mortar, and
others must grow grapes and teach school.

"I had thought, in my blindness, that the great things were the easiest
to do, but now I see that drudgery is an inseparable part of everything
worth while, and the more worth while it is, the more drudgery is
involved.

"In years gone by I have given time to the vineyard, but nothing at all
of myself. I held myself aloof and apart while Duty, like a stern
taskmaster, urged me to the things I hated, merely to please Mother, who
had done so much for me that she had the right to demand this.

[Sidenote: No Longer Apart]

"This year I have put my heart into my work. When failure seemed
imminent, I have laboured with fresh courage. I have remembered, too,
that the tools with which I worked were human beings like myself, and
not so many mere machines.

"My love for you has been the magic key that has unlocked the doors
dividing me from my fellow-men. No longer isolated, no longer apart, I
am one of a brotherhood that claims fellowship with all humanity. One
blood flows uninterruptedly through us all, one heart beats in us all,
and, truly seen, we are not separate individuals, but only component
parts of the Greater Self.

"Once I was absorbed in myself. Now I yearn unspeakably toward all with
whom I come in contact. I see a thousand ways in which I may be kind. It
is not for me to preach the gospel of love and understanding, but to
live it, and, in living it, either to lead or to follow, as may be right
an