And she sprang up from her soft seat, and found that she was no longer
by the riverside, or within sight of the great city or in the arms of
those she loved, but stood on one of the flowery paths of her own
border-land, and saw her fellows hastening towards the gates where there
seemed a great crowd. And she was no longer weary, but full of life and
strength, and it seemed to her that she could take them up in her arms,
those trembling strangers, and carry them straight to the Father, so
strong was she, and light, and full of force. And above all the gladness
she had felt, and all her pleasure in what she had seen, and more happy
even than the meeting with those she loved most, was her happiness now,
as she went along as light as the breeze to receive the strangers. She
was so eager that she began to sing a song of welcome as she hastened
on. "Oh, welcome, welcome!" she cried; and as she sang she knew it was
one of the heavenly melodies which she had heard in the great city: and
she hastened on, her feet flying over the flowery ways, thinking how the
great worlds were all watching, and the angels looking on, and the whole
universe waiting till it should be proved to them that the dear Lord,
the Brother of us all, had chosen the perfect way, and that over all the
evil and the sorrow He was the Conqueror alone.

And the little Pilgrim's voice, though it was so small, echoed away
through the great firmament to where the other worlds were watching to
see what should come, and cheered the anxious faces of some great lords
and princes far more great than she, who were of a nobler race than man;
for it was said among the stars that when such a little sound could
reach so far, it was a token that the Lord had chosen aright, and that
His method must be the best. And it breathed over the earth like some
one saying, Courage! to those whose hearts were failing; and it dropped
down, down, into the great confusions and traffic of the Land of
Darkness, and startled many, like the cry of a child calling and