SAMUEL THE SEEKER

BY Upton Sinclair





CHAPTER I


"Samuel," said old Ephraim, "Seek, and ye shall find."

He had written these words upon the little picture of Samuel's mother,
which hung in that corner of the old attic which served as the boy's
bedroom; and so Samuel grew up with the knowledge that he, too, was
one of the Seekers. Just what he was to seek, and just how he was to
seek it, were matters of uncertainty--they were part of the search.
Old Ephraim could not tell him very much about it, for the Seekers
had moved away to the West before he had come to the farm; and Samuel's
mother had died very young, before her husband had a chance to learn
more than the rudiments of her faith. So all that Samuel knew was that
the Seekers were men and women of fervor, who had broken with the
churches because they would not believe what was taught--holding that
it was every man's duty to read the Word of God for himself and to
follow where it led him.

Thus the boy learned to think of life, not as something settled, but
as a place for adventure. One must seek and seek; and in the end the
way of truth would be revealed to him. He could see this zeal in his