But what touched her above all was their simplicity, their beautiful,
grand, generous unconcern for themselves.
She had already come to understand a great deal of what was said
about life. She felt they had in reality discovered the true source
of the people's misfortune, and it became a habit with her to agree
with their thoughts. But at the bottom of her heart she did not
believe that they could remake the whole of life according to their
idea, or that they would have strength enough to gather all the
working people about their fire. Everyone, she knew, wants to fill
his stomach to-day, and no one wants to put his dinner off even for
a week, if he can eat it up at once. Not many would consent to
travel the long and difficult road; and not all eyes could see at
the end the promised kingdom where all men are brothers. That's why
all these good people, despite their beards and worn faces, seemed
to her mere children.
"My dear ones!" she thought, shaking her head.
But they all now lived a good, earnest, and sensible life; they all
spoke of the common weal; and in their desire to teach other people
what they knew, they did not spare themselves. She understood that
it was possible to love such a life, despite its dangers; and with
a sigh she looked back to bygone days in which her past dragged along
flatly and monotonously, a thin, black thread.
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