'O Soul, dost thou not see
The Wise have likened thee
To the most living creature that is made?'"
"Living creature?"
"Yes, in the Spring does the grass tarry for any man's help? It comes up without tool, or seed, or labor. In the garden, the field, the roadside, it comes, fresh and strong and heavenly green. Its withered blades have a new life. Likewise certain portions of our lives change or pass away, but something better for our coming years is given us."
"My dear Jessy, how good are your words. Is there any poetry you do not know?"
"Men and women who have souls meet each other in good poetry. I have met many a sweet soul there."
"I must tell you, Jessy, that it is not the Duchess of Rotherham but the Church of the Disciples that is now troubling me. I dread every Sabbath Day before me. I feel as if I could not—could not preach."
"Do you think a woman's 'no' should change your life and your life's work?"
"It might do so."
"It cannot. If there is no place open to a man but a pulpit, it is clear God means him to preach—whether he wants to or not. I think little of the men who are feared for the day they never saw. Bode good and you will get good. That's a fact, Ian.
"Jessy, I seem to have lost everything in one bad year—my love, my children, my work, my friends. All are changed or gone. I feel poor. Once I was rich, and knew it not."