There was no reply to this.
The field they were crossing was not in good condition; it required attention. The school-master commented on this, and then Ole stopped.
"It is not in my power to do more," said he, quite pathetically. "Hired work-people without attention cost too much. But it is hard to walk over such a field, I can assure you."
As their conversation now turned on the size of the gard, and what portion of it most needed cultivation, they decided to go up the slope that they might have a view of the whole. When they at length had reached a high elevation, and could take it all in, the old man became moved.
"Indeed, I should not like to leave it so. We have labored hard down there, both I and those who went before me, but there is nothing to show for it."
A song rang out directly over their heads, but with the peculiar shrilling of a boy's voice when it is poured out with all its might. They were not far from the tree in whose top was perched little Knut Ostistuen, gathering leaves for his father, and they were compelled to listen to the boy:—
"When on mountain peaks you hie,
'Mid green slopes to tarry,
In your scrip pray no more tie,
Than you well can carry.
Take no hindrances along
To the crystal fountains;
Drown them in a cheerful song,
Send them down the mountains.
"Birds there greet you from the trees,
Gossip seeks the valley;
Purer, sweeter grows the breeze,
As you upward sally.
Fill your lungs, and onward rove,
Ever gayly singing,
Childhood's memories, heath and grove,
Rosy-hued, are bringing.
"Pause the shady groves among,
Hear yon mighty roaring,
Solitude's majestic song
Upward far is soaring.
All the world's distraction comes
When there rolls a pebble;
Each forgotten duty hums
In the brooklet's treble.
"Pray, while overhead, dear heart,
Anxious mem'ries hover;
Then go on: the better part
You'll above discover.
Who hath chosen Christ as guide,
Daniel and Moses,
Finds contentment far and wide,
And in peace reposes."[1]