“I had thought, as I traveled, (the thoughts of the weeks on the road,) to do many things; to give them plentifully of money; to arrange for someone to do the late fall and winter work. I had intended to go on, when sure that everything was at hand to make them comfortable. I tell you, men, it was all too living for that. One could not perform unstudied benefits for the mother of the Ploughman. There was more than money wanted there.
“‘We would like to have you stay with us,’ the mother said, ‘but our poverty is keen, and we have not bread enough now for the winter.... He was taken long before the harvest, and it is long until the grain comes again——’
“‘But if he were here—what would be done, Mother?’
“‘Ah, if he came,’ she said strangely. ‘If he came——’
“The father now spoke:
“‘He would cut wood for our neighbors this winter—when the ploughing was finished. That would provide food—good food. Oh, he would know what to do—our Jan would know——’
“I won’t soon forget that high, wavering voice of the old man—‘Oh, he would know what to do—our Jan is a good son——’ and the shake of his head.
“‘But may I not do some of the things that he would do?’
“I had to say it twice, for I spoke their language poorly. I had understood the son at Liaoyang—but all moments were not like those in which he spoke to me.
“‘And then,’ I added hastily, ‘he sent you some money——’