But then a man who has
courage commonly has also endurance; and Elkanah, ardently pursuing
from love now what he had first been prompted to by ambition, did not
murmur nor despair. For, indeed, I must own that this young fellow had
worked himself up to the highest and truest conception of his art, and
felt, that, though the laborer is worthy of his hire, unhappy is the
man who lowers his art to the level of a trade. In olden times, the
priests did, indeed, eat of the sacrificial meats; but we live under a
new and higher dispensation.
II.
Meantime, what of Hepsy Ann Nickerson? She had bravely sent her hero
out, with her blessing on his aspirations. Did she regret her love and
trust? I am ashamed to say that these five long, weary years had passed
happily to this young woman. She had her hands full of work at home,
where she reigned over a family of brothers and sisters, _vice_ her
mother, promoted. Hands busied with useful toils, head and heart filled
with love and trust of Elkanah, there was no room for unhappiness. To
serve and to be loved: this seems, indeed, to be the bliss of the
happiest women I have known,--and of the happiest men, too, for that
matter.
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