The Mountain Girl by Emma Payne Erskine Chapter 6 Page 19

to have settled with them all, and arrived at last where his spirit needed but to rest open and receptive before its Creator to be swept clear of the dross of the world’s estimates of values, and exalted with aspiration.

Every long breath he drew seemed to make his mental vision clearer. God and his own soul — was that all? Not quite. God and the souls of men and of women — of all who came within his environment — a world made beautiful, made sweet and health-giving for these — and with them to know God, to feel Him near. So Christ came to be close to humanity.

A mist of scepticism that had hung over him and clouded the later years of his young manhood suddenly rolled away, dispelled by the splendor of this triumphant thought, even as the rays of the rising