The Choir Invisible

Year after year the vine has grown only at the head, remaining

empty-handed; and the head itself, not being lifted always higher by

anything the hands have seized, has but moved hither and thither, back and

forth, like the head of a wounded snake in a path. Thus every summer you may

see the vine, fallen back and coiled upon itself, and piled up before you

like a low green mound, its own tomb; in winter a black heap, its own ruins.

So, it often is with the poorest, who live on at the head, remaining

empty-handed; fallen in and coiled back upon themselves, their own

inescapable tombs, their own unavertible ruins.

The prospect of having what to him was wealth had instantly bestowed upon

John Gray the liberation of his strength. It had untied the hands of his

idle powers; and the first thing he had reached fiercely out to grasp was

Amy--his share in the possession of women; the second thing was land--his

share in the possession of the earth. With these at the start, the one

unshakable under his foot, the other inseparable from his side, he had no

doubt that he should rise in the world and lay hold by steady degrees upon

all that he should care to have. Naturally now these two blent far on and

inseparably in the thoughts of one whose temperament doomed him always to be

planning and striving for the future.

The last rays of the sun touched the summit of the knoll where he was lying.

Its setting was with great majesty and repose, depth after depth of cloud

opening inward as toward the presence of the infinite peace. The boughs of

the trees overhead were in blossom; there were blue and white wild-flowers

at his feet. As he looked about him, he said to himself in his solemn way

that the long hard winter of his youth had ended; the springtime of his

manhood was turning green like the woods.

With this night came his betrothal. For years he had looked forward to that

as the highest white mountain peak of his life. As he drew near it now, his

thoughts made a pathway for his feet, covering it as with a fresh fall of

snow. Complete tenderness overcame him as he beheld Amy in this new sacred

relation; a look of religious reverence for her filled his eyes. He asked

himself what he had ever done to deserve all this.Perhaps it is the

instinctive trait of most of us to seek an explanation for any great

happiness as we are always prone to discuss the causes of our adversity.

Accordingly, and in accord with our differing points of view of the

universe, we declare of our joy that it is the gift of God to us despite our

shortcomings and our transgressions; or that it is our blind share of things

tossed out impersonally to us by the blind operation of the chances of life;

or that it is the clearest strictest logic of our own being and doing--the

natural vintage of our own grapes.