Sheperd Of The Hills

15

pointed with his pipe to where a clump of pines, not far from the house, showed dark and tall, against the last red
glow in the sky.
The stranger glanced at the big man's face in quick sym
pathy. " I had only two; a boy and a girl, ” he said softly.
" The girl and her mother have been gone these twenty
years. The boy grew to be a man , and now he has left
me. ” The deep voice faltered . " Pardon me, sir, for speaking
of this, but my lad was so like your boy there. He was all I
had, and now — now — I am very lonely , sir.”
There is a bond of fellowship in sorrow that knows no
conventionalities. As the two men sat in the hush of the
coming night, their faces turned toward the somber group of trees, they felt strongly drawn to one another.
The mountaineer's companion spoke again half to him
self. " I wish that my dear ones had a resting place like that.
In the crowded city cemetery the ground is always shaken by the trampling of funeral processions. ” He buried his face
in his hands.
For some time the stranger sat thus, while his host spoke no word. Then lifting his head, the man looked away over
the ridges just touched with the lingering light, and the val
ley below wrapped in the shadowy mists. " I came away
from it all because they said I must, and because I was
hungry for this. ” He waved his hand toward the glowing sky and the forest- clad hills. " This is good for me; it some
how seems to help me know how big God is. One could
find peace here surely, sir, one could find it here — peace and strength . ”
The mountaineer puffed hard at his pipe for a while,
then said gruffly, " Seems that way, mister, to them that
don't know . But many's the time I've wished to God I'd
never seen these here Ozarks. I used to feel like you do,
but I can't no more. They 'mind me now of him that
blackened my life; he used to take on powerful about the
beauty of the country and all the time he was a - turnin ' it
into a hell for them that had to stay here after he was