I hear the bells! It seems as though they are inviting me to rise higher than this earth into infinite spaces where there is nothing but Thou. I should like to be utterly silent . . . O my God, may I live entirely within, in the cell Thou are building in my heart. Establish my soul in peace; make it Thy cherished abode, the place of Thy rest. Let me never leave Thee there alone, but remain ever there absorbed in Thee in living faith and wholly yielded up Thy creative action!
Uncle explained that the pines and oaks will not spread into the fields to grow and make a new woods, unless we leave the ground unseeded. My uncle envisioned that this barren land was to become a new forest, one of great beauty and repose. "To be poor and be without trees, is to be the most starved human being in the world. To be poor and have trees, is to be completely rich in ways that money can never buy."