But it was as if his superior
officers had ordered him to mark time, while his whole soul was eager
for the command to charge.
Why do people go to church? What do men ask of their religion? What have
they the right to expect from those who assume to lead them in their
worship? Already these questions were being shouted at him from the
innermost depths of his consciousness. He felt the answer that his Master
would give. But always between him and those to whom he would speak there
came the thought of his employers. And he found himself, while speaking
to the people, nervously watching the faces of the men by whose
permission he spoke. So it came that he was not satisfied with his work
that afternoon, and he tossed aside his sermon to leave his study for the
fresh air and sunshine of the open fields. From his roses the Doctor
hailed him as he went down the street, but the boy only answered with a
greeting and a wave of his hand. Dan did not need the Doctor that day.
Straight out into the country he went walking fast, down one hill--up
another, across a creek, over fences, through a pasture into the woods.
An hour of this at a good hard pace, and he felt better. The old familiar
voices of hill and field and forest and stream soothed and calmed him.
The physical exercise satisfied to some extent his instinct and passion
for action.
Coming back through Old Town, and leisurely climbing the hill on the
road that leads past the old Academy, he paused frequently to look back
over the ever widening view, and to drink deep of the pure, sun-filled
air.
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