The owner of the tenement which I have occupied for many years has given notice that he will furnish little or nothing more for repairs. I am advised to be ready to move.
At first this was not a very welcome notice. The surroundings here are in many respects very pleasant, and were it not for the evidence of decay, I should consider the old house good enough. But, even a light wind causes it to tremble and all the braces are not sufficient to make it really secure. So I am getting ready to move.
It is strange how quickly one's interest is transferred to the prospective home. I have been consulting maps of the new country and reading descriptions of its inhabitants. One who visited it has returned, and from him I learn that it is beautiful beyond description—language breaks down in attempting to tell of what he heard while there. He says that, in order to make an investment there, he has suffered the loss of all things that he owned here, and even rejoices in what others would call "making a sacrifice.”
Another, whose love to me has been proved by the greatest possible test, is now there. He has sent me several clusters of the most delicious fruits. After tasting them, all food here in comparison is insipid.
Two or three times I have been down by the border of the river that forms the boundary, and could almost wish myself among those on the other side. Won't it be fine to live where "we shall know even as we are known" with nothing to hide, no doubts, no misunderstandings, just Love, Fellowship, and Service, "pleasures forevermore"?
Many of my friends have moved there. I have seen the smile upon their faces, as they passed out of sight. Here the really satisfying joys of life—its loves and fellowships—have always been hampered by the limitations of time, days, seasons, engagements, happenings, but there—"no night," and "time shall be no more.”
Often I am asked to make further material investments here, but really many of those I have made are more worrisome than satisfying. On the contrary those which I have made on the other side have given great joy and peace. As our hearts go with our treasures, I am therefore positively declining so-called "good investments," for most sincerely, I feel that I should be getting ready to move. The Steward