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Some of the very peasants who had been most active in wrangling

with him over the hay, some whom he had treated with contumely,

and who had tried to cheat him, those very peasants had greeted

him good-humoredly, and evidently had not, were incapable of

having any feeling of rancor against him, any regret, any

recollection even of having tried to deceive him. All that was

drowned in a sea of merry common labor. God gave the day, God

gave the strength. And the day and the strength were consecrated

to labor, and that labor was its own reward. For whom the labor?

What would be its fruits? These were idle considerations-beside

the point.