Together with thankful hearts they went,

Thenceforth together their lives were spent.

And, ere the summer had reached its close,

Another cell from the rocks arose;

The beech, in its strong and stately growth,

Spread one green canopy over both.

On summer evenings, when shepherds guide

Their flocks to rest on the mountain side,

They heard above, in the twilight calm,

Two voices, chanting the evening psalm;

And one was agèd, and one was young,

But never was hymn more sweetly sung!

In love and patience, by deed and word,

They helped each other to serve the Lord,—

Together to pray, to learn, to teach,—

Till a deeper blessing fell on each.

Their souls grew upward from day to day;

But he who farthest had gone astray,

Who, lowest fallen, had hardest striven,

Who most had sinned and been most forgiven,

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