As for what thou sayest about charges to the brethren,
let that give thee no concern. Thou shalt lodge with old Brother
Hinkley, who is the pattern of good things and of, holiness in
Charlemont. His house is more like unto the tent of the patriarch
pitched upon the plain, than the house of the dweller among the
cities. No lock fastens its doors against the stranger; and the
heart of the aged man is even more open than the doorway of his
dwelling. He standeth in the entrance like one looking out for
him that cometh, and his first word to the messenger of God, is
'welcome!' Thou shalt soon see the truth of what I say to thee,
for even now do we look down upon his house in the very midst of
the village."
If the scruples of Stevens still continued to urge him against
accepting the hospitality of the old patriarch of whom he had
received a description at once just and agreeable, the recollection
of the village-maiden whom he had gone aside from his direct path
of travel, and made some even greater departures from the truth,
to see, determined him at length to waive them; particularly when
he ascertained from his fellow-traveller that he knew of nobody in
Charlemont who accommodated strangers for money.
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