midnight
Then , as the train puffed laboriously through the great pine forests that cover these mountains with a giant carpet of velvet , he found the pleasanter layers of memory giving up their dead , and he recalled with admiration the kindness of the masters , whom all addressed as Brother , and marvelled afresh at their devotion in burying themselves for years in such a place , only to leave it , in most cases , for the still rougher life of missionaries in the wild places of the world . He thought once more of the still , religious atmosphere that hung over the little forest community like a veil , barring the distressful world ; of the picturesque ceremonies at Easter , Christmas , and New Year ; of the numerous feast-days and charming little festivals . The _ Beschehr-Fest _ , in particular , came back to him , -- the feast of gifts at Christmas , -- when the entire community paired off and gave presents , many of which had taken weeks to make or the savings of many days to purchase . And then he saw the midnight ceremony in the church at New Year , with the shining face of the _ Prediger _ in the pulpit , -- the village preacher who , on the last night of the old year , saw in the empty gallery beyond the organ loft the faces of all who were to die in the ensuing twelve months , and who at last recognised himself among them , and , in the very middle of his sermon , passed into a state of rapt ecstasy and burst into a torrent of praise . Thickly the memories crowded upon him . The picture of the small village dreaming its unselfish life on the mountain-tops , clean , wholesome , simple , searching vigorously for its God , and training hundreds of boys in the grand way , rose up in his mind with all the power of an obsession . He felt once more the old mystical enthusiasm , deeper than the sea and more wonderful than the stars ; he heard again the winds sighing from leagues of forest over the red roofs in the moonlight ; he heard the Brothers ' voices talking of the things beyond this life as though they had actually experienced them in the body ; and , as he sat in the jolting train , a spirit of unutterable longing passed over his seared and tired soul , stirring in the depths of him a sea of emotions that he thought had long since frozen into immobility .