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It was like a May ay the sunshine, when the , and here and there unfolding leaves ainst a deep blue sky The wind did not blow; everywhere were stillness soft and sweet, dewy freshness, careless peace
Hour after hour I walked slowly through the woodland, pausing now and then to look fro in a desert with no guiding star The place where I would beforest I ht have passed it by I believed not that I had done so Surely, surely I should have known; surely the voice that lived only in my heart would have called to lade starred with small white flowers, I came upon the bodies of a man and a boy, so hacked, so hewn, so robbed of all coht the heart stood still and the brain grew sick Farther on was a clearing, and in its midst the charred and blackened walls of what had been a home I crossed the freshly turned earth, and looked in at the cabin door with the stillness and the sunshine A woman lay dead upon the floor, her outstretched hand clenched upon the foot of a cradle I entered the roo within the cradle, found that the babe had not been spared Taking up the little waxen body with the blood upon its innocent breast, I laid it within the mother's arms, and went my way over the sunny doorstep and the earth that had beenA white butterfly--the first of the year--fluttered before ht
The sun clirew pines or cedars there were no shadowy places in the forest The slight green of uncurling leaves, the airy scarlet of the maples, the bare branches of the tardier trees, opposed no barrier to the sunlight It streamed into the world below the treetops, and lay warile wild flowers
There was a noise of birds, and a fox barked All was lightness, gayety, and war at hand Ah! to be riding with her, to be going ho! The happy miles to Weyanoke, the smell of the sassafras in its woods, the house all lit and trimmed The fire kindled, the wine upon the table Diccon's welco face, and his hand upon Black Lareat heart and his kindly eyes; her hand in mine, her head upon my breast-The vision faded Never, never, never forsuch as that, so deep, so dear, so sweet The one into a far country This world was not their hoed behind The door was shut, and without were the night and I