When I was your age . no! —but because our mother sat by us, and sang Lord Thomas and Fair EHnor, or somemystic ballad. The walks with her are never to be for-gotten, — twilight walks round the hill be-hind the house, with the wonderful sunsetdeepening over the bay, turning all the worldto gold and jewels; or through the Valleyitself, the lovely wild glen, with its waterfalland its murmurins: stream, and the solemnNorway firs, with their warning fingers. Thestream was clear as crystal, its rocky banksfringed with jewel-weed and rushes; the levelsward was smooth and green as the wate
When I was your age . no! —but because our mother sat by us, and sang Lord Thomas and Fair EHnor, or somemystic ballad. The walks with her are never to be for-gotten, — twilight walks round the hill be-hind the house, with the wonderful sunsetdeepening over the bay, turning all the worldto gold and jewels; or through the Valleyitself, the lovely wild glen, with its waterfalland its murmurins: stream, and the solemnNorway firs, with their warning fingers. Thestream was clear as crystal, its rocky banksfringed with jewel-weed and rushes; the levelsward was smooth and green as the waterfall stood an old mill, whoseblack walls looked down on a deep brownpool, into which the foaming cascade fellwith a musical, rushing sound. I have de-scribed the Valley very fully elsewhere,^ butcannot resist dwelling on its beauty again inconnection with our mother,—who loved soto wander through it, or to sit with her w^orkunder the huge ash-tree in the middle, where 1 In the book entitled (~)uecn Julia Ward Howe. (From a recent photograph ) OUR MOTHER. 159 our father had placed seats and a rustictable. Here, and in the lovely, lonely fields,as we walked, our mother talked with us,and we might share the rich treasures of herthought. And oh the words that fell from her mouthWere words of wonder and words of truth ! One such word, dropped in the course ofconversation as the maiden in the fairy-storydropped diamonds and pearls, comes now tomy mind, and I shall write it here because itis good to think of and to say over to onesself: — I gave my son a palace And a kingdom to control, —The palace of his body,The kingdom of his soul In the Valley, too, many famous partiesand picnics were given. The latter are tobe remembered with especial delight. Apicnic with our mother and one without herare two very different things. I never knewthat a picnic could be dull till I grew upand went to one where that brilliant, gra-cious presence was lacking. The games we l6o
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookpublisherbosto, bookyear1894
