A Kentucky cardinal ; and, Aftermath . id its disturbingtouch upon her shoulder. Instead, I could seethat if there were any flight of her mind awayfrom the present it was into the future — a slow,tranquil flight across the years, with all the hap-piness that they must bring. As I set my ownthoughts to journey after hers, suddenly thescene in the room changed, and I beheld Geor-giana as an old, old lady, with locks of silveron her temples, spectacles, a tiny sock stuckthrough with needles on her knee, and her facefinely wrinkled, but still blooming with uncon-querable gayety and youth. How swee
A Kentucky cardinal ; and, Aftermath . id its disturbingtouch upon her shoulder. Instead, I could seethat if there were any flight of her mind awayfrom the present it was into the future — a slow,tranquil flight across the years, with all the hap-piness that they must bring. As I set my ownthoughts to journey after hers, suddenly thescene in the room changed, and I beheld Geor-giana as an old, old lady, with locks of silveron her temples, spectacles, a tiny sock stuckthrough with needles on her knee, and her facefinely wrinkled, but still blooming with uncon-querable gayety and youth. How sweet that smoke is, Georgiana, Isaid, rousing us both, and feeling sure that shewill understand me in whatsoever figure I mayspeak. And how much we are wasting whenwe change this old oak back into his elements— smoke and light, heat and ashes. What amagnificent work he was on natural history, re-quiring hundreds of years for his preparationand completion, written in a language so learnedthat not the wisest can read him wisely, and236. I BEHELD GEORGIANA AS AN OLD, OLD LADY. 237 enduringly bound in the finest of tree calf! Itis a dishonour to speak of him as a work. Hewas a doctor of philosophy ! He should havebeen a college professor! Think how he couldhave used his own feet for a series of lectureson the laws of equilibrium, capillary attraction,or soils and moisture ! Was there ever a headthat knew as much as his about the action oflight ? Did any human being ever more grandlybear the burdens of life or better face the tem-pests of the world ? What did he not knowabout birds ? He had carried them in his armsand nurtured them in his bosom for a thousandyears. Even his old coat, with all its rents andpatches — what roll of papyrus was ever socrowded with the secrets of knowledge ? Theaugust antiquarian ! The old king! Can youimagine a funeral urn too noble for his ashes ?But to what base uses, Georgiana! He will notkeep the wind away any longer; we shall changehim into a ket
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