A Kentucky Cardinal
Dedication This to her from one who in childhood used to stand at the windows of her room and watch for the Cardinal among the snow-buried cedars. I All this New-year's Day of 1850 the sun shone cloudless but wrought no thaw. Even the landscapes of frost on the window-panes did not melt a flower, and the little trees still keep their silvery boughs arched high above the jeweled avenues. During the afternoon a lean hare limped twice across the lawn, and there was not a creature stirring to chase it. Now the night is bitter cold, with no sounds outside but the cracking of the porches as they freeze tighter. Even the north wind seems grown too numb to move. I had determined to convert its coarse, big noise into something sweet--as may often be done by a little art with the things of this life--and so
XXIII. THIS DEED UNSHAPES ME
XXIV. FAREWELL AT ONCE, FOR ONCE, FOR ALL, AND EVER
XXV. WHOM THE FATES HAVE MARKED
XXVI. O WICKED WIT AND GIFT
XXVII. UPON A CHURCH BENCH
XXVIII. BEDECKING ORNAMENTS OF PRAISE
XXIX. WEIGHING DELIGHT AND DOLE
XXX. PARTED OUR FELLOWSHIP
XXXI. HOW CHANCES MOCK
XXXII. NOW HE IS FOR THE NUMBERS
XXXIII. A MINT OF PHRASES IN HIS BRAIN
XXXIV. WHAT TIME SHE CHANTED
XXXV. THE WORLD IS STILL DECEIVED
XXXVI. THE HEAVY MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT
XXXVII. THIS IS NOT A BOON
THE PURITANS
I
Dedication This to her from one who in childhood used to stand at the windows of her room and watch for the Cardinal among the snow-buried cedars. I All this New-year's Day of 1850 the sun shone cloudless but wrought no thaw. Even the landscapes of frost on the window-panes did not melt a flower, and the little trees still keep their silvery boughs arched high above the jeweled avenues. During the afternoon a lean hare limped twice across the lawn, and there was not a creature stirring to chase it. Now the night is bitter cold, with no sounds outside but the cracking of the porches as they freeze tighter. Even the north wind seems grown too numb to move. I had determined to convert its coarse, big noise into something sweet--as may often be done by a little art with the things of this life--and so