FROM A NEW ENGLAND HILLSIDE. 5 



long, long past, we never shall know the 

 truth of the story while the world endures. 

 The morning was bright and sunny, and 

 the hills and fields were all aglow. The 

 humming wires along my way sent my 

 memory back over more than forty years 

 to the time when the telegraph, then a com 

 paratively new contrivance, was built along 

 the high road through my father s little 

 farm in Pennsylvania. We youngsters lis 

 tened to the messages going through, as we 

 thought, and wondered that the birds could 

 rest upon the wires with impunity. Per 

 haps this morning the wires were bringing 

 to&quot; this peaceful spot some message of the 

 desolation which has just been wrought in 

 the distant South. But it is not always so 

 peaceful even here. A month ago a great 

 gale passed through and shattered some of 

 our noble trees, and to-day the barometer 

 has been falling, the afternoon has been 

 overcast, and we expect to take our share 

 in the common lot. 



OCTOBER 6, 1893. 



