FROM A NEW ENGLAND HILLSIDE. 57 



bravely to his death at last, one of the innu 

 merable offerings upon the altar of the lost 

 cause. And he told us how the coy Widow 

 Kiley was won at last. And we heard the 

 drum beat once more, and we that were old 

 enough remembered anew those long and 

 weary days and nights which seemed as 

 though they would last forever, but which 

 are now so far away in the past that the 

 young folks around us can look upon them 

 as they can upon the times of Cambyses and 

 Alexander. 



And then he ended with the story how 

 Mary made her way through the lines in the 

 darkness of the night, whereat Phillis and 

 1 hollis honestly bubbled over. And then 

 we four went out under the stars, and the 

 heavens were all covered from the zenith 

 to the horizon with mystic lambent flames, 

 which pulsed and flashed and throbbed and 

 glowed, while we stood and watched them 

 with wonder and awe. To Phollis it was, 

 moreover, a revelation ; for the first time 

 she gazed upon this splendour. 



Then we passed on to the temple of learn 

 ing, but, behold ! the door was shut both 

 to the foolish virgins and the foolish men. 

 And so we wandered along the slippery 

 way, in the face of the icy blast, which was 



