LAST DAYS 



OR, THE SONG OF THE SEDGE-BIRD 



T the close of day, when 

 the summer sun was set- 

 ting behind the low and 

 distant hills, an old man 

 might often have been 

 seen comfortably seated 

 at the door of a thatch- 

 roofed cottage that o ver- 

 lookedawide expanse of mud and sand. 

 His kindly face, illuminated by the rich, 

 warm glow of the western sky, gave ex- 

 pression to that serenity of mind which 

 is begotten of a long and close com- 

 munion with Nature's consoling spirit. 

 The weathered features, in which were 

 written the great calm of the sea, the 

 deep sympathy of the silent sunlit mea- 

 dows, the reposeful hush of the lonely 

 hills; the "old experienced coat, hang- 

 ing long and straight and brown " from 

 the bended shoulders; the ancient hat, 

 bleached with the ocean's spray and the 



