Other Main-Travelled Roads Part 56

Then they all rose and shook off the oppressive solemnity, and he had time to look around at all the changes. At last he turned to Mattie and reached out his hand--he had the boldness of a man in the shadow of some mighty event which makes false modesty and conventions shadowy things of little importance. His sharpened interior sense read her clear soul, and he knew she was his, therefore he reached her his hand, and she came to him with a flush on her face, which died out as she stood proudly by his side, while he said:

"And Martha shall help me."

Therefore, this good thing happened--that in the midst of his fervor and his consecration to G.o.d's work, the love of woman found a place.

AN AFTERWORD: OF WINDS, SNOWS, AND THE STARS

O witchery of the winter night (With broad moon shouldering to the west)

In the city streets the west wind sweeps Before my feet in rustling flight; The midnight snows in untracked heaps Lie cold and desolate and white.

I stand and wait with upturned eyes, Awed with the splendor of the skies And star-trained progress of the moon.

The city walls dissolve like smoke Beneath the magic of the moon, And age falls from me like a cloak; I hear sweet girlish voices ring Clear as some softly stricken string-- (The moon is sailing to the west.) The sleigh-bells clash in homeward flight; With frost each horse's breast is white-- (The big moon sinking to the west.)

"Good night, Lettie!"

"Good night, Ben!"

(The moon is sinking at the west.) "Good night, my sweetheart." Once again The parting kiss while comrades wait Impatient at the roadside gate, And the red moon sinks beyond the west.

THE END