Nothing could be more thoroughly satisfying than the impression he left in this brief and solitary interview.  His air and movement revealed the same manly, brave, true-hearted, warm-hearted man that is imaged in his books.  Grateful are we for the privilege of having seen, spoken with, and taken by the hand the author of “The Pathfinder” and “The Pilot”:  “it is a pleasure to have seen a great man.”  Distinctly through the gathering mists of years do his face and form rise up before the mind’s eye:  an image of manly self-reliance, of frank courage, of generous impulse; a frank friend, an open enemy; a man whom many misunderstood, but whom no one could understand without honoring and loving.

* * * * *

PER TENEBRAS, LUMINA.

  I know how, through the golden hours
    When summer sunlight floods the deep,
  The fairest stars of all the heaven
    Climb up, unseen, the effulgent steep.

  Orion girds him with a flame;
    And, king-like, from the eastward seas,
  Comes Aldebaran, with his train
    Of Hyades and Pleiades.

  In far meridian pride, the Twins
    Build, side by side, their luminous thrones;
  And Sirius and Procyon pour
    A splendor that the day disowns.

  And stately Leo, undismayed,
    With fiery footstep tracks the Sun,
  To plunge adown the western blaze,
    Sublimely lost in glories won.

  I know, if I were called to keep
    Pale morning watch with Grief and Pain,
  Mine eyes should see their gathering might
    Rise grandly through the gloom again.

  And when the Winter Solstice holds
    In his diminished path the Sun,—­
  When hope, and growth, and joy are o’er,
    And all our harvesting is done,—­

  When, stricken, like our mortal Life,
    Darkened and chill, the Year lays down
  The summer beauty that she wore,
    Her summer stars of Harp and Crown,—­

  Thick trooping with their golden tread
    They come, as nightfall fills the sky,
  Those strong and solemn sentinels,
    To hold their mightier watch on high.

  Ah, who shall shrink from dark and cold,
    Or fear the sad and shortening days,
  Since God doth only so unfold
    The wider glory to his gaze?

  Since loyal Truth, and holy Trust,
    And kingly Strength defying Pain,
  Stern Courage, and sure Brotherhood
    Are born from out the depths again?

  Dear Country of our love and pride! 
    So is thy stormy winter given! 
  So, through the terrors that betide,
    Look up, and hail thy kindling heaven!

* * * * *

LOVE AND SKATES.

IN TWO PARTS.

PART I.

CHAPTER I.