Nelly seemed to see and hear nothing that was passing around her.  The shadow upon her face deepened; the sweet blue eyes filled with tears.  At last she rose, and, crossing the stile, passed rapidly through the wheat-field, climbed a low stone wall and presently came to a green knoll, shaded by a sycamore-tree, commanding a view of the public road.  Here she stood, eagerly gazing down the road, while seemingly struggling to subdue a sorrow which, however, soon found vent in heart-broken sobs.  Still searching the road with anxious, tearful eyes, she seemed to hesitate for a while, but at last, after casting many a fearful glance toward the farm-house, the little girl began to descend the high bank, slipping many times, and sadly scratched by the rough gravel and projecting roots of the trees.

Having reached the bottom, she did not pause a moment, but drew her light shawl over her head and ran swiftly away.  And now let us try to discover the cause of all this trouble.

My dear young friends, have you ever heard of a disease called “nostalgia?” A long, hard word, and one which contains a world of terrible meaning.  It is a kind of sickness which attacks not only children, but also strong and wise men, who have been known to suffer, nay, even to die, because they could not obtain the only remedy which ever does any good.  Nostalgia means homesickness.

Poor little Nelly was homesick, and in desperation she had fled, hoping to find, not her own dear, Southern home, for that she knew she could never see again, but the house of her grandmamma, where she had some time before left her dear mother.  The little girl had, ever since she could remember, lived very happily with her parents in their lovely Virginia home.  An only child, she was petted to her heart’s content, having scarcely a wish ungratified.  But when the war began her papa became a soldier.  Nelly thought he looked very grand in his uniform of gray with its red trimmings and bright buttons, and rather liked the idea of having a soldier papa.  But after he had gone away she missed him dreadfully.  Her mamma was always so pale and sad that the child also grew anxious, and could no longer enjoy her play.  At first letters from the absent soldier cheered them, but as the months passed they ceased to hear at all, except the wild rumors which often frightened and distressed the anxious wife.  “Maum Winnie,” an old negro servant, who claimed to have “raised Mars Ned” (Nelly’s papa), now proved a faithful friend and a great comfort to her mistress; but Nelly, missing the old woman’s cheerful talk and the laugh that used often to shake her fat sides, thought she had grown cross and exacting.