Page:Great Men and Famous Women Volume 7.djvu/239

 HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW 177 bridge again, in a few weeks, but unlike his former self. His affection for his dead wife in his widowerhood is expressed in the " Cross of Snow," written many years after her death : u In the long, sleepless watches of the night, A gentle face the face of one long dead Looks at me from the wall, where round its head The night-lamp casts a halo of pale light. Here in this room she died ; and soul more white Never through martyrdom of fire was led To its repose ; nor can in books be read The legend of a life more benedight. There is a mountain in the distant West That, sun-defying, in its deep ravines Displays a cross of snow upon its side. Such is the cross I wear upon my breast These eighteen years, through all the changing scenes And seasons, changeless since the day she died." He would take a dear friend into the room where her portrait hung, point of it, and say " my dear wife," and turn away to weep. His loving dream of his first wife is pictured in " The Footsteps of Angels : " " And with them the Being Beauteous, Who unto my youth was given, More than all things else to love me, And is now a saint in heaven. Comes that messenger divine, Takes the vacant chair beside me, Lays her gentle hand in mine. " And she sits and gazes at me With those deep and tender eyes. Like the stars, so still and saint-like, Looking downward from the skies " Uttered not, yet comprehended, Is the spirit's voiceless prayer, Soft rebukes, in blessings ended, Breathing from her lips of air. All my fears are laid aside, If I but remember only Such as these have lived and died .' " In 1868 he went to England with his family. His fame in England was as great now as that of any English poet. He was received in London with the greatest love and hospitality ; he met the queen, and received a doctor's degree from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. His reception by the literary classes was not more warm than the appreciative interest which was shown bv the 18
 * With a slow and noiseless footstep
 * Oh, though oft depressed and lonely.