Page:Letters of Life.djvu/365

Rh which furnishes the title is laid in ancient Athens, during the period that Rome was under the sway of the Antonines. That of another is in Poland, during her struggle against Russian domination. The others are located in our own land, while in its colonial existence, or more recent position among the nations of the earth. All not being equally elaborate, a kind of deprecating modesty moved me to denominate them as "Etchings and Sketchings," though several are, perhaps, superior in interest to what are deemed the more finished delineations.

38 "The Weeping Willow."

Another tastefully executed miniature work, of one hundred and twenty-eight pages, uniform, and a counterpart with the "Voice of Flowers." It is a collection of poems founded on the frailty of human life, and the sorrows that spring from the sundering of its affections. Some were called forth by specific cases of bereavement, at the request of the bereaved. Yet while its last lines still lingered in the press, I had myself need of the solace which it aimed to bestow on others. They lingered to receive my sad heart's tribute to the memory of that true, dear, unselfish friend, Mrs. Faith Trumbull Wadsworth, whose love, from my early years, through all changes, changed not. Suddenly, with scarce a warning that awoke apprehension, she