The child rose, and pointed her little hand to the sky; the glow of evening lit her golden hair and flushed cheek with a kind of unearthly radiance, and her eyes were bent earnestly on the skies.
"Eva--Eva!--why, child, the dew is falling; you mustn't be out there!"
The truth was, that the little Puritans, being of the most intolerant brood that ever lived, had got a vague idea of something outlandish, unearthly, or at variance with ordinary fashions, in the mother and child, and therefore scorned them in their hearts, and not unfrequently reviled them with their tongues.
The singularity lay in the hostile feelings with which the child regarded all these offsprings of her own heart and mind.
The airy figure of the child paused, hovering over the house at which I had left my traveling-carriage in the evening.
I had called to him to stop, when I saw the figure of the child pause on its airy course.
Out there, in the midst of the snow, there sat a woman in long, black clothes; and she said, "Death has been in thy chamber, and I saw him hasten away with thy little child; he goes faster than the wind, and he never brings back what he takes!"
"But before I tell it, thou must first sing for me all the songs thou hast sung for thy child! I am fond of them.
I really felt ashamed to take advantage of the ingenuousness or grateful feeling of the
child for the purpose of gratifying my curiosity.
I will save my
child or you twain will perish with it.
Once, in the course of their play, the strange
child placed herself between Violet and Peony, and taking a hand of each, skipped merrily forward, and they along with her.
I was exceedingly surprised at the news, and began now seriously to reflect on my present circumstances, and the inexpressible misfortune it was to me to have a
child upon my hands, and what to do in it I knew not.
The unhappy woman flung herself upon that shoe; her consolation and her despair for so many years, and her vitals were rent with sobs as on the first day; because, for a mother who has lost her
child, it is always the first day.
Knowing she would not be allowed to keep the
child much longer, the woman kissed him again; and she passed her hand down his body till she came to his feet; she held the right foot in her hand and felt the five small toes; and then slowly passed her hand over the left one.
Kitty, young and pretty as she is, even Kitty has lost her looks; and I when I'm with
child become hideous, I know it.
