tongue in the hand of a master. The thought is sometimes so subtle as to
elude the careless reader, but the charm of the melody never fails to
entrance. The study of life and civilization is profound, but the grace
of treatment seems to relieve the problems of half their difficulty.

His wife did not live to read the exquisite dedication given below.

From 'A Study of Death,' copyright 1895, by Harper and Brothers

A DEDICATION

TO MY BELOVED WIFE

My earliest written expression of intimate thought or cherished fancy
was for your eyes only; it was my first approach to your maidenly heart,
a mystical wooing, which neglected no resource, near or remote, for the
enhancement of its charm, and so involved all other mystery in its own.

In you, childhood has been inviolate, never losing its power of leading
me by an unspoken invocation to a green field, ever kept fresh by a
living fountain, where the Shepherd tends his flock. Now, through a body
racked with pain, and sadly broken, still shines this unbroken
childhood, teaching me Love's deepest mystery.

It is fitting, then, that I should dedicate to you this book touching
that mystery. It has been written in the shadow, but illumined by the
brightness of an angel's face seen in the darkness, so that it has
seemed easy and natural for me to find at the thorn's heart a secret and
everlasting sweetness far surpassing that of the rose itself, which
ceases in its own perfection.

Whether that angel we have seen shall, for my need and comfort, and for
your own longing, hold back his greatest gift, and leave you mine in the
earthly ways we know and love, or shall hasten to make the heavenly
surprise, the issue in either event will be a home-coming; if _here_,
yet already the deeper secret will have been in part disclosed; and if
_beyond_, that secret, fully known, will not betray the fondest hope of
loving hearts. Love never denied Death, and Death will not deny Love.

From 'A Study of Death,' copyright 1895, by Harper and Brothers

THE DOVE AND THE SERPENT

The Dove flies, and the Serpent creeps. Yet is the Dove fond, while the
Serpent is the emblem of wisdom. Both were in Eden: the cooing,
fluttering, winged spirit, loving to descend, companion-like, brooding,
following; and the creeping thing which had glided into the sunshine of
Paradise from the cold bosoms of those nurses of an older world--Pain,
and Darkness, and Death--himself forgetting these in the warmth a