m Rob S., son of George. I should burst
and blow up if my boys wrote as well. They have telephone and microphone
on the brain, and such a bawling between the house and the mill you
never heard. It is nice for us when we want meal, or to have a horse
harnessed. Have you heard of the chair, with a fan each side, that fans
you twenty-five minutes from just seating yourself in it. It must be
delightful, especially to invalids, and ought to prolong life for
them.... The clock is striking nine, my hour for fleeing to get ready
for bed, but none of the angels have come home from the Mistletoe Bough,
and so I suppose I shall have to make haste slowly in undressing. Love
to all.

_Aug. 3d._--I am delighted that you enjoyed the serge so much; I knew
you would. I forgot to answer your question about books. Have you read
"Noblesse Oblige"? We admire it extremely. There are two works by this
title; one poor. I read "Les Miserables" last winter, and got greatly
interested in it; whether there is a good English translation, I do not
know. "That Lass o' Lowrie's" you have probably read. I saw a Russian
novel highly praised the other day; "Dosea," translated from the French
by Mary Neal (Sherwood); "Victor Lascar" is said to be good. I have,
probably, praised "Misunderstood" to you. "Strange Adventures of a
Phaeton" we liked; also "The Maid of Sker" and "Off the Skelligs"; its
sequel is "Fated to be Free."

Two tongues are running like mill-clappers, so good-night.

* * * * *

II.

Little Incidents and Details of her last Days on Earth. Last Visit
to the Woods. Sudden Illness. Last Bible-reading. Last Drive to
Hager-Brook. Reminiscence of a last Interview. Closing Scenes. Death.
The Burial.

Her last days on earth were now close at hand. Such days have in
themselves, of necessity, no virtue above other days; and yet a tender
interest clings to them simply as the last. Their conjunction with
death and the Life beyond seems to invest whatsoever comes to pass in
them--even trifles light as air--with unwonted significance. Soon after
her sudden departure her husband noted down, for the satisfaction of
absent friends, such little incidents and details as could be recalled
of her last ten days on earth. The following is a part of this simple
record:

_Sunday, Aug. 4, 1878._--To-day she went to the house of God for the
last time; and, as would have been her wish, had she known it was for
the last time