nest
of cedar added to his father's house. And in it every piece of wood, and
every board had been made ready by his own hands, and set in the sun and
dried slowly to a healthy soundness; and he used no nails of metal, but
wooden pins of the iron-wood or hickory tree, and it was all polished,
and there was no paint or varnish anywhere; and when you spoke in this
nest your voice sounded pure and strong.

At last the time came when, piece by piece, the organ was set up in its
home; and as the days and weeks went by, and autumn drew to winter, and
the music of the Golden Pipes stole down the flumes of snow to their
ardent lover, and spring came with its sap, and small purple blossoms,
and yellow apples of mandrake, and summer stole on luxurious and dry;
the face of Hepnon became thinner and thinner, a strange deep light
shone in his eyes, and all his person seemed to exhale a kind of glow.
He ceased to ride, to climb, to lift weights with his strong arms, as he
had--poor cripple--been once so proud to do. A delicacy came upon him,
and more and more he withdrew himself to his organ, and to those lofty
and lonely places where he could see--and hear--the Golden Pipes boom
softly over the valley.

At last it all was done, even to the fine-carved stool of cedar whereon
he should sit when he played his organ. Never yet had he done more than
sound each note as he made it, trying it, softening it by tender devices
with the wood; but now the hour was come when he should gather down the
soul of the Golden Pipes to his fingers, and give to the ears of
the world the song of the morning stars, the music of Jubal and his
comrades, the affluent melody to which the sons of men, in the first
days, paced the world in time with the thoughts of God. For days he
lived alone in the cedar-house--and who may know what he was doing
dreaming, listening, or praying? Then the word went through the valley
and the hills, that one evening he would play for all who came; and that
day was "Toussaint," or the Feast of All Souls.

So they came both old and young, and they did not enter the house,
but waited outside, upon the mossy rocks, or sat among the trees, and
watched the heavy sun roll down and the Golden Pipes flame in the light
of evening. Far beneath in the valley the water ran lightly on,
but there came no sound from it, none from anywhere; only a general
pervasive murmur quieting to the heart.

Now they heard a note come from the organ--a so