AUNT RACHEL
(sadly shaking her head).
He is gone! How we will miss him!
[An instant's dejection falls on the group. They stand saggingly, joy gone from them.
AUNT RACHEL
(brightening).
It's only for a short time. Only for a short time. He'll be back. He'll surely be back.
[The group brightens. A tambourine drops jinglingly. It is picked up. Baskets and hoe are resumed. The group starts towards background, leisurely, tunefully singing:
(Air: Chorus of "Down Where the Cotton Blossoms Grow.")
Bright shines the sun, the clover-fields are white,
Through the woods the happy children go:
As gay are our hearts as flowers swinging light,
When balmy airs of Springtime blow.
Gaily we work with spade and rake and hoe,
Golden shines the burnished sun of noon;
Then in the fields the shadows longer grow,
Time to be looking for the moon!
Then twilight comes, and then the velvet night,
Stars shine like a beacon through the gloam,
The old cabin road is gray beneath their light,
The long road that leads us to our home.