"'I'm tired now,' she said, "Miss Ruthy, I'd like to hear you sing once more—before I hear de angels on de other side.'
"Ruth hushed her sobs and in her exquisite voice rolled out in those beautiful words:
"Only waiting till the shadows
Have a little longer grown,
Only waiting till the glimmer
Of the day's last beam is flown;
Only waiting till the angels
Open wide the mystic gate,
At whose feet I long have lingered,
Weary, poor and desolate."
"'Only waitin', murmured the dying voice. 'O my chillern!" and she spoke with sudden energy. 'In your hearts you are pityin' your poor ole gran'mammy; you are thinking o' de sun shinin' outside, an' de fllowers, an' home an' love. You see me lyin' here, ole, an' black, an' racked wid pain. But oh! what's de sunlight of earth to de glory roun' de throne of God? what's de flowers here ter de flowers in de gyardin younder? An' what's de love of earth ter dat waitin' for me, sinful an' onworthy though I am?
And with her beloved nurslings around her gran'mammy passed quietly away. Amongst her last words were, "Good-by Miss' Marthy, take good keer o' Miss' Mary's chillren."
"Two Storms," one of her latest stories, published in Harper's Monthly, deserves especial notice.
The story has to do with the gulf coast. We see a fair young wife with a husband who idolizes her, and a little daughter with her faithful black mammy. The mother dies suddenly, and the husband is felled by the blow. In his despair he curses Fate and would die. His child he neglects, in fact her presence is disturbing, since it but serves to remind him of his irreparable loss.
Little Dinah's lot is a hapless one. It would be tragic were it not for the devoted old nurse, who watches over her "Shorn Lamb" with a tenderness not to be surpassed by a mother. "'I wish I were a little dog' she said once to Maum Dulcie, 'then I could lick papa's hand, and perhaps he would pat my head.'
"'You po' little sweet rosebud!" cried the old woman, 'Ain't you got yo' ole nuss to love you an' pet you?'