To see their children perish?

Gon. Then the guilt

Was thine?

Elm. Shall mortal dare to call it guilt?

I tell thee, heaven, which made all holy things,

Made naught more holy than the boundless love

Which fills a mother’s heart! I say, ’tis woe

Enough, with such an aching tenderness,

To love aught earthly! and in vain! in vain!

—We are press’d down too sorely!