Lives of Girls Who Became Famous

by Sarah Knowles Bolton

At "seven times two," who of us has not waited for the great heavy curtains of the future to be drawn aside?

"I wish and I wish that the spring would go faster,
Nor long summer bide so late;

And I could grow on, like the fox-glove and aster,
For some things are ill to wait."

At twenty-one the girl's heart flutters with expectancy:--

"I leaned out of window, I smelt the white clover,
Dark, dark was the garden, I saw not the gate;

Now, if there be footsteps, he comes, my one lover;
Hush nightingale, hush! O sweet nightingale wait

Till I listen and hear
If a step draweth near,
For my love he is late!"

At twenty-eight, the happy mother lives in a simple home, made beautiful by her children:--

"Heigho! daisies and buttercups!
Mother shall thread them a daisy chain."

At thirty-five a widow; at forty-two giving up her children to brighten other homes; at forty-nine, "Longing for Home."