Theodore Winthrop

“ A man whose life is for others is safe from selfish disappointment when he is commanded to stand aside and be naught for a time.
I knew the images that hovered about my sleeping friend’s mind, for I knew the thoughts that were the comrades of his waking life. His memory was crowded full of sights and sounds of beauty, and those thoughts that are the emanations of fair visions and sweet tones, and dwell unuttered poetry in the soul. ”

“ Sky and clouds, sun and stars, brooks and rivers, forests and hills, waves and winds, — these had received him to their sweet companionship, as his mind could gradually grasp the larger conceptions of beauty. ”

“ Wade, words to say or duties to do, that has made him condense his being on recovery?”
“Both, I believe. He is mature now, and wants, no doubt, to be at his business of saying and doing.”
“And loving,” said Ruby.
“Ay,” said Pathie. “That has had more to do with it. I hope he will overtake and win, for I love the boy. I keep my oldish heart pretty well locked against strangers; but there is a warm cell in it, and in that cell he has, sleeping and waking, made himself a home.”
“Ah, Doctor,” said Ruby, “you and I, for want of women to love, have to content ourselves with poetic rovers like Brent. ”

“ The pretty spouse grew tired of poverty and five children. She went off with Sizzum. The music-master hired himself to a drover, named Armstrong, and plodded out to Utah. When he got there, he found Sizzum gone. He turned hunter. I met him in the mountains, a crack shot. He waited his time, ambushed the train, and shot Sizzum dead, as he first caught sight of the Valley. ”