The story of my life ; or, The sunshine and shadow of seventy years / by Mary A. Livermore ... with hitherto unrecorded incidents and recollections of three years' experience as an army nurse in the great Civil War, and reminiscences of twenty-five years' experiences on the lecture platform ... to which is added six of her most popular lectures ... with portraits and one hundred and twenty engravings from designs by eminent artists ...

LAST APPEARANCE OF THE SLAVE TRADER.

323

"I heard Pa say that he was gwine t'morrer mornin'
before breakfast," said Dick.
This information was confirmed at supper, by Mr.
Henderson, who vainly tried to persuade his wife to resume
her place at table, assuring her that this would be Mr.
Heath's last appearance, as he was to leave early the following morning.
So the next day, soon after daybreak, I let myself noiselessly out by the front door, and walked briskly down to
the river, and thence to " High Rock." It was the first of
October, and the earth was full of beauty A mist hung in
the air which the sun soon smote with his scimitar of light,
scattering it hither and yon, until it vanished and was gone.
The birds still sang in the trees, and the woods were thickly
tenanted with these feathered vocalists. They were flying
about in flocks and families, lightly skimming the earth, and
wleeling in countless aerial evolutions, evidently putting
themselves in training for their long journey through the
trackless air to their winter homes.
How serenely the bright blue sky arched above me!
How placidly lay the almost motionless river, on the surface
of which not a ripple was visible! How calmly slept the
valley, checkered with gold and green, as the sunlight was
filtered upon it through the intervening foliage! Every
living, as well as inanimate thing, seemed glad in the presence of the beautiful day, and I felt all care, weariness,
and corroding anxiety roll from me, as did the burden from
Bunyan's Pilgrim when he stood at the foot of the cross. I,
too, caught the spirit of peace, and joined in the universal
worship of Nature.

20