ndows
were all thick with snow. I dreamt I had a little baby in my arms
that was sick; it was cryin' an' moanin', an' I was walkin' up an'
down, up an' down, tryin' to quiet it. I didn't have my rheumatism,
could walk as well as anybody. All of a sudden, as I was walkin', I
smelt flowers, an' there on the hearth-stone was a rose-bush, all in
bloom. I went up an' picked a rose, an' shook it in the baby's face
to please it, an' then I heard a strange noise, that drowned out the
wind in the chimney an' the baby's cryin'. It sounded like cattle
bellowing, dreadful loud and mournful. I laid the baby down in the
rockin'-chair, an' first thing I knew it wasn't there. Instead of it
there was a most beautiful bird, like a dove, as white as snow. It
flew 'round my head once, and then it was gone. I thought it went up
chimney.

"The cattle bellowing sounded nearer, an' I could hear them trampin'.
I run to the front door, an' there they were, comin' down the road,
hundreds of 'em, horns a-tossin' an' tails a-lashin', flingin' up the
snow like water. I clapped to the front door, an' bolted it, an' run
into the parlor, an' looked out of the window, an' there on the other
side, as plain as I ever see it in my life, was your father's
face--there was my husband's face.

"He didn't look a day older than when he left, an' his eyes an' his
mouth were smilin' as I hadn't seen 'em since he was a young man.

"'Oh, Able!' says I. 'Oh, Abel!' An' then the face wa'n't there, an'
I heard a noise behind me, an' looked around.

"I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that parlor. All the chairs
an' the sofa were covered with my weddin'-dress, that was made over
for Elmira; the window-curtains were made of it, an' the
table-spread. Thinks I, 'How was there enough of that silk, when we
had hard work to get Elmira's dress out?'

"Then I saw, in the middle of the room, a great long thing, all
covered over with silk, an' I thought it was a coffin. I went up to
it, an' there was Abel's hat on it, the one he wore when he went
away. I took the hat off, an' the weddin'-silk, an' there was a
coffin.

"I thought it was Abel's. I raised the lid and looked. The coffin was
full of beautiful clear water, an' I could see through it the bottom,
all covered with bright gold dollars. I leant over it, and there was
my own face in the water, jest as plain as in a lookin'-glass, an'
there was Abel's beside it. Then I turned around quick, an' there was
Abel--the