d, earth's monuments would be as the
stars of heaven or the sands of the sea; the names of the lowly and
the great would stand side by side; and the name of the mother by the
name of the son. For the valor of man is a mighty stream that all may
see as it rolls through the ages, changing the face of the world, but
ofttimes its source is a spring of courage rising silently from the
secret depths of an unknown woman's heart.

IX

THE WATCH-MEETING

[Illustration]

IX

THE WATCH-MEETING

It was the thirty-first of December. The short winter day had ended in
a golden sunset, and the old year was passing in a night of stars.
Aunt Jane and I stood on the porch looking westward at the clear
wintry sky, where the radiance from the silver lamp of Venus gleamed
as clearly over the bare, frozen earth as if it were lighting the feet
of lovers through the rose-gardens of June. All the winds of heaven
were sleeping, and the cold still air was like a draught from a
mountain spring. Our eyes were on the same star, but our thoughts were
far apart; mine with the years to come, and Aunt Jane's with the years
that were past.

"Fine night for a watch-meetin'," she remarked at last.

"A watch-meeting?" I queried. "What is a watch-meeting?"

Aunt Jane turned her face toward me, and through the darkness I felt
her look of deep reproach. "Child," she said gravely, "do you mean to
tell me that you don't know what a watch-meetin' is, and you livin' in
a Christian country all your life? Next thing you'll be tellin' me you
don't know what a prayer-meetin' is. However, I don't know as you're
to blame. Your grandfather and grandmother went to watch-meetin', and
your mother knows what it is, but I reckon watch-meetin's are as much
out o' fashion these days as purple caliker dresses and turkey-tail
fans. In my day, child, folks went to church New-year's eve and sung
and prayed the old year out and the new year in, and that's a
watch-meetin'."

"How interesting!" I exclaimed.

Aunt Jane chuckled softly. "Yes, it was mighty interestin'," she said,
"and there was one watch-meetin' I'll never forgit as long as I live.
But you come into the house. This ain't the weather for old folks or
young folks either to be standin' out on the porch."

We went in, and I laid a stick of wood on the andirons in the open
fireplace. A momentary splendor lit the room as the gray moss and
lichens caught fire and the swift flames ran from one en