omprehension or powers of definition.

At last he gently pulled up the ends of the willow rods at one side, and
passing round to the other would have done the same, but seeing how
fresh and green they looked held his hand.

"They would grow an' I left them," muttered he; but then with a mournful
gesture added in the same tone, "Nay, then, what need. I shall know
where thou liest, Rose, and"--

Not ungently he drew the twigs from the earth, and stood holding them in
his hand as a voice behind him said,--

"Ay, brother, we must say good-by even to the graves we have loved.
Stern necessity is our master."

Standish, ill pleased at the interruption, turned a dark face upon the
new-comer.

"And yet I have heard, Master Winslow, that thou art already speaking of
marriage with Mistress White. Is stern necessity master there also?"

"Yes, Standish," replied Winslow frowning a little and speaking more
coldly than at first. "You may see it for yourself. Here are we, a scant
threescore souls, not one score grown men, come to people a savage land
and make terms with hordes of savage inhabitants. Is it not the
clearest, ay, sternest necessity that those of us who are unwived, to
our sorrow though it be, should take the women who remain, be they maids
or widows, in honorable wedlock, and rear up children to fill our places
when we are gone? Have we a right, man, to follow our own fantasies and
mourn and mourn like cushat doves over the graves of our lost mates
while the women we ought to cherish struggle on uncared for?"

"Hast put the matter in this light to William White's widow?" asked
Standish sarcastically.

"Nay," returned Winslow with his usual calm. "Words that suit men are
not always for women's ears. What I may say to Susanna White is not of
necessity the business of the Council"--

"Any more than my errand here to-night," retorted Standish, the spark
kindling in his brown eyes.

"Softly, brother, softly," replied Winslow in his measured tones, and
laying a finger upon the other's arm. "It would ill befit us two to
quarrel here between thy wife's grave and mine. We are brethren, and if
I said aught that mispleased thee I am right sorry"--

"Nay, then, 't is I was hasty," interrupted Standish. "Surely thy
marriage is thine own affair, not mine, and I wish you godspeed with all
my heart."

"And yet, brother, I am not all content lacking thine approval, for
there is neither head nor heart in the colony more hon