I cannot
live. I have felt my tie to earth loosening very fast since your
grandmother left me, and I feel I cannot live any longer if my State
shall be classed with traitors.'
"I have failed to tell you grandmother died in my eighteenth year. Mr.
Huntington, feeling sure of what was coming, left us for his home in
Medford, never for one moment expressing to us any views on the
subject now engrossing all minds; and, when parting with him, I
whispered, 'If it comes, I am for my country! Look for me North within
a few weeks.' It did come, as you know; and when one of my aunts--now
both married--ran laughingly in, with a blue cockade pinned on her
shoulders, exclaiming:
"'Father, we are out!'
"She stopped in horror, and looked upon the calm, cold face. But the
spirit had fled. We know not if he had heard or not, but I trust he
had passed to perfect peace before his heart had been so sorely tried.
Next to our plantation was the estate of one of the oldest,
wealthiest, and proudest families of the State. The daughter and I had
grown up together, and I loved her more than all and everything else
on earth. Her brother and I were very intimate--both having no
brother, we were everything to each other.
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