CHAPTER I.

BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD.

HEAVEN lies about us in our infancy.-WORDSWORTH.

YET hath thy spirit left on me

An impress Time has worn not out,
And something of myself in thee,

A shadow from the past, I see,

Lingering, even yet, thy way about:

Not wholly can the heart unlearn

That lesson of its better hours,

Not yet has Time's dull footsteps worn

To common dust that path of flowers.-WHITTIER.