life was thought capable of such a thing, and never was.' At
other times he would fancy himself talking as it seem'd to
children or such like, his relatives, I suppose, and giving
them good advice; would talk to them a long while. All the
time he was out of his head not one single bad word, or
thought, or idea escaped him. It was remark'd that many a
man's conversation in his senses was not half so good as
Frank's delirium.

"He was perfectly willing to die - he had become very weak,
and had suffer'd a good deal, and was perfectly resign'd,
poor boy. I do not know his past life, but I feel as if it
must have been good. At any rate what I saw of him here,
under the most trying circumstances, with a painful wound,
and among strangers, I can say that he behaved so brave, so
composed, and so sweet and affectionate, it could not be
surpassed. And now, like many other noble and good men,
after serving his country as a soldier, he has yielded up his
young life at the very outset in her service. Such things
are gloomy - yet there is a text, `God doeth all things
well,' the meaning of which, after due time, appears to the
soul.

"I thought perhaps a few words, though from a stranger, about
your son, from one who was with him at the last, might be
worth while, for I loved the young man, though I but saw him
immediately to lose him."


It is easy enough to pick holes in the grammar of this