Elizabeth II

E'en as she spake they heard the musical jangle of sleigh-bells,First far off, with a dreamy sound and faint in the distance,Then growing nearer and louder, and turning into the farmyard,Till it stopped at the door, with sudden creaking of runners.Then there were voices heard as of two men talking together,And to herself, as she listened, upbraiding said Hannah the housemaid,"It is Joseph come back, and I wonder what stranger is with him?"

Down from its nail she took and lighted the great tin lanternPierced with holes, and round, and roofed like the top of a lighthouse,And went forth to receive the coming guest at the doorway,Casting into the dark a network of glimmer and shadowOver the falling snow, the yellow sleigh, and the horses,And the forms of men, snow-covered, looming gigantic.Then giving Joseph the lantern, she entered the house with the stranger.Youthful he was and tall, and his cheeks aglow with the night air;And as he entered, Elizabeth rose, and, going to meet him,As if an unseen power had announced and preceded his presence,And he had come as one whose coming had long been expected,Quietly gave him her hand, and said, "Thou art welcome, John Estaugh."And the stranger replied, with staid and quiet behavior,"Dost thou remember me still, Elizabeth? After so manyYears have passed, it seemeth a wonderful thing that I find thee.Surely the hand of the Lord conducted me here to thy threshold.For as I journeyed along, and pondered alone and in silenceOn his ways, that are past finding out, I saw in the snow-mist,Seemingly weary with travel, a wayfarer, who by the waysidePaused and waited. Forthwith I remembered Queen Candace's eunuch,How on the way that goes down from Jerusalem unto Gaza,Reading Esaias the Prophet, he journeyed, and spake unto Philip,Praying him to come up and sit in his chariot with him.So I greeted the man, and he mounted the sledge beside me,And as we talked on the way he told me of thee and thy homestead,How, being led by the light of the Spirit, that never deceiveth,Full of zeal for the work of the Lord, thou hadst come to this country.And I remembered thy name, and thy father and mother in England,And on my journey have stopped to see thee, Elizabeth Haddon.Wishing to strengthen thy hand in the labors of love thou art doing."

And Elizabeth answered with confident voice, and serenelyLooking into his face with her innocent eyes as she answered,"Surely the hand of the Lord is in it; his Spirit hath led theeOut of the darkness and storm to the light and peace of my fireside."

Then, with stamping of feet, the door was opened, and JosephEntered, bearing the lantern, and, carefully blowing the light out,Rung it up on its nail, and all sat down to their supper;For underneath that roof was no distinction of persons,But one family only, one heart, one hearth and one household.

When the supper was ended they drew their chairs to the fireplace,Spacious, open-hearted, profuse of flame and of firewood,Lord of forests unfelled, and not a gleaner of fagots,Spreading its arms to embrace with inexhaustible bountyAll who fled from the cold, exultant, laughing at winter!Only Hannah the housemaid was busy in clearing the table,Coming and going, and hustling about in closet and chamber.

Then Elizabeth told her story again to John Estaugh,Going far back to the past, to the early days of her childhood;How she had waited and watched, in all her doubts and besetmentsComforted with the extendings and holy, sweet inflowingsOf the spirit of love, till the voice imperative sounded,And she obeyed the voice, and cast in her lot with her peopleHere in the desert land, and God would provide for the issue.

Meanwhile Joseph sat with folded hands, and demurelyListened, or seemed to listen, and in the silence that followedNothing was heard for a while but the step of Hannah the housemaidWalking the floor overhead, and setting the chambers in order.And Elizabeth said, with a smile of compassion, "The maidenHath a light heart in her breast, but her feet are heavy and awkward."Inwardly Joseph laughed, but governed his tongue, and was silent.

Then came the hour of sleep, death's counterfeit, nightly rehearsalOf the great Silent Assembly, the Meeting of shadows, where no manSpeaketh, but all are still, and the peace and rest are unbroken!Silently over that house the blessing of slumber descended.But when the morning dawned, and the sun uprose in his splendor,Breaking his way through clouds that encumbered his path in the heavens,Joseph was seen with his sled and oxen breaking a pathwayThrough the drifts of snow; the horses already were harnessed,And John Estaugh was standing and taking leave at the threshold,Saying that he should return at the Meeting in May; while above themHannah the housemaid, the homely, was looking out of the attic,Laughing aloud at Joseph, then suddenly closing the casement,As the bird in a cuckoo-clock peeps out of its window,Then disappears again, and closes the shutter behind it.