Excerpt from The Quest for the Rose of Sharon Grandaunt always was eccentric. Indeed, I was sometimes tempted to call her a much harsher name in the dark days when the Clouds hung so heavy above us that I Often doubted if there really was a sun behind them. But, as Mr. Whittier says, Death softens all resentments, and the consciousness Of a common inheritance Of frailty and weakness modifies the severity Of judg ment; and, looking back through the mist Of years which blurs the sharp outlines Of those days Of trial, I can judge grandaunt more leniently than it was then possible for me to do. SO I will let the adjective stand as I have written it. I remember our first meeting as distinctly as though it had happened yesterday. I had wandered down the shining path Of slate to our front gate, one morning. It had rained the night before, which accounted for the path shining so in the sun's rays; and the air was soft and warm. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.