Time passed; with change of hopes and fears, And in the self-same place, Two women, gray with middle years, Stood, wondering, face to face. With wakened memories, as they met, They queried what had been "A poor man's wife am I, and yet," Said one, "I am a queen. "My realm a little homestead is, Where, lacking crown and throne, I rule by loving services And patient toil alone." The other said: "The great world lies Beyond me as it lay; O'er love's and duty's boundaries My feet may never stray. "I see but common sights of home, Its common sounds I hear, My widowed mother's sick-bed room Sufficeth for my sphere. "I read to her some pleasant page Of travel far and wide, And in a dreamy pilgrimage We wander side by side. "And when, at last, she falls asleep, My book becomes to me A magic glass: my watch I keep, But all the world I see. "A farm-wife queen your place you fill, While fancy's privilege Is mine to walk the earth at will, Thanks to the Wishing Bridge." "Nay, leave the legend for the truth," The other cried, "and say God gives the wishes of our youth, But in His own best way!" 1882. HOW THE WOMEN WENT FROM DOVER. The following is a copy of the warrant issued by Major Waldron, of Dover, in 1662. The Quakers, as was their wont, prophesied against him, and saw, as they supposed, the fulfilment of their prophecy when, many years after, he was killed by the Indians. To the constables of Dover, Hampton, Salisbury, Newbury, Rowley, Ipswich, Wenham, Lynn, Boston, Roxbury, Dedham, and until these vagabond Quakers are carried out of this jurisdiction. You, and every one of you, are required, in the King's Majesty's name, to take these vagabond Quakers, Anne Colman, Mary Tomkins, and Alice Ambrose, and make them fast to the cart's tail, and driving the cart through your several towns, to whip them upon their naked backs not exceeding ten stripes apiece on each of them, in each town; and so to convey them from constable to constable till they are out of this jurisdiction, as you will answer it at your peril; and this shall be your warrant. RICHARD WALDRON. Dated at Dover, December 22, 1662. This warrant was executed only in Dover and Hampton. At Salisbury the constable refused to obey it. He was sustained by the town's people, who were under the influence of Major Robert Pike, the leading man in the lower valley of the Merrimac, who stood far in advance of his time, as an advocate of religious freedom, and an opponent of ecclesiastical authority. He had the moral courage to address an able and manly letter to the court at Salem, remonstrating against the witchcraft trials. THE tossing spray of Cocheco's fall Hardened to ice on its rocky wall, As through Dover town in the chill, gray dawn, Three women passed, at the cart-tail drawn!