I threw myself down on my back beneath an oak tree. There was a small patch of blue sky visible, and now and then a bird swam lazily across it. Did I fall asleep and dream, or did I rise and walk about unconsciously? I do not know much of what I did; but soon I was walking. I was not aware of the exact moment when I began to move, nor how long I had been winding my way in and out among the trees when the sound of sobbing grew upon my ears. It startled me and I began to look around and to follow the sound without knowing just where I went, in that vague way one is so used to in dreams. Soon I came upon a woman kneeling in the grass. She was very beautiful and my heart went out to her for she was weeping bitterly and seemed in great distress. My appearance must have scared her for she hastily covered something upon the ground and then sprang up in great alarm. She was dressed in a white robe that floated about her like an angel. For just a moment she let me see her sweet tear-stained face; then she was gone. Her dark hair and sorrowful expression made such a lifelike impression upon me that I almost thought it could not be a dream. Yet in a moment she had vanished like a breeze. Near the spot where she had stood the grass curved upward over a small mound. I drew near to examine what from its appearance I thought should be a grave. When I first came upon the woman she made a hasty move to cover something upon the ground. At the head of the grave I spied a loose sod which I lifted. Beneath it was a flat stone inscribed with the one word “Ruth.” I fell on my knees and wept. Surely God had sent me a vision! I lay full length on the grave, kissing the cold stone and plucking blades of grass to strew upon it in place of flowers. How I thanked God for this dream! He had led me into green pastures. Thy rod and Thy staff, O God, they comfort me! Suddenly the visitant reappeared. “Sir,” she said. “You are in sore trouble.” I pointed to the grave. “She was my sister.” She was startled by this and eyed me with a doubtful anxious look. I cannot recall what she said to me, but after a while she opened the bosom of her robe, whence she drew forth a small ivory miniature enclosed in a gold rim. “See; your sister wore it before she died.” I looked. It contained the counterfeit of my own face, like one I had given Ruth upon the ocean. God is merciful, but His mercies are quick to come and go. The vision disappeared; yet its blessed presence had made me feel that I had stood close in Ruth’s heart to the very end of her life even as she had stood in mine.