“M---- dear, a thousand thanks for thy pictures of ‘Virginia life’--I look from thy window on the sunken masts of the poor brave Cumberland. I am so glad you are there. We all are. Tell Colonel F---- [a young Prussian who at the beginning of the war had enlisted] the doctor and his wife quite forgive his not coming to Amesbury; the doctor hopes--the fatigue of going well over--the Colonel will grow stronger; he seems to feel he had worked too hard.... It was delightful to see our dear old friend Bayard. He will bring his beautiful German wife here before long.... How I wish I could unroof that Norfolk house and see you all; the graceful young adjutant pleases me. Tell Col. F---- I never wondered he could not find time to write. I only wonder he is alive.... It is so good to hear from thee. Keep well--and come home soon.” To the Col. F---- (afterward General) then at the front the poet wrote: “We watch with ever wakeful interest the progress of the war. Sometimes we feel discouraged; but the good God sees and knows all and His time is best.... My sister [Elizabeth], Miss B---- [who, later Col. F---- married], and Dr. S---- and family desire to be kindly remembered to thee.” The mention of Bayard Taylor in these letters recalls Whittier’s poem, “Bayard Taylor,” in which the poet refers to this visit: “‘And where now, Bayard, will thy footsteps tend?’ My sister asked our guest one winter’s day. Smiling, he answered in the Friends’ sweet way Common to both: ‘Wherever thou shalt send.’ “‘What wouldst thou have me see for thee?’ She laughed, Her dark eyes dancing in the wood-fire’s glow; ‘Loffoden isles, the Kilpis, and the low Unsetting sun on Finmark’s fishing craft.’” With abounding faith in the ultimate triumph of right, the poet yet had all the dread of disaster incident to so sensitive an organization. At the defeat at Bull Run he was prostrated. It is in the major and the minor of his sufferings and his trust that his songs, “In War Time,” were sung. “Luther’s Hymn,” the sombreness of “The Watchers,” the depth of prayer in “Thy Will Be Done”--all show the struggle and sorrow of his spirit. But hope speaks in “The Battle Autumn of 1862,” where he sings: “Oh, give to us in times like these, The vision of her eyes; And make her fields and fruited trees Our golden prophecies! “Oh, give to us her finer ear! Above this stormy din, We, too, would hear the bells of cheer Ring peace and freedom in.”