Read PROLOGUE of The White Doe The Fate of Virginia Dare , free online book, by Sallie Southall Cotten, on ReadCentral.com.

In the tomb of vanished ages sleep th’ ungarnered truths of Time,
Where the pall of silence covers deeds of honor and of crime;
Deeds of sacrifice and danger, which the careless earth forgets,
There, in ever-deep’ning shadows, lie embalmed in mute regrets.
Would-be-gleaners of the Present vainly grope amid this gloom;
Flowers of Truth to be immortal must be gathered while they bloom,
Else they pass into the Silence, man’s neglect their only blight,
And the Gleaner of the Ages stores them far from human sight.
Yet a perfume, sweet and subtle, lingers where each flower grew,
Rising from the shattered petals, bathed and freshened by the dew;
And this perfume, in the twilight, forms a mist beneath the skies,
Out of which, like airy phantoms, legends and traditions rise;
For the Seeds of Truth are buried in a legend’s inmost heart,
To transplant them in the sunlight justifies the poet’s art.

GO TO: THE SEEDS OF TRUTH