midnight
Long , during that day , did the grief-stricken mother breathe sad , melancholy music into the ears of her dying child . Towards evening that restless state , so common in cholera infantum , came on , accompanied at every breath by a groan , which the doctor said must soon wear her out . He gave her an opiate , hoping to relieve the distress . Towards midnight she dropped into a little slumber , and the mother , weary with watching , retired , leaving the father and a sister , to take care of her . It was Sabbath morning ; the gray dawn was just streaking the east with the earliest beams of day , when the father , who sat a little distance from his child , thought he saw her gasp for breath . He sprang to her side , and saw too truly , that that pale visitant from the spirit land , that comes to us but once , was dealing with his child . The mother and grandmother , who had watched over her so unweariedly , soon reached the bed ; but the brittle thread of life was snapped , and the pure spirit had passed away , with the pale messenger , to the spirit land .