one before one
`` When I saw my first yucca in blossom , '' said Banneker , `` it was just before sunrise after I had been riding all night , and I came on it around a dip in the hills , standing alone against a sky of pearl and silver . It made me think of a ghost , the ghost of a girl who had died too young to know womanhood , died while she was asleep and dreaming pale , soft dreams , never to be fulfilled . '' `` That 's the injustice of death , '' she answered . `` To take one before one knows and has felt and been all that there is to know and feel and be . '' `` Yet '' -- he turned a slow smile to her -- `` you were just now calling Experience bad names ; a horrid hag , was n't it ? '' `` At least , she 's life , '' retorted the girl . `` Yes .