Problem: Robert Frost wrote a poem in 1915 called "The Black Cottage." It tells the story of two men who came across an old abandoned cottage. The woman who used to live in it had lost her husband in the Civil War. Now her sons were grown and had moved away. When she had died, they found themselves unable to sell the cottage for sentimental reasons but never came back to visit it, so it had fallen into neglect. I've selected a passage from the poem below. Read it and discuss it. If you want to read the whole thing, find it here: The Black CottageLinks to an external site. What is Frost saying about the Civil War? What is the "hard mystery" of Jefferson's? Do you agree with this take on Jefferson's words? What examples in the history we have studied prove or disprove this take of Jefferson's words?