英语小故事：THE CHILD IN THE GRAVE

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英语小故事：THE CHILD IN THE GRAVE

    IT was a very sad day, and every heart in the house feltthe deepest grief; for the youngest child, a boy of four yearsold, the joy and hope of his parents, was dead. Two daughters,the elder of whom was going to be confirmed, still remained:they were both good, charming girls; but the lost child alwaysseems the dearest; and when it is youngest, and a son, itmakes the trial still more heavy. The sisters mourned as younghearts can mourn, and were especially grieved at the sight oftheir parents' sorrow. The father's heart was bowed down, butthe mother sunk completely under the deep grief. Day and nightshe had attended to the sick child, nursing and carrying it inher bosom, as a part of herself. She could not realize thefact that the child was dead, and must be laid in a coffin torest in the ground. She thought God could not take her darlinglittle one from her; and when it did happen notwithstandingher hopes and her belief, and there could be no more doubt onthe subject, she said in her feverish agony, "God does notknow it. He has hard-hearted ministering spirits on earth, whodo according to their own will, and heed not a mother'sprayers." Thus in her great grief she fell away from her faithin God, and dark thoughts arose in her mind respecting deathand a future state. She tried to believe that man was butdust, and that with his life all existence ended. But thesedoubts were no support to her, nothing on which she couldrest, and she sunk into the fathomless depths of despair. Inher darkest hours she ceased to weep, and thought not of theyoung daughters who were still left to her. The tears of herhusband fell on her forehead, but she took no notice of him;her thoughts were with her dead child; her whole existenceseemed wrapped up in the remembrances of the little one and ofevery innocent word it had uttered.    The day of the little child's funeral came. For nightspreviously the mother had not slept, but in the morningtwilight of this day she sunk from weariness into a deepsleep; in the mean time the coffin was carried into a distantroom, and there nailed down, that she might not hear the blowsof the hammer. When she awoke, and wanted to see her child,the husband, with tears, said, "We have closed the coffin; itwas necessary to do so."    "When God is so hard to me, how can I expect men to bebetter?" she said with groans and tears.    The coffin was carried to the grave, and the disconsolatemother sat with her young daughters. She looked at them, butshe saw them not; for her thoughts were far away from thedomestic hearth. She gave herself up to her grief, and ittossed her to and fro, as the sea tosses a ship withoutcompass or rudder. So the day of the funeral passed away, andsimilar days followed, of dark, wearisome pain. With tearfuleyes and mournful glances, the sorrowing daughters and theafflicted husband looked upon her who would not hear theirwords of comfort; and, indeed, what comforting words couldthey speak, when they were themselves so full of grief? Itseemed as if she would never again know sleep, and yet itwould have been her best friend, one who would havestrengthened her body and poured peace into her soul. They atlast persuaded her to lie down, and then she would lie asstill as if she slept.    One night, when her husband listened, as he often did, toher breathing, he quite believed that she had at length foundrest and relief in sleep. He folded his arms and prayed, andsoon sunk himself into healthful sleep; therefore he did notnotice that his wife arose, threw on her clothes, and glidedsilently from the house, to go where her thoughts constantlylingered- to the grave of her child. She passed through thegarden, to a path across a field that led to the churchyard.No one saw her as she walked, nor did she see any one; for hereyes were fixed upon the one object of her wanderings. It wasa lovely starlight night in the beginning of September, andthe air was mild and still. She entered the churchyard, andstood by the little grave, which looked like a large nosegayof fragrant flowers. She sat down, and bent her head low overthe grave, as if she could see her child through the earththat covered him- her little boy, whose smile was so vividlybefore her, and the gentle expression of whose eyes, even onhis sick-bed, she could not forget. How full of meaning thatglance had been, as she leaned over him, holding in hers thepale hand which he had no longer strength to raise! As she hadsat by his little cot, so now she sat by his grave; and hereshe could weep freely, and her tears fell upon it.    "Thou wouldst gladly go down and be with thy child," saida voice quite close to her,- a voice that sounded so deep andclear, that it went to her heart.    She looked up, and by her side stood a man wrapped in ablack cloak, with a hood closely drawn over his face; but herkeen glance could distinguish the face under the hood. It wasstern, yet awakened confidence, and the eyes beamed withyouthful radiance.    "Down to my child," she repeated; and tones of despair andentreaty sounded in the words.    "Darest thou to follow me?" asked the form. "I am Death."    She bowed her head in token of assent. Then suddenly itappeared as if all the stars were shining with the radiance ofthe full moon on the many-colored flowers that decked thegrave. The earth that covered it was drawn back like afloating drapery. She sunk down, and the spectre covered herwith a black cloak; night closed around her, the night ofdeath. She sank deeper than the spade of the sexton couldpenetrate, till the churchyard became a roof above her. Thenthe cloak was removed, and she found herself in a large hall,of wide-spreading dimensions, in which there was a subduedlight, like twilight, reigning, and in a moment her childappeared before her, smiling, and more beautiful than ever;with a silent cry she pressed him to her heart. A gloriousstrain of music sounded- now distant, now near. Never had shelistened to such tones as these; they came from beyond a largedark curtain which separated the regions of death from theland of eternity.    "My sweet, darling mother," she heard the child say. Itwas the well-known, beloved voice; and kiss followed kiss, inboundless delight. Then the child pointed to the dark curtain."There is nothing so beautiful on earth as it is here. Mother,do you not see them all? Oh, it is happiness indeed."    But the mother saw nothing of what the child pointed out,only the dark curtain. She looked with earthly eyes, and couldnot see as the child saw,- he whom God has called to be withHimself. She could hear the sounds of music, but she heard notthe words, the Word in which she was to trust.    "I can fly now, mother," said the child; "I can fly withother happy children into the presence of the Almighty. Iwould fain fly away now; but if you weep for me as you areweeping now, you may never see me again. And yet I would go sogladly. May I not fly away? And you will come to me soon, willyou not, dear mother?"    "Oh, stay, stay!" implored the mother; "only one momentmore; only once more, that I may look upon thee, and kissthee, and press thee to my heart."    Then she kissed and fondled her child. Suddenly her namewas called from above; what could it mean? her name uttered ina plaintive voice.    "Hearest thou?" said the child. "It is my father who callsthee." And in a few moments deep sighs were heard, as ofchildren weeping. "They are my sisters," said the child."Mother, surely you have not forgotten them."    And then she remembered those she left behind, and a greatterror came over her. She looked around her at the dark night.Dim forms flitted by. She seemed to recognize some of them, asthey floated through the regions of death towards the darkcurtain, where they vanished. Would her husband and herdaughters flit past? No; their sighs and lamentations stillsounded from above; and she had nearly forgotten them, for thesake of him who was dead.    "Mother, now the bells of heaven are ringing," said thechild; "mother, the sun is going to rise."    An overpowering light streamed in upon her, the child hadvanished, and she was being borne upwards. All around herbecame cold; she lifted her head, and saw that she was lyingin the churchyard, on the grave of her child. The Lord, in adream, had been a guide to her feet and a light to her spirit.She bowed her knees, and prayed for forgiveness. She hadwished to keep back a soul from its immortal flight; she hadforgotten her duties towards the living who were left her. Andwhen she had offered this prayer, her heart felt lighter. Thesun burst forth, over her head a little bird carolled hissong, and the church-bells sounded for the early service.Everything around her seemed holy, and her heart waschastened. She acknowledged the goodness of God, sheacknowledged the duties she had to perform, and eagerly shereturned home. She bent over her husband, who still slept; herwarm, devoted kiss awakened him, and words of heartfelt lovefell from the lips of both. Now she was gentle and strong as awife can be; and from her lips came the words of faith:"Whatever He doeth is right and best."    Then her husband asked, "From whence hast thou all at oncederived such strength and comforting faith?"    And as she kissed him and her children, she said, "It camefrom God, through my child in the grave."                            THE END

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