The Lost Hunter Part 32

Whose part in all the pomp that fills, The circuit of the summer hills.

Is that his grave is green.

And deeply would their hearts rejoice, To hear again his living voice.

BRYANT.

The funeral, with the usual celerity with which such things are done in our country, was to take place on the next day. Too often the haste appears indecent, and it may be that in some instances the body has been buried before life deserted it. It would seem that the family felt constrained by the presence of the corpse, and compelled to exercise an irksome self-control, and, therefore, desired to hurry it under ground, as if it would be less likely there to know how soon it was forgotten.

But in the present case there was no reason why the body should be longer kept. There could be no doubt that life was extinct. It had lain too long in the water to admit a ray of hope to the contrary.

The sooner it was placed in its final earthly home the better for poor Jane Sill, the widow. Her grief would the sooner be mitigated, by withdrawing her thoughts from the dead to fix them on the necessity of providing for the living. Until the burial the sympathizing neighbors took upon themselves to perform the usual work of the household, such as cooking the necessary food, &c., and one or another came in at times to look after the children, to see that nothing was neglected for their comfort, and to console the lone woman in her affliction.

But this could not last long. It was better it should not, but that things should, as quickly as possible, resume their usual and natural course.

When the hour for the ceremony arrived, Mr. Armstrong sent round his carriage to convey the mourning family in the melancholy procession, while he and Faith, as the distance was short, proceeded on foot to the house. It was situated on a sandy beach, near the Wootuppocut, and a considerable company had collected together before their arrival.

Poor Josiah's generosity and good-nature had made him a general favorite, and his acquaintances had pretty generally turned out to render to him the last testimony of affection it would ever be in their power to pay. The house was too small to hold all present, so that besides the relations, very few except females were admitted.

Faith entered, but her father, though courteously invited in, and in consequence of his connection with the accident that caused the death, considered in some wise a mourner, preferred to remain on the outside.

Meanwhile, during the preparations in the house, groups without were scattered round, engaged, in low voices, in various conversation.

In some, expressions of condolence and pity were let fall for the condition of the widow and her family; others descanted on the good qualities of the deceased; others debated on what might be the feelings of Armstrong, and wondered what he would give the widow. They were all acquainted with his generosity, and doubted not of his desire to repair, so far as he was able, the misfortune with which the more ignorant would insist upon connecting him as in some sort, a cause.

For this reason, some of them stole sly glances, from time to time, at his face, wis.h.i.+ng not to be observed, as if they expected to read therein his purposes. But Armstrong, his eyes fastened on the ground, and absorbed in his own reflections, was unconscious of the attention he attracted. So lost was he, indeed, in his own thoughts, as not to observe many of the nods and greetings directed to him.

Presently low tones, as of one speaking, were heard issuing from the house, and those standing outside gathered round the open door, to listen to the prayer of the minister. It seems to be taken for granted that on such occasions the prayer must occupy some considerable time, whether because a short one would be irreverent to the Being to whom it is addressed, or disrespectful to the sorrowing friends, or because the mind cannot sooner be impressed with due solemnity. Hence it follows that as these prayers are extempore, and the abilities and taste of those who offer them of different degrees, they are of various shades of merit. Seldom is one made in which the canons of good taste are not violated, and some are not compelled to smile who ought to weep. The reverend gentleman who conducted the services, was not insensible to what was expected from him, and determined "to improve" the mournful event to the benefit of the living. After alluding to the grat.i.tude his hearers ought to feel at not being thus hurried, like poor Sill, without time for preparation, before the bar of Judgment, who, however, he hoped, was prepared, and in order to heighten the feeling of thankfulness, contrasting the light and liberty of life with the darkness of the grave (as if the spirit were confined there), he ran through the usual common places, speaking with an a.s.sured conviction, as if the country beyond the grave were as familiar to him as the streets of the town. With a tedious particularity he then entreated the divine blessing upon the members of the bereaved family, mentioning them by name, beginning with the widow, to whom succeeded the children, two boys, one of four, and the other of two years of age, followed by fathers, and mothers, and brothers, and sisters to an indefinite extent, until the compliment was duly paid to all who were supposed to have any claim to it. The prayer was closed very much as it began, with a reference to the suddenness of the death, which was treated as a warning sent for their benefit, and a hope that it might be laid to heart, and induce sinners to fly from the wrath to come. The usual time being now consumed, the minister who had labored hard, and not without sundry hesitations and coughings to accomplish his task, brought it to a conclusion, and announced an appropriate hymn. There was something sadly sweet and touching in the homely words and simple tune, sung in low and suppressed tones, as if they were afraid of disturbing the slumbers of the dead.

Upon the conclusion of the hymn, the person who acted as master of the ceremonies went to the door, and, addressing those gathered round, said that all who desired might now have an opportunity to see the corpse. Several accepted the invitation, and among others, Mr.

Armstrong.

The coffin was placed upon a table in the centre of the room, with a part of the lid turned back on hinges, so as to leave the face exposed. The former friends and acquaintances of the dead man, giving place and succeeding to one another, came, looked, and pa.s.sed out again, moving lightly on tip-toe solemnized and subdued by the awful mystery of death. As they came in and left the house, they could see through an open door in an adjoining room the weeping widow in full mourning, with her little boys on either side, and the relations seated round in chairs.

All having gazed upon the corpse who wished, preparations now commenced for s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g down the lid of the coffin. The sobs and sounds of grief which had proceeded from the room where the mourners were collected, and which had been, as by an effort, suppressed during the prayer and hymn, now broke forth afresh.

"O, do not hinder me," poor Mrs. Sill was heard to say; "it's the only chance I shall have in this world."

"I guess you'd better not," said a voice, trying to dissuade her.

"It's no use; and, then, before all them strangers."

"I will see Josiah," she exclaimed, rising from her seat, and putting aside the well-meaning hand that strove to detain her. "Who has a better right to take the last look than me?"

With these words, her c.r.a.pe veil thrown in disorder back upon her shoulders, her eyes red and swollen with crying, and tears streaming down her cheeks, she advanced towards the body, all respectfully making room for her as she approached.

We are not a very demonstrative people. The inhabitants of New England are taught, from an early age, the lesson of self-control. They do not wear in their bosoms windows into which any eyes may look. It is considered unmanly for men to exhibit excessive feeling, and perhaps the sentiment has an influence even on the softer s.e.x. The conduct of Mrs. Sill was unusual, and excited surprise; but it is difficult to stem strong pa.s.sion and it had its way.

She moved quickly up to the table, and threw her arms around the coffin, resting her cheek on that of her husband, while the hot tears ran in large drops down its marble surface. One who thought he had a right to interfere, whispered in her ear, and took hold of an arm to draw her away, but she turned fiercely upon him.

"Who are you," she said, "to separate me from my husband? Go--I will keep him as long as I please."

The person, seeing her determination, desisted; and all looked on in mournful silence.

"O, Josiah," she sobbed, "who'd have thought it! The best, the kindest husband a woman ever had. O! how sorry I am for every hard word I ever spoke to you. And you so good--never to find fault when I scolded.

I was wicked--and yet all the time I loved you so. Did you know it, Josiah? If you were back again, how different I would treat you! The fire should always be burning bright, and the hearth clean, when you came back cold from fis.h.i.+ng, and you should never, never ask me a second time for anything. But you don't hear me. What's the use of crying and lamenting? Here," she said, raising herself up, and addressing those next her, "take him, and put him in his grave."

She staggered and fainted, and would have fallen, had she not been caught in the arms of sympathizing friends, who removed her into the adjoining chamber, and applied the usual restoratives. This caused some little delay, but, after a time, the person who had a.s.sumed upon himself the arrangements of the funeral, entered, preceding the four bearers, whose hats he took into his own hands, to restore them to the owners when the coffin should be placed in the hea.r.s.e--a plain black wagon, with black cloth curtains--waiting at the door. The coffin was taken up by them, and deposited accordingly; after which, they took their places in front of the hea.r.s.e, while the four pall-bearers ranged themselves on each side. At a signal from the director of the ceremony, the whole moved forward, leaving s.p.a.ce for the carriages to approach the door. Mr. Armstrong's carriage was driven up, and the widow and children, with two or three females, were a.s.sisted in. Then followed a few other vehicles, with the nearest relatives, after whom came others, as they pleased to join. A large number of persons had previously formed themselves into a procession before the hea.r.s.e, headed by the minister, who would have been accompanied by a physician, had one a.s.sisted in making poor Sill's pa.s.sage to the other world easier.

The mournful cortege wound slowly up a hill to the burying-ground--a piece of broken land on the top. At the time of which we write, the resting-place of the departed of Hillsdale presented a different appearance from what it does now. Wild, neglected, overgrown with briers, it looked repulsive to the living, and unworthy of the dead.

The tender sentiment which a.s.sociates beauty with the memory of our friends, and loves to plant the evergreen and rose around their graves, seemed then not to have touched the bosoms of our people. A pleasing change has succeeded. The briars have been removed, trees planted, and when necessary to be laid out, new burial-ground spots have been selected remarkable for attractiveness and susceptibility of improvement. The brook has been led in and conducted in tortuous paths, as if to lull with a soft hymn the tired sleepers, and then expanded into a fairy lake, around which the weeping willow lets fall its graceful pendants. The white pine, the various species of firs, the rhododendron, mixed with the maple, the elm, and the tulip tree, have found their way into the sacred enclosure. The reproach of Puritanic insensibility is wiped out. Europe may boast of prouder monuments, but she has no burial-places so beautiful as some of ours.

Pere la Chaise is splendid in marble and iron, but the loveliness of nature is wanting. Sweet Auburn, and Greenwood, and Laurel Hill are peerless in their mournful charms.

The coffin was lowered into the grave in silence. No solemn voice p.r.o.nounced the farewell "ashes to ashes, dust to dust." The ceremonies were concluded. The minister took off his hat, and addressing the bystanders, some of whom, respectfully imitating his example, raised the coverings from their heads, thanked them in the name of the afflicted family for this last tribute of regard. The procession was formed again, and slowly returned to the house, leaving the grave-digger to shovel in the gravel and complete his task.

As Mr. Armstrong and Faith walked home together, but few words were exchanged between them. Each was absorbed in reflection upon the scene just witnessed. In Faith's mind it was solemn, but devoid of gloom.

With the hopefulness of health and youth, gleams of suns.h.i.+ne played over the grave. She looked beyond, and hoped and trusted.

But with her father it was different. Had it not been for him Sill might have been alive and well. He had made the wife a widow and her children orphans. He had introduced weeping and wailing into a happy home. But this was a slight calamity, and hardly worthy of a thought in comparison with another. The words of the minister, that the victim had been hurried to his sentence without time for preparation recurred with a feeling of horror. It was he through whose instrumentality Sill had been thrust into tormenting but undestroying flames. Better that he had never been born. Better that he had been strangled in the hour of his birth.

With thoughts like these, this unhappy man, whose heart was the seat of all the virtues, tormented himself. It seemed sometimes strange that people did not point their fingers at him: that he was not arrested for the murder: that he was permitted to walk abroad in the suns.h.i.+ne. His mind, unknown to those about him, unknown to himself, was hovering on the confines of insanity. Only a spark, perhaps, was necessary to light a conflagration. Alas! that one so good, so n.o.ble, should be a victim of destiny. But we forbear to intrude further into reflections alike miserable and insane.

Mr. Armstrong felt more composed the next day, and in the afternoon, accompanied by Faith, went to the dwelling of the widow. They found her engaged in ordinary family affairs. The duties to the living must be respected. To neither rich nor poor does sorrow furnish an excuse for their neglect. Let the mind find something to occupy it, the hand something to do. Thus do we become sooner reconciled to those dispensations of Providence at which our weakness, and ignorance, and presumption rebel.

The poor woman received them kindly, and offered chairs. Faith took into her lap the younger child from the floor on which it was sitting, gnawing a crust of brown bread, and began to talk to him. The round eyes of the boy expressed his astonishment, but as he looked into the loving face and heard more of the sweet voice, the alarm he at first felt at the approach of the stranger subsided, and he smiled with the confiding innocence which children return to the caresses of those who are fond of them.

"Jimmy doesn't know what a loss he's had," said Mrs. Sill.

"Jimmy will grow up to take care of his mother bye and bye, and repay her for some of her trouble, won't he?" said Faith, addressing the boy.

"O, Josiah and Jimmy are my only comfort," said the widow--"now that he's gone. I don't know what I should do without them, I'm sure."

Mr. Armstrong had called the elder boy, Josiah, to his side, and the little fellow had quickly become familiar enough to play with his gold watch-chain. Seeing it pleased the child, he took the watch and held it to his ear, at which the countenance of the boy became radiant with delight. "O, Jimmy," he cried, "it talks."

Mr. Armstrong released the watch into the hands of Josiah, who ran with it to his brother.

"He will drop it," exclaimed Mrs. Sill, starting forward, taking the watch from the hands of the disappointed boy, and offering it to Mr.

Armstrong.

"Keep it," he said, "for Josiah, to a.s.sociate me, when he grows up, with his father's death."

"You don't mean to give away your gold watch?" said Mrs. Sill, still holding it out towards him.

"Yes, Mrs. Sill," said Mr. Armstrong, "I intended it for him: I would give him all I have if I could thereby restore his father to life."

This observation renewed in full force the sorrow of the poor woman.

She sank back into a chair, and covering her face with her ap.r.o.n, sobbed and wept bitterly.

Faith looked at her father with an expression which seemed to say--do not refer to the cause of her grief. Armstrong understood the appeal, but he had that in his mind which was unknown to his daughter, and after a pause he proceeded.

"I have more property than I deserve, and what better use can I put it to than give it to the deserving? You will find in that," he continued, handing a paper to the widow, "what will ent.i.tle you to a little income during your life. I hope it will enable you to take better care of your children."

Mrs. Sill took the paper mechanically, and gazed upon without opening it or imagining the extent of the gift. She kept turning it round and round in her fingers, as if not knowing what to do with it.

"Everybody knows you're a kind man, and as generous as you're rich, Mr. Armstrong;" at last she said, "But I guess I shant want anything long in this world."

"I hope you may live long yet," said Mr. Armstrong, "for the sake of the little boys."