“Friend Stephen’s death,” he began, “calleth to mind a verse often sculptured in the old church-yard in Leicestershire, a verse satisfying the soul with the vanity of this life, and turning our eyes to the call from God which is to come. It toucheth not the vexations of the world which it were vain to deny are ever present. You carry it in your memory mayhap, Mistress Remembrance?” the stone-master interrupting himself asked, suddenly appealing to a sister of Master Kelsey. Mistress Remembrance, an elderly spinster whose lover having in their youth taken the great journey to New York, and crossed the Devil’s Stepping-Stones--which before the memory of man some netherworld force laid an entry of Manhattan Island--had never again returned to the Litchfield Hills--Mistress Remembrance recalled the verses, and also her brother, Master Stephen’s, sonorous repetition of them. In this way it came about that the mourning family determined they should be engraven. And there the lines stand to-day in the hills’ beautiful air--far more than a century since the hour when Mistress Remembrance and the stone-cutter joined the celestial choir in which Master Stephen was that very evening singing. But another headstone-- “With uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture decked”-- quite outdoes Master Kelsey’s in strange English phrase. It reads: “Michel son of John Spencer died Jan ye 24^{th} 1756 in y^e 10^{th} year of his age. Death Conquers All Both young and Old Tho’ ne’er so wise Discreet and Bold In helth and Strength this youth did Die in a moment without one Cry.” And still another perpetuates the record of the same family: In Memory of Mr John Spencer Who Died June y^{e} 24^{th} 1780 in the 70^{th} Year of his Age In Memory of Submit Spencer Daughter of Mr John and Mrs Mary Spencer Who Died Nov^{br} y^{e} 21^{th} 1755 in y^{e} 1^{st} Year of her Age Oh Cruel Death to fill this Narrow space In yonder House Made a vast emty place Was the child called “Submit” because born a woman! Or did the parents embody in the name their own spiritual history of resignation to the eternal powers?--“to fill this narrow space, in yonder house made a vast empty place.” Farther up the slope of this God’s Acre a shaft standing high in the soft light mourns the hazards of our passage through the world. In Memory of Mr. Jeduthun Goodwin who Died Feb 13^{th} 1809 Aged 40 Years Also Mrs. Eunice his Wife who died August 6^{th} 1802 Aged 33 Years Dangers stand thick through all the Ground To Push us to the Tomb And fierce diseases Wait around To hurry Mortals home