Ancestors: A NovelAtherton, Gertrude Franklin Horn
General
Ancestors: A Novel
Atherton, Gertrude Franklin Horn
British -- United States -- Fiction; California -- Fiction; England -- Fiction; Love stories; Political fiction
"As soon as the letter was posted I experienced a certain measure of
peace, having done all I could. Nevertheless, to sit still was
impossible, and I set out for a walk. It was one of those brilliant
clear crisp days with which that high plateau can put even California to
the blush. I saw that all the tram-cars were crowded, and that carriage
loads of people had flower pieces. I asked if it were a Feiertag and was
reminded that it was the 1st of November, All Saints' Day; Munich was on
its way to the several cemeteries to decorate the graves. I had seen All
Saints' Day in Venice and felt a mild curiosity to compare the Bavarian
festival with the Italian. So I walked out to the great Alt Sud Friedhof
where so many celebrities are buried, and where I fancied the scene
would be most complete. When I arrived at the entrance the frames that
had been set up in the outer court were almost denuded of the flower
pieces the countrywomen had brought in to sell, but I bought a wreath at
the solicitation of a peasant in a picturesque head-dress, and followed
the crowd. The cemetery is on three sides of the entrance and enclosed
by a high brick wall. I stood a moment at the inner official entrance,
hardly knowing which way to turn; but seeing a number of staring people
in a corridor on my right that faced one great division of the cemetery,
I was turning into it mechanically when a policeman waved me back with
the information that the entrance was at the other end. But not until I
had seen, stared, and gasped. In an alcove was a figure, almost upright,
that, in the first dazed seconds I took to be a wax-work, but
immediately knew to be a dead woman. As I almost ran out I recalled that
in Bavaria the dead are taken from the house within six hours, and are
kept in a public mortuary for three days, or until all danger of
premature interment is over.
"I do not think I should mind, particularly, seeing a ghost; I am sure
my mental curiosity would get the better of my unwilling flesh; but I
have a real horror of the corpse. I tried to forget the grotesque
exhibition I had stumbled upon, in the novel and interesting scene about
me. The long aisles of the cemetery were filled with well-dressed
people, some strolling, others decorating, all apparently enjoying
themselves. Almost all of the graves and monuments were bedecked, and
presented a most Elysian appearance with the masses of bright flowers,
the streamers of wide ribbon, the lighted lanterns, many of them antique
and beautiful, above all the tall flambeaux, whose flames looked white
and unearthly against the bright atmosphere. Above was a deep-blue sky
with those thick low masses of snow-white clouds one sees only in
Bavaria.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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