Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. XXVI, July 1852, Vol. VVarious
History
Harper's New Monthly Magazine, No. XXVI, July 1852, Vol. V
Various
American literature -- Periodicals; Civilization -- Periodicals; Culture -- Periodicals
There was crowding on the funeral day beside the road that led to Lady
Tempest's. People came trooping from far and near, with a company of
boys belonging to Harrow School, thoughtless, and amused with the
strangeness of a spectacle which might rather have excited feelings of
sorrow and commiseration. First came a coffin of the humblest kind,
containing the emaciated corpse of one who had possessed ample
wealth--a woman to whom had been committed the magnificent gift of
life, fair talents, and health, with faculties for appropriating each
to the glory of Him who gave them, but who, on dying, had no soothing
retrospect of life, no thankfulness for having been the instrument of
good to others, no hope beyond the grave. Behind that coffin, as
chief-mourner, followed the brother, unbeloved, and heedless of all
duties either to God or man--a miserable being; the possessor of many
thousands, yet too sordid to purchase even decent mourning. It was
only by the importunate entreaties of his relatives that he consented
to unbind the hay-bands with which his legs were covered, and to put
on a second-hand pair of black worsted stockings. His coat was of a
whitish brown color, his waistcoat had been black about the middle of
the last century, and the covering of his head was a nondescript kind
of wig, which had descended to him as an heirloom. Thus attired, and
followed and attended by a crowd whom curiosity had drawn together,
went on old Daniel and the coffin of his sister toward the place of
its sojourn. When there, the horse's girth gave way, for they were
past all service, and the brother was suddenly precipitated into his
sister's grave; but the old man escaped unhurt. The service proceeded;
and slowly into darkness and forgetfulness went down the remains of
his miserable counterpart.
One friend, however, remained to the miser--and this was Lady Tempest.
That noble-minded woman had given a home to the sister, and sought by
every possible means to alleviate her sufferings; now also, when the
object of her solicitude was gone, she endeavored to inspire the
brother with better feelings, and to ameliorate his miserable
condition. This kindly notice by Lady Tempest, while it soothed his
pride, served also to lessen the sufferings and sorrows of his
declining age; and so far did her representations prevail, that,
having given him a comfortable bed, she actually induced him to throw
away the sack on which he slept for years. Nay, more, he took into his
service a man of the name of Griffith, and allowed him an ample supply
of food, but neither cat nor dog purred or watched beneath his roof;
he had no kindliness of heart to bestow upon them, nor occasion for
their services, for he still continued to live on crusts and
fragments; even when Lady Tempest sent him better fare, he could
hardly be prevailed to partake of it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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