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
"Walcome him yoursal!" she replied; "I hae no the time. I maun get his
dry claes, and het his parritch; and that's the best walcome I can gie
him." And so, perhaps, the husband thought, too.
And now, what was there more to do? The bodies of Captain H---- and
his little son had sunk in seventy fathom deep of water. If, in their
hidden currents and movements they cast their victims aloft to the
surface, all well; if not, no human hand could reach them. There was
nothing to do! Two beings had ceased to exist, who, as far as regarded
the consciousness and sympathies of the whole party, had never existed
at all before. There had been no influence upon them in their lives,
there was no blank to them in their deaths. They had witnessed a
dreadful tragedy; they knew that she who had risen that morning a
happy wife and mother was now widowed and childless, with a weight of
woe upon her, and a life of mourning before her; but there were no
forms to observe, no rites to prepare; nothing necessarily to
interfere with one habit of the day, or to change one plan for the
morrow. It was only a matter of feeling; a great only, it is true;
but, as with every thing in life, from the merest trifle to the most
momentous occurrence, the matter varied with the individual who felt.
All pitied, some sympathized, but few ventured to help. Some wished
themselves a hundred miles off, because they could not help her;
others wished the same, because she distressed them; and the solitary
back room, hidden from all view of the lake, to which the sufferer had
been home, after being visited by a few well-meaning or curious women,
was finally deserted by all save the kind lady we have mentioned, and
a good-natured maid-servant, the drudge of the hotel, who came in
occasionally to assist.
We have told the tale exactly as it occurred; the reader knows both
plot and conclusion: and now there only remains to say something of
the ways of human sorrow, and something, too, of the ways of human
goodness.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account