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
Grief falls differently on different hearts; some must vent it, others
can not. The coldest will be the most unnerved, the tenderest the most
possessed; there is no rule. As for this poor lady, hers was of that
sudden and extreme kind for which insensibility is at first mercifully
provided; and it came to her, and yet not entirely--suspending the
sufferings of the mind, but not deadening all the sensation of the
body; for she shivered and shuddered with that bloodless cold which
kept her pale, numb, and icy, like one in the last hours before death.
A large fire was lighted, warm blankets were wrapped round her, but
the cold was too deep to be reached; and the kind efforts made to
restore animation were more a relief to her attendants than to her.
And yet Miss Campbell stopped sometimes from the chafing of the hands,
and let those blue fingers lie motionless in hers, and looked up at
that wan face with an expression as if she wished that the eyes might
never open again, but that death might at once restore what it had
just taken. For some hours no change ensued, and then it was gradual;
the hands were withdrawn from those that held them, and first laid,
and then clenched together; deep sighs of returning breath and
returning knowledge broke from her; the wrappers were thrown off,
first feebly, and then restlessly. There were no dramatic startings,
no abrupt questionings; but, as blood came back to the veins, anguish
came back to the heart. All the signs of excessive mental oppression
now began, a sad train as they are, one extreme leading to the other.
Before, there had been the powerlessness of exertion, now, there was
the powerlessness of control; before she had been benumbed by
insensibility, now, she was impelled as if bereft of sense. Like one
distracted with intense bodily pain, her whole frame seemed strained
to endure. The gentlest of voices whispered comfort, she heard not;
the kindest of arms supported her, she rested not. There was the
unvarying moan, the weary pacing, the repetition of the same action,
the measurement of the same distance, the body vibrating as a mere
machine to the restless recurrence of the same thought.
We have said that every outer sign of woe was there--all but that
which great sorrows set flowing, but the greatest dry up--she shed no
tears! Tears are things for which a preparation of the heart is
needful; they are granted to anxiety for the future, or lament for the
past. They flow with reminiscences of our own, or with the example of
others; they are sent to separations we have long dreaded, and to
disappointments we can not forget; they come when our hearts are
softened, or when our hearts are wearied; but, in the first amazement
of unlooked-for woe, they find no place: the cup that is suddenly
whelmed over lets no drop of water escape.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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