The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. XX. No. 1011, May 13, 1899 — John Shaqi
The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. XX. No. 1011, May 13, 1899Various
General
The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. XX. No. 1011, May 13, 1899
Various
Children's literature -- Periodicals
This was the only approach to a complaint which passed those patient
lips. But the strength of which he spoke was that of the indomitable
will, not of the shattered body, for already life was ebbing fast, and
the shadows were closing around him.
Yet, surely for him, beyond the shadows, waited a Light Divine.
He met the last enemy as he had met his earthly foes, as indeed he
had ofttimes faced the former, with unshaken composure and without
dread, no more startled by the summons than if he had been called upon
to cross the English Channel. And, as always, his thoughts were for
others, not for himself.
“Everything François says—is right,” he told them. “I have the greatest
confidence in him.”
Some grateful words were addressed to the surgeons, thanking them for
their efforts to give him ease. He spoke kindly to two more of his
Aides-de-camp who came in. One of these was Captain James Stanhope,
brother to Charles Stanhope, killed that day, and to Lady Hester
Stanhope, Moore’s friend. Stanhope’s eyes met those of the dying
soldier, and Moore said distinctly—
“Stanhope—remember me to your sister.”
This was his last utterance. He sank into silence, pressing the hand of
Anderson closely to his side. A few minutes later, calmly and without a
struggle, the grand spirit triumphed over death, and passed away.
And in that still chamber might be heard the sound of smothered
convulsive sobbing. The younger officers present broke utterly down,
while the elder men looked on with bowed heads, scarcely better able
to restrain their anguish. Colonel Anderson still knelt, supporting
the lifeless head, gazing, with blanched and parted lips, into the
quiet face, which for twenty-one years had been the centre and the
illumination of his being, his look of woe being beyond the power of
words to describe. On the other side of the mattress, one in sorrow
with all these mourning Englishmen, was the faithful and devoted
François. French by birth, he cared for little in the world besides
this idolised master, over whom he despairingly hung, his hands wrung
together, his face matching in pallor those placid features.
For one of the noblest of men was gone from their midst that hour; and
a heavy shadow fell upon the victorious British Army.
Upon this sad scene came another Aide-de-camp, George Napier, too late
for any of those last words which would have been to him a lifelong
treasure. Twenty years afterwards, when describing what he had seen as
he entered, he wrote in still unconquered pain—
“That eye which was wont to penetrate the inmost soul was glazed in
death. That manly graceful form, the admiration of the Army, lay
stretched, a lifeless corpse. The great spirit had quitted its earthly
habitation. All around was sad and gloomy. Moore was dead!”
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