“There was his double red mark down the page; and I knelt down
and read, and he repeated with me, ‘For ourselves and our
country, O gracious God, we thank Thee, that, notwithstanding
our manifold transgressions for Thy holy laws, Thou hast
continued to us Thy marvellous kindness,’—and so to the end of
that thanksgiving.
“Then he turned to the end of the same book, and I read the
words more familiar to me: ‘Most heartily we beseech Thee with
Thy favor to behold and bless Thy servant, the President of the
United States, and all others in authority,’—and the rest of
the Episcopal collect. ‘Danforth,’ said he, ‘I have repeated
those prayers night and morning, it is now fifty-five years.’
And then he said he would go to sleep.
“He bent me down over him and kissed me; and he said, ‘Look in
my Bible, Danforth, when I am gone.’ And I went away.
“But I had no thought it was the end. I thought he was tired
and would sleep. I knew he was happy and I wanted him to be
alone.
“But in an hour, when the doctor went in gently, he found
Nolan had breathed his life away with a smile. He had something
pressed close to his lips. It was his father’s badge of the
Order of the Cincinnati.
“We looked in his Bible, and there was a slip of paper at the
place where he had marked the text:—
“‘They desire a country, even a heavenly: wherefore God is not
ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a
city.’
“On this slip of paper he had written:—
“‘Bury me in the sea; it has been my home, and I love it. But
will not some one set up a stone for my memory at Fort Adams or
at Orleans, that my disgrace may not be more than I ought to
bear? Say on it:—
“‘_In Memory of_
“‘PHILIP NOLAN,
“‘_Lieutenant in the Army of the United States_.
“‘He loved his country as no other man has loved her, but no
man deserved less at her hands.’”
THE FOREMAN
By Stewart Edward White
A man is one thing; a man _plus_ his work is another, entirely different.
You can learn this anywhere, but in the lumber woods best of all.
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