The Life of Charlotte Brontë — Volume 2Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn
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The Life of Charlotte Brontë — Volume 2
Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn
Brontë, Charlotte, 1816-1855; Novelists, English -- 19th century -- Biography
"Ere long the restlessness of approaching death appeared, and she
was borne to the sofa; on being asked if she were easier, she looked
gratefully at her questioner, and said, 'It is not YOU who can give me
ease, but soon all will be well, through the merits of our Redeemer.'
Shortly after this, seeing that her sister could hardly restrain her
grief, she said, 'Take courage, Charlotte; take courage.' Her faith
never failed, and her eye never dimmed till about two o'clock, when
she calmly and without a sigh passed from the temporal to the eternal.
So still, and so hallowed were her last hours and moments. There was
no thought of assistance or of dread. The doctor came and went two or
three times. The hostess knew that death was near, yet so little was the
house disturbed by the presence of the dying, and the sorrow of those
so nearly bereaved, that dinner was announced as ready, through the
half-opened door, as the living sister was closing the eyes of the dead
one. She could now no more stay the welled-up grief of her sister with
her emphatic and dying 'Take courage,' and it burst forth in brief but
agonising strength. Charlotte's affection, however, had another channel,
and there it turned in thought, in care, and in tenderness. There was
bereavement, but there was not solitude;--sympathy was at hand, and it
was accepted. With calmness, came the consideration of the removal of
the dear remains to their home resting-place. This melancholy task,
however, was never performed; for the afflicted sister decided to lay
the flower in the place where it had fallen. She believed that to do so
would accord with the wishes of the departed. She had no preference for
place. She thought not of the grave, for that is but the body's goal,
but of all that is beyond it.
"Her remains rest,
'Where the south sun warms the now dear sod, Where the ocean billows
lave and strike the steep and turf-covered rock.'"
Anne died on the Monday. On the Tuesday Charlotte wrote to her father;
but, knowing that his presence was required for some annual Church
solemnity at Haworth, she informed him that she had made all necessary
arrangements for the interment and that the funeral would take place so
soon, that he could hardly arrive in time for it. The surgeon who had
visited Anne on the day of her death, offered his attendance, but it was
respectfully declined.
Mr. Brontë wrote to urge Charlotte's longer stay at the seaside. Her
health and spirits were sorely shaken; and much as he naturally longed
to see his only remaining child, he felt it right to persuade her to
take, with her friend, a few more weeks' change of scene,--though
even that could not bring change of thought. Late in June the friends
returned homewards,--parting rather suddenly (it would seem) from each
other, when their paths diverged.
"July, 1849.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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