"Oh, Hugh held him up out of the water most of the time," said Bessie
quickly; "the mother told me that his little knitted shirt was
scarcely wet at all. I must certainly go East to see the child next
spring, now that his father is dead, I feel more at liberty to assist
Mrs. Stanly, and, between us, we are going to give little Hugh the
best education the country will allow."
"Is that you, Sibyl?" said Aunt Faith's voice within.
"Yes, aunt. Shall we come in?" said Mrs. Leslie, rising.
"No, dear, I will come out;" and Aunt Faith joined the group on the
piazza, taking her seat in an arm-chair.
"What a beautiful afternoon!" she said, "and how brilliant those
maple-leaves are! Have you seen the monument, John?"
"No," answered Mr. Leslie; "is it in place?"
"Yes, the work was all finished this morning, and Bessie and I went
over to look at it. Why not walk over now? We can all go, and these
lovely days cannot last long."
"I should like to go, John, if you have the time," said Sibyl.
"Yes; I can postpone the visit I intended to make. As Aunt Faith says,
these warm, still days cannot last long."
The cemetery was about half a mile distant, a forest glade sloping to
the lake, with a brook in a little ravine running through the centre.
But few graves were there, for the land was but newly consecrated to
its use, but the great forest-trees were old, and in the spring, wild
flowers grew everywhere, and wild birds sang in the foliage. Now, the
trees were dyed in scarlet and gold, and the colored leaves dropped
slowly down upon the ground, for the air was still and hazy with the
purple mists of Indian summer. Hugh's monument stood on a little
eminence overlooking the lake. It was of marble, a slender shaft
broken at the top, with a profusion of roses growing over the broken
place, carved in the marble with life-like fidelity, so that the stone
itself seemed to have blossomed. Below, on one side of the base was
Hugh's name and age, and on the opposite face was the sentence, "I
shall go to him, but he shall not return to me."
"I like it;" said Mr. Leslie, standing with uncovered head beside the
grassy mound; "it expresses the idea of the broken young life, and the
roses of hope, faith, and even joy which have grown up to cover the
place."
"It is appropriate that it stands here overlooking the lake," said
Sibyl. "Hugh was so fond of the water, and, on this very lake he lost
his life,--gave it up for the sake of others."
"And _I_ like the monument on account of the sentence," said Bessie,
who sat by the side of the grave arranging a bunch of autumn leaves.
"The monument is only raised to Hugh's earthly memory," said Aunt
Faith. "Hugh is not here; I never feel that I am nearer to him here
than at home. But I like to honor the place where his mortal body
lies, and I like to think when I die, those who love me will likewise
honor my grave."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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