The Story of the Atlantic TelegraphField, Henry M. (Henry Martyn)
History
The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph
Field, Henry M. (Henry Martyn)
Transatlantic cables
But God's ways are not as our ways. Before many months the clouds began
to gather. The next summer, when the family were all at their country
home, sickness cast its shadow over their dwelling, which grew more
grave till November 23d, when the leaves were falling from the trees
before their door, the mother of this large household breathed her last.
Two months later the eldest daughter, who was also the eldest child of
the family, followed. These repeated blows fell heavy on the
affectionate heart of the bereaved husband and father, and when to these
were added other sorrows still, it seemed as if the clouds were piled
one upon another till they darkened all the horizon. The winter was a
gloomy one, from its loneliness and its many causes of sadness. But with
the returning spring the grass grew green again, and the trees put forth
their leaves, and it seemed as if the new life of nature must put life
into the heart of man: and when he removed to the country, and began to
drive about as of old among the familiar haunts, the beautiful scenery
for a time delighted his eye, and the change of air brought a touch of
the old spirit, as if perchance his strength were about to return. But
it was only a momentary flush, and he soon took to his room, where, as
he looked from his windows, and saw the sun going down over the hills
beyond the Hudson, it could only remind him that for him the sun of life
was about to set forever. Fair was the world without but desolate was
the home within, since she who had made its brightness was gone; and
here on the 12th of July 1892, the end came.
It was a beautiful morning, and the windows were open, through which
the soft summer air floated into the chamber of death, where his three
brothers, all that were left of his father's family, with those of his
own household, were round his bed, watching the dear pale face. Thus
surrounded and beloved to the last, he ceased to breathe.
Two days later a large company from the country round and from the city
gathered at Ardsley, and stood on the lawn and the slopes that lead up
to the noble trees that shade the dwelling, as Bishop Potter read the
blessed words, "I am the Resurrection and the Life, saith the Lord: he
that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live."
The next day we bore him away from his home, and from the great city
where he had passed his busy life, back to the quiet valley where he was
born, and laid him down in the shadow of the encircling hills.[A] "Bury
me there," he had said, "by the side of my beloved wife and by my father
and mother." The earth closed over him, and all his struggles and his
sorrows were buried in the grave.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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