Rutland herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1823-1847, 1844-12-12
From The United States Ga.oHe.
A MOTHER AT tIrR CHILp's GRAVE.


We were leaning against galway, and
contemplating all these silen, teaching a.
round u.s. when the sound Of many foot.
falls aroused us from the rcverie. We
BOXED up, and small funeral procession
Syas close at hand, directing It's course
towards the place where we stood wA,ch
was, indeed, the entrance 10 u burying
ground.
Four lads were bearing along lutte cot.
fin, behind which followed the parents of the
deceased, and few relatives. 1T is better
to 60 TO the house Of mourning" says the
scripture but as we had no invitation
tbither, we joined the itlc train, and went
into the city ofthe dead. The procession
paused, and gathered around small grave,
and the customary assistants took the coffin,
and lowered ii into the marrow house ap.
pointed unto all" No office was said, no
clergyman was at hand 10 apply the seal of
instruction to the softencd heart, to lead
away the thoughts OF the mourners from
objects before them to the contemplation of
the probable abode ofihe better portion of
what they had loved, or 10 make each of
the parents say, with the monarch mourner
of old, II shall go unto him, but he shall not
come again unto me-"
When the lid and other apparatus was
moved from the grave, the bercaved parents
stepped forward TO look down into the mar
row place, and take a last farewell of their
little one The hardened features Of the
father were distorted by anguish, and he ap.
piled his handkerchief to his eyes, which
seemed unused to tears. The mother was
then led forward. There was less Of distor-
ton on her features. She greved much
bu, she wept, and those tears were for bless
ings. She leaned over the edge Of the
grave, and looked far down upon the I'M
adorned coffin of her child We could see
, when her eyes first met it, sensation Of
sudden pain was evident for moment IN
her face, but i, passed away,& mothers grief
| and mothers tears were INDUCED. The
friend who had conducted her ihither, and
sustained her there, then quietly withdrew
ho' s--'-' 49, l.
turning away, we saw sudden disturbance
of her features, and heard her scream. The
husband was at once by her hcIside. Point
ing down into the grave, she said with a
shudder 'there is water there-cod water. !"
The little train walked slowly away
from the grave yard The mourners were
too poor and too humble to induce a
large procession, and that procession was
too small to attract much attention. We
looked down into the grave, and some wa
ter had indeed, collected therein, 81 being..dis
placed by the oflin, il seemed in larger guam
iity than 1t really was. The poor mother
had OF necessity, yielded to the death o
her child. In little time, she had consen
} ted to bury the dead out of her sight, ant
she wound up her feelings to endure, witt
only customary expressions of sorrow, the
deprivation, and the last scene that shu
forever from her sight the child she ha'
borne and nurtured. She had schooled hen
self to contemplation Of the darkness
+ of the grave, and the earthly covering c
her child, but she was not prepared for tn
unseemlness of the wafer. A sensation Q
7 GOODNESS, worse than that of the grave, cam
r over her, and, for a moment, she felt a
!, if her little one was to be sensible, amid ii
s decay. to the discomforts of watery gray,
. Let none smile at this apprehension.
1 mother. who has lost her child, will not.
n The evening sun poured its yellow beam
d upon the heap Of earth beside the grave
5 and the particles Of moisture that yet hun
). upon the clods glistening with prismatic lus
n ture, as they dropped upon the coffin Of tn
e little innocent.