Bloomington herald. [volume] (Bloomington, I. T. [Iowa]) 1840-1849, 1845-01-17
From the United States Gazette.
II Mother at Her Chil1ps Craze.

we were leaning against gateway. and
concentrating all these silent teachings around
US, when the sound Of many footballs aroused
Us from cur reverie. We looked Up, and
small funeral procession was close at hand, di.
TectIng lis course toward the place where we
stood, which was, indeed, the entrance To a
burying ground.
-Four lads were bearing along little coffin,
behind which followed the parents of the de.
ceased, and few relatives. II is better to
go TO the house of mournihg,' says the Scrip
ture, but as we had no invitation thi,hcr. we
joined the little train. and went into the civ
Of the dead. The procession paused, and
gathered round a small grave, and the custom.
airy assistants took the coffin. and lowered it
into the marrow huuse appointed unto all.'-
No Office was said. no clergyman was a, hand
TO apply the seal Of instruction 10 the scftened
henrt-to beguile the thoughts of the mourn.
ers ftom the object before them to the con,em.
p'aiion Of the probable abode of the better pur.
ion Of wha, they had loved-or 10 make each
Of the parents say, with the monarch mourner
Of old. i shall go unto him, but he shall not
come again unto me-
When the lines and other apparatus were
moved from the grave, the bereaved parents
stepped forward 10 look down into the narrow
place. and take last farewell of their little
enc! The hardened features of the father were
distorted by anguish; and he applied his hand.
kerchief TO his eyes, which seemed unused to
tears. The mother was then led forward
There was less Of distortion on her features.
She gricved much, but she wept; and those
tears were for blessings. She leaned over
the edge of the grave, and looked far down
upon the unadorned coffin Of her child. We
could see when her eye first metit. sensa-
ton Of sudden pain was evident for moment
IN her face but it passed away, and moth
er's grief and a mothers tears were INDUCED.
The friend who had conducted her ,hi,her,
and sustained her there, then quietly Withdrew
her from the position; and just as she was
turning away, we saw a sudden disturbance
OF her features, and heard her scream. The
husband was at once at her side. Pointing
down into the grave she said, with shudder.
There is water there-cold water!!'
The li,le train walked slowly away from
the graveyard. The mourners were too poor
and too humble 10 induce large procession,
aud that procession was too small to excite
much ilRp lIiyanne Water had, indeed collected
therein. and being displaced by the coffin, i,
seemed in larger quantities than it really was.
The poor mother had, of necessity, yielded to
the death of her child. In a little time, she
had consented to bury the dead out of her
sight, and she had wound up her feelings TO
endure, with only customary expressions of
sorrow, the deprivation, and the last scene
that shut forever from her sight the child she
had BONE and nurtured. She had schooled
heIselfto contemplation of the darkness of
the grave, and the earthly covering of her
child, but she was not prepared for the un.
seemliaess Of the water. A sensation of cold
ness, worse than that Of the grave, came over
her, and for moment, she felt as if her little
one was to be sensible, amid its decay, TO the
discomforis Of wa,ery grave. Let none
smile At this apprehension. A mother who
has lost her child, will not.
The evening sun poured its yellow beams
uP4n The heap Of earth beside the grave, and
iheparlicles of moisture that yet hung upon
hesIods gis.ened with prismatic !us:re, as
theF dropped upon the coffin Of the little inno-
ceR.