Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1854-10-05
THE OLD wIFE's KISS.

THE OLD WIFE'S KISS.
The funeral services were ended, and
as the voice of prayer ceased, tears
were hastily wiped off from wet cheeks,
and long-drawn sighs relieved suppress
sed and choking sobs, as the 'mourners'
prepared to take leave of the corpse
1t was an old man that lay there,
robed for the grave. More than three
score years had whitened those locks,
and furrowed that brow, and made
those stiff limbs weary of life's journey,
and all the more willing to lie down and
rest where WEAKNESS is no more suffered,
and infrmities are no longer burden.
The aged have but few to weep for
them when they die. The most of those
who would have mourned their loss
have gone to the grave before them;-
harps that would have sighed sad har-
monies are shattered and gone. And
the few who remain are looking cradle
ward, rather than graveward-to life's
opening; rather than to its closing goal;
are bound to, and living in the genera
ton rising, more than the generation de-
parting.
Youth and beauty have many admi-
rers while living-haye many mourners
when dying. Many fearful ones bend
over their cofined clay, many sad hearts
follow in their train. But age has few
admirers, few mourners.
This was an old man, and the circle
of mourners was small. Two children,
who had themselves passed the middle
of life, and who had children of their
own to care for, and to be cared for by
them. Besides these, and few friends
who had seen and visited him while
sick, and possibly had known him for
shed ear e4AssTt AssTst Tge JRG3 RG3ns others ahS sS
of this small company the old wife SEEM
ed to be the only heart mourner. 1t is
respectful for friends to be sad for few
minutes, till the service is performed,
and the hearse is out Of sight. 1t is
very proper and suitable for children,
who have outgrown the feryency and
affection Of youth, to shed tears when
an aged parent says farewell, and lies
down to quiet slumbers. Some regrets,
some recollection of the past, some
transitory grief, and the pangs are over.
Not always so. But often. how little
true genuine heart sorrow there isl
The old wife arose with difficulty
from her seat, and went to the coffin to
look her last look-to take her last fare
well. Through the fast falling tears she
gazed long and fondly down into that
pale, unconcious face. What did she
see there? Others saw nothing but the
rigid features Of the dead; she saw
more! In every wrinkle of that brow,
she read the history Of years, From
youth to manhood, from manhood to old
age; in Joy and sorrow, in sickness and
health-it was all there; when those
children, who had now outgrown the
sympathies Of childhood, were infants
lying on her bosom, and every year
since then-there it wasl To others,
those dull, mute monitors were unintel-
ligible; to her, they were the alphabet
of the heart, familiar as household
wordsi
And then the future! What will be-
come of me? What shall do now?'
She did not say so; she did not say any
thing, but she felt it. The prospect Of
the old wife is clouded. The home cir
Gle is broken, never TO be re-united;-
the visions of the bearth-stone are
scattered forever. Up to that hour
there was a home, to which the heart
always turned with fondness. But that
magic is sundered; the keystone of that
sacred arch has fallen, and now home is
no where this side of heaven! What
shall the old wife do now? Go and
live with her children-be pensioner
upon their kindness; where she may
be more of burden than blessing, so
at least she thinks? Or shall che ga
ther up the scattered fragments of that
broken arch, make them her temple and
her shrine, sit down in her chill solitude
beside its expiring fires and die? What
shall she do now?
They gently crowded her away from
the dead, and the undertaken came Tor
ward with the coffin lid in his hand. IL
is all right and Proper-of course IL!
must be done; but to the heart meurner
IL briuos kind of sbudder, thrill OF
aoonv AZ when the headsman comes
foyusrd with his a1el The undertaken
stood for a moment with decent proprie-
tv. not wishing 10 manifest rude haste,
but evidently desirous to be expeditions
as possible. Just as he was about to
close the coffin, the old wife TUNED
back, and STOPPING down, imprinted one
long, last kiss upon the cold lips Of her
dead husband, then staggered to her
seat, buried her face in her hands, and
the closing coffin, hid him from her
sight foreverl .t. ,.a
That kissi Fond token Of affection.