The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1877-09-27
x, IOWA. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER n, 1877.
Pesthumous Affection.


/ pnathumous = aaefgor.
- -'-',--- -.
| Tbera ia a hind If lova which ravar
fairly eeer,s n r;ne, in this world tijI ~ .
object of = hoe qpne ~ anotb.s s., lon :,
as tbe nar.or nndowed with th;s' Inva re'
ms;ns a. tha t face of tke earth - ~ rer
son would hardly snsnect the er;stetce ten If
tho ,cve and har,1lv anv ON. eiae you'd
9th ~ Nosb;rr =, srasL ~ i So,,a f.,r
m at rerso,, "a rc5,,fort Nv 'tha iov;rc nertv
moth no r. naLa this woriS : niessanf !
nIace t0 stav IN be or sbe as fts csse
nav he has a sort Of vhrrartv - Iivn #
ho ~ sha chooan and fSat IL Nc ysholo
| of II
Rmt lot The ;ndiv;au.l denart from tb;e
scena and how nc welk;n r;ncai Won
wssnld think srch love never met with
su..h loss before. Won will imagine Won
neuer saw s,,cb aevot;on as th;a i;v;nr :
shows tn tbis dead and won ;onorantI1
n;tv tba desd who have rome from the or;
iovment ~ aucb lavish affection into the
| Hsrk negat;on ~ the crave
Thisioye this nostRumous affection. is
not confined to anv necnIiar form, If love !.
II Is found between husband and wife ON
one side or the other imnartiallv between
mother and son- father and dan rhter
| friend and friend Ali those family rela.
tives who love each other dearly hv letter
and ouarrel like cats. "a the ravinr ia
| when together share fbis sort of affection
between Them. sisters whose mntnal in
temner forhids anv neace j, the house
| when together idoi;ze each other with ali
sorts of tender remembrance of the yir.
| tuous and forpetfulness of the vicious in
their characters when the sea rolls between
them. mothers whose sons break their
hearts wien under the same roof
think snch sons snnernal heincs when
distance lends enchantment to thcir view
orandnarents who fidcet every moment
that their nosteritv is IN the house with
them think when the children have de-
narted that there never were such olori.
Gus children-till thew are back again !.
and husbands and wives who become nm,
utterably weary of each others fanlt find.
| inc and exaction day bv dav feel the sem
aration of absence to be an unnatural
THING. and vearn for each other-till thew
meet Absence weayes a halo round ali
| these heads. ana yery likely it is the
heads own fault if the halo disappears
into the idle and empty air of the com.
nonplace. And when the fiat of death
accents this halo by setting the seal of
perpetuity upon it. how much more ex.
traordinary it becomes. and how many
| saints of the family circle are canonizad
| worshiners, oninions dprinr life and
friends for whom thew never lifted finger
when living and in want. dead and ia.
nous. are. as the world is given to think.
| among the dearest nersonapes of their
ont them ., cries tbe father who scarcely
looked at his babies in life. and never
held them a whole hour of their little
wear. "He was a saint and a martvrln
cries the mother whose Incidence sanped
her SONS life. blood and laid him in a nre.
mature grave. "The fire has gone ont on
NV hearth p, sipbs the husband who new.
er spent an evening with his wife since
their bonevmoon What an angel Of
seIf-sacrifice she wasip saws the brother
whose sister has noured ont her life on
him till she has come to the end of the
measure.
| And thew are none of them consciously
hypocrites. They every one believe what
thew saw. Those Who 1uarreled with the
| living. having no longer ANYTHING to GUAR.
rel With tbe dead. are at liberty to see
them altogether in relation to the lovelier
side of their natures. and those that did
not take the mains to quarrel with them
miss the silent submission. the abiect sub
lection. of their shadows. Now and then.
| indeed. but only now and then. thought of
what has been and knowledge of what
night have been, together with the inev.
| liable pity that always wraps the dead as
much as their shroud, come in the shape
of remorse, and then this posthumous af-
fection becomes the suffering and pun
| ishment that it deserves to be.
| 1t is true that this remorse sometimes
visits us even in the instance of those
whom we loved tenderly and truly in life,
and for whom we did all we could to
make life sweet: we forget then the ag-
gravations and exasperations which we
endured, and only remember our own
lapse, the frown. the sneer, the sharp
word, the unkind act, that we would give
worlds to recall But that, although suf-
| fered as keenly and, perhaps, twice as en-
duringly, is q remorse with but the veri-
est trifie of foundation, when compared
with the foundation for the remorse of
those others, who, perhaps, never did any,
thing at all to insure happiness to those
that have left them, and who, ii they
have either conscience or common-sense,
are perfectly we'll aware of it. Yet, what
ever the foundation for it, this remorse of
theirs seldom maintains itself at any pitch
which would produce reformation in that
regard, for the nature that could infict
the original wrong is not a nature TO suf-
fer long on account of it. Quite other,
too, is the remorse of those who have
failed to secure happiness to the dead
through absorption in pressing affaits,
having always intended to do this and do
that when the time came, and who all at
once have been brought up suddenly
against the wall to find that time was no
more, and with whom suffering then goes
for companion during all the rest of life.
But all of this posthumous affection is,
in sooth, sort OF selfishness, sublimated
in some degree, perhaps, but none the less
as much selfisbness as any purely personal
action of life is selfish. The master misses
the servant. Life was more or less pleas
ant to this mourDer; such pleasantness as
it had it is disagreeable to him to have
disturbed. 1t is jostling his equilibrium,
depriving him of one of his accustomed
sights, forcing back on him appreciation
of the fact that one day he also must de-
part; in fact, it is the loss of piece OF
property, which, whether he valued fifty
OF not, in its day himself, he knew had a
Mhicn ne was not inclined 70 surrender. II
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