Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1890-09-18
THE GRAVES SECRETS.

IHE UhAN EN OEUREIN.
had loved her SO madlyi Why doe
one love? How odd that from certain
moment one sees in the world but on
being, in the heart but one desire, OF
the lips but one name. a name whicl
rises necessarily, which rises from tn
depths of the soul like water from it
source, which rises to the lips, and whicl
one says, which one repeats. which on
murmurs continually everywhere like
prayer.
| will tell you our story Love ha
but one, always the same I had me
and loved her. That is all. And I hat
lived for year in her tenderness, in he
arms, in her caresses, in her looks, il
her robes, in her words, enwrapped
bound, imprisoned in everything, that
did not know whether was dead O.
alive. on the old earth or somewher,
else.
And then she died. How? I do no
know; at least no longer know.
She came home wet one rainy night
and the next day she was coughing. Sh.
coughed for week and then took to hel
bed.
What happened? no longer know.
Doctors came, wrote, went away
They brought remedies; woman made
her drink them. Her hands were hot
her forehead burning and damp, her lool
glittering and sad. spoke to her; sht
answered me. What did we say to eacl
other? Ino longer know. I have for
gotten everything, everything, every
thing! She died remember very well
her little sigh--her little sigh SO weak
the last The nurse said. "Ahp un
derstood. understood
knew nothing more, nothing saw
priest who uttered these words: 'sYoul
sweetheart" 1t seemed to me he insult
Ore being dead no one had
any right to know tirat | dismissed
him. Another came who was very good,
very gentle. wept when he spoke tc
me of her.
They consulted me about a thousand
things in connection with the funeral.
know no more. Still, remember very
well the coffin, the noise Of the hammer
when they nailed her in it. Ali my
God.
She was buriedl Buriedl She! In
that holel A few persons had come
friends. Invent away. I ran. A long
time walked the streets. Then I went
home. The next day I started on a
journey.
Yesterday returned to Paris.
When l saw my room again, our
room, our bed, our furniture, this whole
house, in which was left all that remains
of a being after its death, was seized
with such a violent renewal Of sorrow
tha. came near opening the window
and throwing myself into the street.
Unable longer to live in the midst of
these things, of these walls which had
contained her, sheltered her and which
must keep in their imperceptible assures
thousand atoms Of her, Of her flesh
and of her breath, took my hat to go
away. Suddenly, just before reaching
the door, passed by the large mirror in
the vestibu1e, which she had placed there
in order to view herself from head to
foot every day as she went out, to see if
her entire toilet was correct and pretty,
from her boots to her hair.
And Sr5gEts@s-zhart in fronJ OF TINS
mirror which had so often reflected her.
So often, SO often, that it must have pre-
served her image.
There / stood, erect, quivering, with
eyes fixed on the glass, on the fiat,
profound empty glass, which had con-
tanned her entirely, possessed her as 7, as
my passionate look had possessed her. 1t
seemed to me that loved this glass. /
touched it; it was cold. Oh, the mem
oryi the memoryl Mournful mirror.
burning mirror, living mirror, horrible
mirror, which causes one to suffer all
the torturesl Happy the man whose
heart, like a glass across which refec-
tions glide and disappear, forgets all
that it has contained, all that has passed
before it, all that has contemplated and
admired itself in its affection, in its lovei
How suffered
l went out, and in spite of myself,
without knowing it, without wishing it,
| went toward the cemetery. I found
her very simple tombstone, a marble
cross with these few words upon it, ssShe
loved, was loved and died"
She was there, beneath, decayingl
If.wrr ltfNr<r \, AT L =
on the ground
There ! remained long time, a very
long time Then | perceived that the
night was coming on. Then a strange,
mad desire, the desire of desperate
lover, seized me- | wished to pass the
night beside her, a last night, in weep
ing over her grave. But ! should be
seen and driven away.
What was / to do? resorted to
strategy. rose and began to wander
about in this city Of the disappeared.
On and on went. How small this city
is beside the other, that Of the living
And yet how much more numerous than
the living are these dead. For us, the
four generations who live in the sun
light at the same time, drinking the
water of the springs and the wine Of the
vineyards and eating the bread of the
fields, much room is needed. high houses,
wide streets.
And for all the generations Of the
dead, for the entire scale Of humanity
down to rs, almost nothing; field, al
most nothingl The earth takes them
back again, oblivion effaces them. Fare
wellI
At the end of the inhabited cemetery
! suddenly perceived the abandoned
cemetery, that where the older dead are
completing their union with the soil,
where the crosses themselves are crum-
bling, and where tomorrow the last
comers will be placed. It ID full Of free
rosea of vi0oroua and dark rrrYrasaaa a