Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1896-10-08


gresham Grant, but assembled to the
seat with the Undertaken, and
promised to return to the town with
Mr.. Grant after the burial
The road beween Warren and Bris-
toll with its great trees, and its views
of the mount and of the bay is one OF
the most lovely in southern New Eng
land.
Through this we were to pass. The
procession formed, and moved slowly
away, but long after the bell had
tolled the years of The deceased.
There was a little schoolhouse just
over the Bristol line Placide had
once taken great interest in the
school here, and the children loved
! him. Here the horse stopped. The
| hearse being at the head of the process
| sion arrested the carriages. The bear
| ers who were in the carriage behind
| the hearse got out, and tried to urge
the horse forward, but the animal
would not move.
He thinks Plac:de is stopping
here said the undertaken. 1 will get
! NbC"4I 81 W Tile SCllOOl muse ana IS-
turn. Then he will 60"
The undertaken cid so; as soon as
he mounted his seat again the horse
moved forward.
The locusts were singing in the tall
green trees. On tho home meadows
there were great rests of ospreys.
The white sails dipped on the blue
bay. The procession moved ON in 81
lence. Suddenly the horse turned in
to byway towards ruined cottage
buried in vines.
THE poor ANIMAL said the under
taker. ''He thinks he is carrying
Placide to visit the Widow Fales.
Placide used to 90 there, and carry
things that she needed in her old age.
She is dead now" The procession
stopped and the ECrse stood still be-
fore the cottage.
Il will have TO get down again"
said the undertaken, ''and go to the
door. Then he will go on"
The procession presently was moving
again, but at every house that Placide
had been accustomed to visit the horse
would not go ON until the driver had
gone to the door.
We came to The old grave yard in
the town at last. 1t was near the
place where Jesse Lee had preached in
lay open in the sun.
| got down from the seat and stood
by that new grave, opposite to Mr..
Grant, the congressman. The coffin
was opened and revealed the face of
Placide-it was a visior-a revelation
beautiful, beautiful!
THE angel has fowl; away from that
form; out of that lovely face" said the
old minister, Let us not weep for the
dead but pity the living; to die is to
be blest!
My heart echoed but pity the liv-
ing"
They lowered the body. The bearers,
after the Rhode Island custom, took
each a handful Of earth and dropped
it upon the coffin in the grave, while
the old minister said Dust to dust
The widow heard the earth fall ON
the coffin. She lifted her veil, and
looked into the face Of Congressman
Grant.
1T was not defeat that killed him."
she exclaimed. 1T was that cruel,
cruel story! He was thin glass but
clear. Oh, my boy, my darling boy,
| am all alone in the world now; help
less, and my arms are empty. Oh, my
friends, You cannot tell how I feel
not many of you know how a mother
feels over the grave of her boy! ] had
him IN the cradle, and the earth era
dies him now in his last long sleep
How he suffered-suffered- withered,
Witheredw
She sank down to the earth, and
lifted her hand, and cried-"The man
who told! I pity the man who told! l
pity the soul of the man who told 1t
would be better for him to find the
silence of this grave-how can anyone
injure another in this hard world?
Who was it, Who was the man that
told?"
The question seemed to rise in the
air with a spirit of it's own, to echo
among the trees. 1t repeated itself in
all hearts am ears.
A gentle girl moved through the 81
lent company, and touched the widow
on the shoulder.
Come, Auntie, come await is all
right-there was nothing to be told.
How thankful we ought to be that
there was nohing to be told! He has
gone away to be with the pure in heart.
Come"
''He1en-you comfort me. You have
spoken the right -Eord-it goes to my
heart-there was nothing to be told.
I can go now. I can leave him to hon
or, to God and the earth. Helen, you
are a good girl!''
'"The man that tcldr The words
echoed after the people went away,
they were haunting. I looked steadily
at Congressman Grant, as he stood dur
ing the scene under the still trees. |
could see the veins in his neck grow
purple and enlarge as he bent his head
in a stimulation of grief to hide his
face from the inquiry of the poor
mothers eyes. There was a darkness
in his face that again recalled the
words of Luther the undertaken:
''He who Injuries another to his own
seeming advantage has taken into his
life the law Of injury to himself that
will one day find execution"
| The sexton came with his spade and
| full Of earth upon the coffin in the