Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1898-01-07
THE UNKNOWN.

The cemeteries of cities are like great
hotels, whero the close proximity Of
people in different classes of life is not
always happy. The walls Of partition
seem to leak a secret horrcr Of unrest;
there is something of copstraint, Of
promiscuosity, Of cold dignity in the
obligatory relations of body to body.
Here the dead are not at heme.
In the graveyard5 of the country,
among TIE thick towering underbrreh
and the quiet of the wide feds, is a
better repose for us after our stormy
struggles a cemetery thus situated,
tho center of farreachirg horizons, iu-
spires one with a desire to die. To lie
down here and sleep seems good, But
most peaceful of all are tie realms Of
the dead in marine villages, at the edge
of the sea, within sound of tho lullipg
of the running waves which ainS an
eternal song on the, eternal sleep, amid
the wall Of the wind over the ancient
tombs.
One day abogt 10 years Rao entered
one Of these places of supreme rest be-
side the wives On tie breton ooest,
with it's crosses pointing toward heaven
in way which makes one think Ct
eternity. Beside little old church, be-
meath the shadow of n Gtcno bell turret,
slept the forefathers who, whether they
had died in youth or i'll age, were all
made an equal age by accomplished
tirle. And there was no sadness in this
evidence Of fatal destiny, but rather
a happy relief in the thought that the
burden of suffering will not always
weigh down our poor shoulders and
that sorrow has its prescribed limit.
And pleasant, too, WAS the slow spell
ing ont of the inscriptions on the tonbs
in TIE warmth of TIE sunlight which
the fiuttering, intoxicated birds greeted
with sweet delirium Of song. Three
centuries Of time separated tho old
stones from the new, aud peace was
made over all fends here under the high
crosses with outstrotchod arms, clear
cut against the green sea, standing in
their eternal attitude of forgiveness.
One tomb N the form of ohalice ar
rested my attention, and / read this SIN
gular epitaph: Here lies, an unknown.
Dec. @, 1871. Tacita transit" (she has
passed silently
l wished to learn all that was known
of her, and in the evening inquired in
the village, ard this is what learned:
In November Of the year 1860, on a
night of lowering sky and raging sea,
as the inhabitants slept in their huts,
which were shaken up by the squall,
the dull boom of a cannon announced
the distress of ship out on the waters
across the promontory AT this time the
little port did not possess a single life
boat, and to attempt to depart in such a
gale in the barks of tho fishermen would
be simply folly. Each one who heard
the sound could only pray, ''God help
| themp' But doubtless the noises of the
angry sea drowned out the human voices,
and God heard nothing, for next morn
ing the sea stretched wide under the
blue sky. swept clear-not a speok on
the horizon, nothing but the ripples Of
foam on the waves. SO It had disap-
peared, foundered, the boat that had
cri1d for help with a call of iron during
that night Of terror. The sadness Of the
disaster caused a silence among the fish
ermen, when suddenly down on the
strand cry arose. At this moment the
Marquis de Pontus, master of the cha
teau, camo up to the group Of people to
learn the end Of the nights drama.
The cry had come from a peasant who
had discovered the body of a woman