Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1911-08-31
ACROSS A SMALL, NEWLY
MADE GRAVE LAY A
WOMAN DRESSED IN
BLACK.

self-possesson of the child were reassuring fac
tors Apparently, the two knew what they were
about, though Genevieve Maude non.committa;
SO they were allowed to continue their way
They had left the town behind them and
trudging along country road IN the deepen
ing shadows of the late afternoon. Already the
birds twttering sleepy in the trees and a
light wind had begun a droning lullaby among the
branches. Geneyieve Maude very tired, and.
whatever the increased development of her heart
and soul, her stomach was sadly relaxed. There
in her moreover a sudden loneliness and the
slow birth Of sensation in the experience Of
Pastor WentwOrth's youngest daughter. She did not
Ike the silence, nor the stretch Of dark forest that
lay far ahead but the sudden CLEAN OF tombstones
in cemetery at her right distinctly reassurns
for it gave her her bearings. This, she remembered,
she looked at the entrance was the piaCe where
she and her sisters and her father often came on
Sunday afternoons to put flowers the grave Of
little brother--a little brother Geneveve Maude had
never seem and over whose untimely fate she had
steadiasty refused to sadden her life though Helen
Adeline and Grace Margaret weekly dropped with
dutiful melancholy above his tomb The discovery
Of the familiar spot very cheering now. and
she decided to 60 in and bide awhile. Perhaps some
would come and get her. She began to expert
strong desire for the presence of grownups.
She enlisted Rovers interest in her plan by grasp
ing him firmly by the throat and dragging him with
her through the open iron gates of the churchyard.
Then both she and the dog stopped abruptly, start
led by the sound of loud, hysterical crying in
woman's voice Rover hung back for an instant.
the hair bristling fercey his neck, but the child
pressed forward with the assurance OF knowledge
and habit This was grownup. Her mother
cried almost every day and Geneyieve Maude was
used to It, for the frequently brought her into
the sicll-room to kiss and comfort the nervous in
valid. She knew, therefore, what to do when wom-
en- cried, so she trotted intrepidy along the narrow
path following the sound, the unwilling dog keep
ing close to her heels.
Across a small, newly made grave, in lot next
In he Whprp her little brother slept. lay WOn-
an dressed in black Her face seemed buried in the
earth; long black veil traed about her
like pail; her figure writhed, and the sobs Gene
We've Maude had heard from the gate were deep
long drawn, and terrible. But without hesitation
the baby approached her and put dmpled and
grmy hand the shaking shoulder.
"Musn't c'y," she chirped with the most engaG-
ing cheerfulness. "Musnt c'y. Don't c'y."
The woman sat up with great start and turned
Wild wet, surprised eyes upon her. Geneyieve
knew her 1t was Elnor Chamberss mother, and
all summer Maude and Elinor had played together
in the Wentworth garden. and quarrelled hercely
over their mud pies and their dolls. Maude CON
tinued the pating process she always found effec-
tive at home. changing the stroke from shoulder
to knee as the woman changed her position, and
continuing to Groom her murnur of comfort As
she patted the others knee. her busy brown eyes
took in all the things about her in the country bury
ingground the fresh flowers the new grave.
n rabbit scurrying to cover in distant hedge, an
inquistive and belated robin cooking a drowsy eye
at her from n nearby path. She no longer
alone and n sweet content filled her heart. She
even forgot that she was tired and hungry.