| Share page |
|
|
||
|
1116 A PICTURE-BOOK WITHOUT PICTURES
seals sport there, the walrus shall lie at thy feet, and the hunt will be safe and merry ! " And the yelling children tore the outspread hide from the window-hole, that the dead man might be carried to the ocean, the billowy ocean, that had given him food in life, and that now, in death, was to afford him a place of rest. For his monument, he had the floating, ever-changing icebergs, whereon the seal sleeps, while the storm bird flies round their summits.'
Tenth Evening
11 knew an old maid,' said the Moon. ' Every winter she wore a wrapper of yellow satin, and it always remained new, and was the only fashion she followed. In summer she always wore the same straw hat, and I verily believe the very same grey-blue dress.
* She never went out, except across the street to an old female friend ; and in later years she did not even take this walk, for the old friend was dead. In her solitude my old maid was always busy at the window, which was adorned in summer with pretty flowers, and in winter with cress, grown upon felt. During the last months I saw her no more at the window, but she was still alive. I knew that, for I had not yet seen her begin the " long journey ", of which she often spoke with her friend. " Yes, yes," she was in the habit of saying, " when I come to die, I shall take a longer journey than I have made my whole life long. Our family vault is six miles from here. I shall be carried there, and shall sleep there among my family and relatives." Last night a hearse stopped at the house. A coffin was carried out, and then I knew that she was dead. They placed straw round the coffin, and the hearse drove away. There slept the quiet old lady, who had not gone out of her house once for the last year. The hearse rolled out through the town gate as briskly as if it were going for a pleasant excursion. On the high road the pace was quicker yet. The coachman looked nervously round every now and then —I fancy he half expected to see her sitting on the coffin, in her yellow satin wrapper. And because he was startled, he foolishly lashed his horses, while he held the reins so tightly that the poor beasts were in a foam ! they were |
||