Page:From the West to the West.djvu/236



we hastened to her side; but she never spoke again, except in whispered messages of love to us all.

"We laid her precious remains in the family lot, in the dear, peaceful, leafy burying-ground of Glen Eden, and returned to our lonely home, and put away her empty chair. On the last morning of her earth-life, as she sat at breakfast with us, she said, * I saw Joseph in my dreams last night. I heard him speak as plainly as if he had been in this room. He had a troubled look, but he said: "Tell mother I have written." ' We thought little of it at the time; but to-day we had a letter from him, saying he is alive and well. He spoke of having seen you, John, but he said you had quarrelled with him, or rather at him, and had left him in a fit of anger. He did not say why you had quarrelled. But, oh, John, how could you do it? We know he must have given you cause, but you should, for our sakes, have risen above it. My old heart is heavy with sorrow. And your dear, patient mother, who has prayed so long and earnestly for this meeting between you two,—to think when her prayer is answered at last that you would add to it such a sting! No matter which one of you is the more to blame, you, my son, as the elder brother, should be the first to make concessions. I know your gentle Annie joins me in this appeal. She seems strangely near me as I write; and I can almost hear her say: ' To err is human; to forgive divine.' Give her and all the children our messages of love and sympathy."

The strong man wept convulsively. No tidings of his wife's transition had yet been despatched to the folks at home; nor could letters reach them now for a month to come. There was no overland mail, and all "through " letters sought transit via Panama.

A long postscript was added, over which father and children shed tears in unison. It said: "The dog, Rover, returned at nightfall on the memorable day of your departure, weary, wet, and bedraggled. He would take no