When Our Dear
Ones Sleep In "God's Acre" Surrounded By Others It Is Sad.
But how
much more heartbreaking is it to bury the darling wife in the depths
of the mountains alone, where a strong stone wall must be built
around the grave to keey the wild beasts from tearing out the
remains!
Only those who have been so situated can picture the
solemnity of such a scene.
At his urgent request, I promised I would accompany him to the spot -
sanctified by his sorrow and watered by his tears - where he had laid
his dear one. Early the following morning a native servant saddled
two horses, and we rode in silence towards the hallowed ground. In
about thirty minutes we came in view of the quiet tomb. Encircling
the grave he had built a high stone wall. When he silently opened the
gate, I saw that, although all the pasture outside was dry and
withered, that on the mound was beautifully green and fresh. Had he
brought water from his house, for there was none nearer, or was it
watered by his tears? His greatest longing was, as he had explained
to me the previous night, that she should have a Christian burial,
and if I would read some chapter over her grave he would feel more
content, he said. As with bared heads we reverently knelt on the
mound, I now complied with his request. Then, for the first time in
the world's history, the trees that surrounded us listened to the
Christian doctrine of a resurrection from the dead.
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