The lovely
expression which so often beautifies dead faces soon replaced the
marks of pain, and I longed for those who loved him best to see him
when half an hour's acquaintance with Death had made them friends.
As we stood looking at him, the ward master handed me a letter,
saying it had been forgotten the night before. It was John's letter,
come just an hour too late to gladden the eyes that had longed and
looked for it so eagerly; yet he had it; for, after I had cut some
brown locks for his mother, and taken off the ring to send her,
telling how well the talisman had done its work, I kissed this good
son for her sake, and laid the letter in his hand, still folded as
when I drew my own away, feeling that its place was there, and
making myself happy with the thought, even in his solitary place in
the "Government Lot," he would not be without some token of the love
which makes life beautiful and outlives death. Then I left him, glad
to have known so genuine a man, and carrying with me an enduring
memory of the brave Virginia blacksmith, as he lay serenely waiting
for the dawn of that long day which knows no night.
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of On Picket Duty and Other Tales
by Louisa May Alcott
*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ON PICKET DUTY ***
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