... But oh,
how tired we all get! I shall be quite ready for my rest!"
This note gives a picture of her life. She was always seeking to make
a bright spot around her; to give of herself in some way. There is a
bit in her book which illustrates this instinct. The incident occurred
during a long, dreary storm at the Shoals. Two men had come in a boat
asking for help. "A little child had died at Star Island, and they
could not sail to the mainland, and had no means to construct a coffin
among themselves. All day I watched the making of that little
chrysalis; and at night the last nail was driven in, and it lay across
a bench, in the midst of the litter of the workshop, and a curious
stillness seemed to emanate from the senseless boards. I went back to
the house and gathered a handful of scarlet geranium, and returned
with it through the rain. The brilliant blossoms were sprinkled with
glittering drops. I laid them in the little coffin, while the wind
wailed so sorrowfully outside, and the rain poured against the
windows. Two men came through the mist and storm, and one swung the
light little shell to his shoulder, and they carried it away, and the
gathering darkness shut down and hid them as they tossed among the
waves. I never saw the little girl, but where they buried her I know;
the lighthouse shines close by, and every night the quiet, constant
ray steals to her grave and softly touches it, as if to say, with a
caress, 'Sleep well! Be thankful you are spared so much that I see
humanity endure, fixed here forever where I stand.
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