The Aged Mother
In a large town there was an old woman who sat
in the evening alone in her room thinking how she had lost first her husband, then both
her children, then one by one all her relatives, and at length, that very day, her last
friend, and now she was quite alone and desolate. She was very sad at heart, and heaviest
of all her losses to her was that of her sons, and in her pain she blamed God for it. She
was still sitting lost in thought, when all at once she heard the bells ringing for early
prayer. She was surprised that she had thus in her sorrow watched through the whole night,
and lighted her lantern and went to church. It was already lighted up when she arrived,
but not as it usually was with wax candles, but with a dim light. It was also crowded
already with people, and all the seats were filled, and when the old woman got to her
usual place it also was not empty, but the whole bench was entirely full. And when she
looked at the people, they were none other than her dead relatives who were sitting there
in their old-fashioned garments, but with pale faces. They neither spoke nor sang, but a
soft humming and whispering was heard all over the church. Then an aunt of hers stood up,
stepped forward, and said to the poor old woman, look there beside the altar, and you will
see your sons. The old woman looked there, and saw her two children, one hanging on the
gallows, the other bound to the wheel. Then said the aunt, behold, so would it have been
with them if they had lived, and if the good God had not taken them to himself when they
were innocent children. The old woman went trembling home, and on her knees thanked God
for having dealt with her more kindly than she had been able to understand, and on the
third day she lay down and died.
--The End-- |
