For while his intellectual life had ranged far and wide, his
business career had run along a single channel, his circle of
intimates had not been very large nor very variable, nor was his
memory so overlaid that he could not push aside its later impressions
in favour of those graven there so deeply in his youth.
Nearing the gate, they passed a small open space in which stood a
simple marble shaft, erected to the memory of the Confederate Dead.
A wealth of fresh flowers lay at its base. The colonel took off his
hat as he stood before it for a moment with bowed head. But for the
mercy of God, he might have been one of those whose deaths as well as
deeds were thus commemorated.
Beyond this memorial, impressive in its pure simplicity, and between
it and the gate, in an obtrusively conspicuous spot stood a florid
monument of granite, marble and bronze, of glaring design and
strangely out of keeping with the simple dignity and quiet restfulness
of the surroundings; a monument so striking that the colonel paused
involuntarily and read the inscription in bronze letters on the marble
shaft above the granite base:
"'_Sacred to the Memory of
Joshua Fetters and Elizabeth Fetters, his Wife._
"'_Life's work well done,
Life's race well run,
Life's crown well won,
Then comes rest._'"
"A beautiful sentiment, if somewhat trite," said the colonel, "but an
atrocious monument."
"Do you think so?" exclaimed the lady.
Pages:
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48