THE COMPLETE WORKS OF LOUISA MAY ALCOTT: Novels, Short Stories, Plays & Poems (Illustrated Edition). Louisa May Alcott

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      "Poor Jo! she's fast asleep, so I won't wake her to ask leave; she shows me all her things, and I don't think she'll mind if I look at this," thought Beth, with a glance at her sister, who lay on the rug, with the tongs beside her, ready to wake up the minute the log fell apart.

      "MY BETH.

       "Sitting patient in the shadow

       Till the blessed light shall come,

       A serene and saintly presence

       Sanctifies our troubled home.

       Earthly joys and hopes and sorrows

       Break like ripples on the strand

       Of the deep and solemn river

       Where her willing feet now stand.

       "O my sister, passing from me,

       Out of human care and strife,

       Leave me, as a gift, those virtues

       Which have beautified your life.

       Dear, bequeath me that great patience

       Which has power to sustain

       A cheerful, uncomplaining spirit

       In its prison-house of pain.

       "Give me, for I need it sorely,

       Of that courage, wise and sweet,

       Which has made the path of duty

       Green beneath your willing feet.

       Give me that unselfish nature,

       That with charity divine

       Can pardon wrong for love's dear sake—

       Meek heart, forgive me mine!

       "Thus our parting daily loseth

       Something of its bitter pain,

       And while learning this hard lesson,

       My great loss becomes my gain.

       For the touch of grief will render

       My wild nature more serene,

       Give to life new aspirations,

       A new trust in the unseen.

       "Henceforth, safe across the river,

       I shall see forevermore

       A beloved, household spirit

       Waiting for me on the shore.

       Hope and faith, born of my sorrow,

       Guardian angels shall become,

       And the sister gone before me

       By their hands shall lead me home."

      Blurred and blotted, faulty and feeble, as the lines were, they brought a look of inexpressible comfort to Beth's face, for her one regret had been that she had done so little; and this seemed to assure her that her life had not been useless, that her death would not bring the despair she feared. As she sat with the paper folded between her hands, the charred log fell asunder. Jo started up, revived the blaze, and crept to the bedside, hoping Beth slept.

      "Not asleep, but so happy, dear. See, I found this and read it; I knew you wouldn't care. Have I been all that to you, Jo?" she asked, with wistful, humble earnestness.

      "O Beth, so much, so much!" and Jo's head went down upon the pillow, beside her sister's.

      "Then I don't feel as if I'd wasted my life. I'm not so good as you make me, but I have tried to do right; and now, when it's toolate to begin even to do better, it's such a comfort to know that some one loves me so much, and feels as if I'd helped them."

      "More than any one in the world, Beth. I used to think I couldn't let you go; but I'm learning to feel that I don't lose you; that you'll be more to me than ever, and death can't part us, though it seems to."

      "I know it cannot, and I don't fear it any longer, for I'm sure I shall be your Beth still, to love and help you more than ever. You must take my place, Jo, and be everything to father and mother when I'm gone. They will turn to you, don't fail them; and if it's hard to work alone, remember that I don't forget you, and that you'll be happier in doing that than writing splendid books or seeing all the world; for love is the only thing that we can carry with us when we go, and it makes the end so easy."

      "I'll try, Beth;" and then and there Jo renounced her old ambition, pledged herself to a new and better one, acknowledging the poverty of other desires, and feeling the blessed solace of a belief in the immortality of love.

      So the spring days came and went, the sky grew clearer, the earth greener, the flowers were up fair and early, and the birds came back in time to say good-by to Beth, who, like a tired but trustful child, clung to the hands that had led her all her life, as father and mother guided her tenderly through the Valley of the Shadow, and gave her up to God.

      Seldom, except in books, do the dying utter memorable words, see visions, or depart with beatified countenances; and those who have sped many parting souls know that to most the end comes as naturally and simply as sleep. As Beth had hoped, the "tide went out easily;" and in the dark hour before the dawn, on the bosom where she had drawn her first breath, she quietly drew her last, with no farewell but one loving look, one little sigh.

      With tears and prayers and tender hands, mother and sisters made her ready for the long sleep that pain would never mar again, seeing with grateful eyes the beautiful serenity that soon replaced the pathetic patience that had wrung their hearts so long, and feeling, with reverent joy, that to their darling death was a benignant angel, not a phantom full of dread.

      When morning came, for the first time in many months the fire was out, Jo's place was empty, and the room was very still. But a bird sang blithely on a budding bough, close by, the snow-drops blossomed freshly at the window, and the spring sunshine streamed in like a benediction over the placid face upon the pillow,—a face so full of painless peace that those who loved it best smiled through their tears, and thanked God that Beth was well at last.

CHAPTER XLI.

       LEARNING TO FORGET.

       Table of Contents

      Amy's lecture did Laurie good, though, of course, he did not own it till long afterward; men seldom do, for when women are the advisers, the lords of creation don't take the advice till they have persuaded themselves that it is just what they intended to do; then they act upon it, and, if it succeeds, they give the СКАЧАТЬ