| Things to Live For |
Chapter 18 |
Page 4 |
Another blessing of bereavement is the preparation for sympathy and helpfulness which comes through sorrow. We have to learn to be gentle, – most of us, at least. We are naturally selfish, self centred, and thoughtless. Sympathy is not a natural grace of character, even in most refined natures. Of course we all feel a momentary tenderness when a friend or a neighbor is in any trouble. Few things in literature are more touching than some lines of James Whitcomb Riley, addressed to one who had lost a child:–
“Let me come in where you sit weeping,–ay,
Let me, who have not any child to die,
Weep with you for the little one whose love
I have known nothing of.
“The little arms that slowly, slowly loosed
Their pressure round your neck; the hands you used
To kiss. Such arms–such hands I never knew.
May I not weep with you?
“Fain would I be of service–say something,
Between the tears, that would be comforting,–
But ah! So sadder than yourself am I,
Who have no child to die.”
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