At last, however, a sudden
reflection coming straight from my heart drew me from the slough of
renewing thanks and unsealed my lips.
"If," I said, "kind friends, you behold me in my fifty-fifth year a
contented man, tolerably well preserved, and with the lustre of true
happiness shining from my eyes; if you see around me brave sons and
fair daughters, with whose promise of usefulness as men and women you
are not ill-pleased; if, indeed, there is any good or any virtue in me
or mine, know as the source, the fountain-head, the inspiration of it
all, the sweetest woman in the whole wide world, there she stands, my
wife Josephine."
As I sat down amid a tumult of approbation, my darling's confused but
happy smile shone like a beam from heaven athwart my misty gaze. I see
it still as I sit here to-night, with her hand in mine in our silent
but joyous home. The mystery of mysteries, life! Why were we born?
We do not know. What is to become of us when we go hence? We have no
knowledge, but we live in hope. I live in hope. When the last trump
sounds, and the graves give up their dead; when the myriads of souls
are brought face to face with God to learn the solution of all
mysteries, I shall seek only for Josephine. That I may behold her then
is all that I ask of eternity.
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