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THE WIDOW AND HER SON.

THE parents of the deceased had resided in the village from childhood. They had inhabited one of the neatest cottages, and by various rural occupations and the assistance of a small garden, had supported themselves creditably, and comfortably, and led a happy and blameless life. They had one son, who had grown up to be the staff and pride of their age.2 "Oh, sir!" said the good woman, "he was such a comely lad, so sweet-tempered, so kind to every one around him, so dutiful3 to his parents! It did one's heart good to see him of a1 Sunday, dressed out in his best, so tall, so straight, so cheery, supporting his old mother to church-for she was always fonder of leaning on George's arm than on her goodman's,5 and, poor soul, she might well be proud of him, for a finer lad there was not in the country round."

Unfortunately, the son was tempted, during a year of scarcity and agricultural hardship, to enter into the service of one of the small craft that plied on a neighbouring river. He had not been long in this employ when he was entrapped by a press-gang and carried off to sea.s His parents received tidings of his seizure, but beyond that they could learn nothing. It was the loss of their main The father, who was already infirm, grew heartless 9 into his 10 grave. The widow,

prop.
and melancholy, and sunk

1 'the produce.'

2 l'appui et l'orgueil de leur vieillesse. The figurative_expression bâton de vieillesse is French; but, on account of the common idea called forth by the word bâton, which, in its proper sense, is of so extensive application, meaning, as it does, staff,' 'stick,' 'cudgel,' &c., bâton and orgueil would form a somewhat ungracious association of terms.

3 un si digne garçon, si aimable, si doux avec tout le monde, si respectueux. to;' see page 36, note 9.

4 On éprouvait un plaisir délicieux en le voyant le.

5 celui de son mari.
6 femme.

7 de se louer et de travailler sur un (or, simply, de se mettre aux gages d'un) des petits bâtiments qui

desservaient une rivière voisine.

8 pris par la presse (enrôlement forcé, levée de matelots en Angleterre), et entraîné loin de son village pour servir sur mer. See page 1, note 3, and page 38, note 5.

9 languissant, in this sense. 10 to sink,' here, descendre.'his;' use the definite article.

left alone in her age and feebleness, could no longer support herself, and came upon1 the parish. Still there was a kind feeling toward her throughout the village, and a certain respect as being one of the oldest inhabitants. As no one applied for the cottage in which she had passed so many happy days,3 she was permitted to remain in it, where she lived solitary and almost helpless. The few wants of nature were chiefly supplied from the scanty production of her little garden, which the neighbours would now and then cultivate 5 for her. It was but a few days before the time at which these circumstances were told me, that she was gathering some vegetables for her repast, when she heard the cottage-door which faced the garden suddenly opened. A stranger came out, and seemed to be looking eagerly and wildly around. He was dressed in seaman's clothes, was emaciated and ghastly pale, and bore the air of one broken by sickness and hardships. He saw her, and hastened toward her, but his steps were faint and faltering; he sank on his knees before her, and sobbed like a child. The poor woman gazed upon him with a vacant and wandering eye. "Oh my dear, dear mother! 10 don't you know your son? your poor boy George?" 11 It was indeed the wreck of her once noble lad; who, shattered by wounds, by sickness, and foreign 12 imprisonment, had at length dragged his wasted limbs homeward, to repose among the scenes of his childhood.

1 tomba à la charge de; or, se fit inscrire sur les registres des pauvres de.

2 Turn, 'Everybody liked her in the village, and they (on) showed towards her (lui, literally, to her).'

3 Turn, 'The cottage &c., not letting (use se louer, the reflective voice).'

See page 21, note 9.

5 See page 45, note 4.-now and then,' de temps à autre, or, de temps en temps.

6 légumes, in this sense; and végétal, only in the more general

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I will not attempt to detail the particulars of such a meeting, where joy and sorrow were so completely blended. Still he was alive! he was come home! he might yet live to comfort and cherish her old age! Nature, however, was exhausted in him; and if anything had been wanting to finish the work of fate, the desolation of his native cottage would have been sufficient.1 He stretched himself on the pallet, on which his widowed mother had passed many a sleepless night, and he never rose from it again.

The villagers, when they heard that George Somers had returned,3 crowded to see him, offering every comfort and assistance that their humble means afforded.4 He was too weak, however, to talk; he could only look his thanks.5 His mother was his constant attendant; and he seemed unwilling to be helped by any other hand.

8

There is something in sickness that breaks down the pride of manhood, that softens the heart, and brings it back to the feelings of infancy. Who that has languished, even in advanced life, in sickness and despondency, who that has pined on a weary bed 7 in the neglect and loneliness of a foreign land, but has thought on the mother "that looked on his childhood," that smoothed his pillow, and administered to his helplessness? Oh! there is an enduring tenderness in the love of a mother to a9 son that transcends all other affections of the heart. It is neither to be 10 chilled by selfishness, nor daunted by danger, nor weakened by worthlessness, nor stifled by ingratitude. She will sacrifice every comfort to his convenience; she will surrender every pleasure to his enjoyment; she will glory in his fame and exult in his prosperity and if misfortune overtake him, he will be the dearer to her from

1 aurait suffi pour l'anéantir.

40, note 17.-'to break down,'

2 When the villagers had abaisser.-'manhood,' here, l'homheard.' See page 27, note 15.

3 était de retour; and use 'they' before crowded.'

4 allowed them to give him.' 5 See page 6, note 5.

6 See page 14, note 5, and page

me.

7 lit de douleur.

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misfortune; and if disgrace settle upon his name, she will still love and cherish him in spite of his disgrace,3 and if all the world beside cast him off, she will be all the world to him.4

Poor George Somers had known what it was to be in sickness, and none to soothe; lonely and in prison, and none to visit him. He could not endure his mother from his sight; if she moved away, his eye would follow her. She would sit for hours by his bed, watching him as he slept. Sometimes he would start from a feverish dream and look anxiously up until he saw her bending over him, when 10 he would take her hand, lay it on his bosom, and fall asleep with the tranquillity of a child. In this way 11 he died.

My first impulse, on hearing this humble tale of affliction,12 was to visit the cottage of the mourner, and administer pecuniary assistance, and, if possible, comfort. I found, however, on inquiry, that the good feelings of the villagers had prompted them to do everything that the case admitted, and as the poor know best how 13 to console each other's sorrows, I did not venture to intrude.

The next Sunday I was at the village church, when, to my surprise, I saw the poor old woman tottering down the aisle to her accustomed seat on the steps of the altar.

She had made an effort to put on something like1 mourning for her son; and nothing could be more touching than this struggle between pious affection and utter

1 par ses infortunes mêmes; and leave out the,' before 'dearer.' 2 une tache flétrit.

3 Leave out these last five words.

elle lui tiendra lieu de l'univers.-This expression, tenir lieu de, means, 'to be as much as a,' 'to be equivalent to:' as in this well-known line of Racine,"Un bienfait reproché tint toujours lieu d'offense."

6 See page 90, note 7.

7 Il ne laissait pas sa mère s'éloigner de lui.

8 See page 45, note 4.

9 to start (from sleep), se réveiller en sursaut.

10 alors; see page 18, note 10.
11 It is thus that.'
12 histoire simple, mais déchi-

rante.

13 In such a case, 'how' is not expressed in French, and no preposition is used between savoir and

See the LA FONTAINE, page 86, the next verb.

note 8.

5 See page 117, note 13.

14 to take a kind of;' and leave out for her son.'

4

poverty:1 a black riband or so,2 a faded black handkerchief, and one or two more such humble attempts to express by outward signs that grief which passes show." When I looked round upon the storied monuments, the stately hatchments, the cold marble pomp, with which grandeur mourned magnificently over departed pride,5 and turned to this poor widow, bowed down by age and sorrow at the altar of her God, and offering up the prayers and praises of a pious, though a broken heart, I felt that this living monument of real grief was worth them all.8

7

I related her story to some of the wealthy members of the congregation, and they were moved by it. They exerted themselves to render her situation more comfortable and to lighten her afflictions. It was, however, In the course of

but smoothing a few steps to the grave. a Sunday or two after she was missed from her usual seat at church,10 and before I left 11 the neighbourhood I heard, with a feeling 12 of satisfaction, that she had quietly breathed her last,13 and had gone to rejoin those she loved in that world where sorrow is never known and friends are never parted. (WASHINGTON IRVING, Sketch-Book.)

1 See page 25, note 16.

2 or something similar;' page 9, note 4.

3 to manifest by outward signs one of those griefs that cannot be expressed (page 8, note 6) outwardly (au dehors).'

4 ces tombeaux gravés d'inscriptions.

5 those pompous marbles which a cold sorrow has raised to departed pride (l'orgueil qui n'est plus).'

6 and when (page 17, note 6) from there I (page 23, note 9) carried my looks upon.'

7 encens; in the singular. 8 était bien au-dessus de tous ces vains mausolées.

9 but they only spread (page 5, note 2) a few (quelques) flowers on the little (le peu de) way which remained to her to make towards.' The adverb peu is often thus used substantively, in the sense of 'the small quantity,' just as le trop (literally the too much') means the excess;' but we do not say le beaucoup.

10 There elapsed one or two Sundays without her appearing (page 14, note 7, and page 21, note 3) at church at her usual place.'-'usual,' here, accoutumée, or as directed at page 45, note 11. 11 See page 7, note 7. 12 'a kind.'

13 rendu le dernier soupir.

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