He did not omit to come in his very best black coat
to the dinner-table, where the extremely prosaic fare had no effect
upon the distinction of the meal. He hated failure, dependence, and
disorder, broken rules and weariness of discipline, as he hated
cowardice. I cannot express how brave he seemed to me. The last time I
saw him, he was leaving the house to take the journey for his health
which led suddenly to the next world. My mother was to go to the
station with him,--she who, at the moment when it was said that he
died, staggered and groaned, though so far from him, telling us that
something seemed to be sapping all her strength; I could hardly bear
to let my eyes rest upon her shrunken, suffering form on this day of
farewell. My father certainly knew, what she vaguely felt, that he
would never return.
Like a snow image of an unbending but an old, old man, he stood for a
moment gazing at me. My mother sobbed, as she walked beside him to the
carriage. We have missed him in the sunshine, in the storm, in the
twilight, ever since.
INDEX OF PERSONS
[online ed: page numbers have been omitted.]
Aikens, Mr.
Ainsworth, Mrs.
Alcott, A. Bronson
Alcott, Mrs. A, B.
Alcott, Louisa M.
Alderson, Baron
Allston, Washington
Appleton, Thomas G.
Atherton, Mr.
Bacon, Miss Delia
Bancroft, George
Barber, Mr.
Barstow, B.
Barstow, Ellen
Bartol, Mr.
Bartol, Mrs.
Bennoch, Francis
Birch, Sir Thomas
Blodget, Mrs.
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