Passing through a country graveyard one day last summer, and reading
the sad stories engraved on the many head stones, I was attracted
by the silent voice of one particular stone, erected over the grave
of a six-year-old boy: “How Many Hopes Lie Buried Here!” Was it an
exclamation, or an interrogation? How many hopes? Only the fathers and
mothers can truly tell who have buried hopes in similar graves.
These bereaved parents had pictured their baby boy as a man, going out
into the world to accomplish great things and fill their declining years
with pleasure and delight.
Often they had pictured their boy in his manly beauty, able to defend
himself from the enemies that always cross the path of the successful,
and attempt to retard their progress. They had pictured him on the stage
of life swaying men with the power of his logic and his persuasive voice.
Men were cheering at the bare mention of his name, for he had taught the
people to love him and believe in him.
They saw him holding high positions in the social and political
world, and always going higher, always gaining more and more, always
accomplishing greater things—ah, perhaps holding the highest office in
the land—President of the United States!
Or they may have been more modest in their hopes. They may have seen
their boy, grown to sturdy manhood, following the plow and reaping the
golden grain; and, instead of going out into the world to win glory and
fame, they may have pictured him contented in the old home, sitting with
them in the evening under the vine clad porch and discussing the modest
hopes of the village people.
Great hopes are not always dreams of future glory and fame. The modest
life and unostentatious efforts of the humble worker bring greater joys
to some hearts than all the glories of political success. So the hopes
that are buried with a favorite child are as many and as varied as the
flowers of the hills and meadows.
But, whatever the hopes, the heart-aches are ever as deep and pathetic,
and the tears as bitter with regret.