Willy Burke, or, The Irish orphan in America - Digital Repository ...

THE IRISH ORPHAN IN AMERICA. 85
sorrow must not be indulged. " You have duties before
you", be said, u which must be fulfilled— duties to God,
to yourselves, and to society ; and to these you must at
once apply yourselves, casting off that vain and idle despondency
which, however natural it may be in its origin,
would undoubtedly unfit you for active and energetic application
to the fulfilment of the duties to which I have
referred".
Thus did he wisely and judiciously lead the brothers to
a more salutary way of thinking, and prepare them for
the devious journey of life, on which they might be now
said to enter for the first time. They still wept and sorrowed
for the mother who had loved them so tenderly ;
but it was no longer with that wild, ungovernable grief
which had at first swallowed up every rational idea, and
precluded all hope of comfort.
The day of burial came, and Father Fitzherbert offered
up the Holy Sacrifice early in the morning, that God
might receive the soul of his departed servant. It was a
touching spectacle to see the two boys, the eldest but
fifteen, following to the grave the remains of their only
parent, each holding by the hand one of their young
sisters. The brothers restrained the violence of their
sorrow as they moved along after the hearse, but the
little girls sobbed and cried all the way, though continually
reminded by their brothers that they should endeavour
to be quiet while passing along the streets. Besides
the O'Gradies, there were only a few others who followed
the hearse, for the deceased had but few acquaintances,
and she was poor—very poor—ay, and far away from the
place where she and hers were known and honoured. So
they laid her in her " narrow house", with none by to