212520_The_Adve ... _Way_Through_The_World.pdf - OUDL Home

468 THE ADVENTURES OF PHILIP
CHAPTER XXX
RETURNS TO OLD FRIENDS
THE three old comrades and Philip formed the little mourning
procession which followed the General to his place of rest at
Montmartre. When the service has been read., and the last
volley has been fired over the buried soldier, the troops march to
quarters with a quick step, and to a lively tune. Our veteran has
been laid in the grave with brief ceremonies. We do not even
prolong his obsequies with a sermon. His place knows him no
longer. There are a few who remember him : a very very few who
grieve for him—so few that to think of them is a humiliation
almost. The sun sets on the earth, and our dear brother has
departed off its face. Stars twinkle; dews fall; children go to
sleep in awe and, maybe, tears ; the sun rises on a new day, which
he has never seen, and children wake hungry. They are interested
about their new black clothes, perhaps. They are presently at
their work, plays, quarrels. They are looking forward to the day
when the holidays will be over, and the eyes which shone here
yesterday so kindly are gone, gone, gone. A drive to the cemetery,
followed by a coach with four acquaintances dressed in decorous
black, who separate and go to their homes or clubs, and wear your
crape for a few days after—can most of us expect much more ? The
thought is not ennobling or exhilarating, worthy sir. And, pray,
why should we be proud of ourselves ? Is it because we have been
so good, or are so wise and great, that we expect to be beloved,
lamented, remembered ? Why, great Xerxes or blustering Bobadil
must know in that last hour and resting-place how abject, how
small, how low, how lonely they are, and what a little dust will
cover them. Quick, drums and fifes, a lively tune! Whip the
black team, coachman, and trot back to town again—to the world,
and to business, and duty !
I am for saying no single unkindness of General Baynes which
is not forced upon me by my story-teller's office. We know from
Marlborough's story that the bravest man and greatest military
genius is not always brave or successful in his battles with his wife ;
that some of the greatest warriors have committed errors in accounts