Soon they lay on the ground in dense masses,
and in the denudation of the trees the brilliant tints of the little
coat, swinging so high in the blast, caught the eye of a wandering
hunter. At first sight, he thought it but a flare of the autumnal
foliage, and gave it no heed, but some days afterward its persistence
struck his attention. It seemed a tragic and piteous thing when he
discovered its nature. He cut the tree down, too high it was lodged for
other means to secure it, and after the county officials had examined it,
he brought it to the mother.
Over it Lillian shed such tears as have bedewed the relics of the dead
since first this sad old world knew loss, since first a grave was filled.
How unavailing! How lacerating! How consoling! She began to feel a
plaintive sympathy for all the bereaved of earth, and her heart and mind
grew more submissive as she remembered that only for this cause Jesus
wept, albeit a "man of sorrows and acquainted with grief."
The little coat, so gayly decorated, reminded her of another coat of many
colors, its splendor testimony of the gentlest domestic affection,
brought stained with blood to another parent long ago, to interpret the
cruel mystery of a son's death.
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