The justice of the Lord is shown in all things; when the living neglect their duties toward the dead, they perish.
I have often remembered these things when it was too late, so that I think of them only with grief.
XVIII
DEATH OF LITTLE DAVID
The most painful of all my recollections, Fritz, is the way in which that terrible disease came to our family.
On the twelfth of March we heard of a large number of men, women, and children who were dying. We dared not listen; we said:
"No one in our house is sick, the Lord watches over us!"
After David had come, after supper, to cuddle in my arms, with his little hand on my shoulder, I looked at him; he seemed very drowsy, but children are always sleepy at night. Esdras was already asleep, and Sâfel had just bidden us good-night.
At last Zeffen took the child, and we all went to bed.