In the swing next door were three children standing up, and their father with them, swinging very high and shouting joyously. The father, in a very loud, deep voice, would shout a long “Boo-oo-oo-m!” and then the children would cry, in their shrill treble, “Hurra-a-a-r!” with a long roll of the “r.” All down the street they were “boom”-ing and “hurra-a-a-r”-ing; it was a beautiful noise.
The sisters came running out, and after them the brother and the father. And what swing went so high as the little boy’s swing? And from before which house was there so deep a “Boo-oo-oo-m!” or so shrill and joyous a “Hurra-a-a-r!”? The fun went on all day, the children visiting from swing to swing, and the fathers and mothers taking a turn now and again. What a joyful Trinity-Monday!
The grandmothers did not swing. They sat in the house-doors with the babies of the young mothers or took their knitting and exchanged calls with one another. The long day seemed very short even to them.
By the time sunset came the little boy was thoroughly tired out with delight. He came and lay down on the bench in the court where the grandmother was sitting. For once her hands were idle. She was thinking of her own swinging days, a long, long time ago.
“There is time for a story,” said the little boy, “and you are doing nothing, little grandmamma.”
The grandmother smiled indulgently and told him the story of
SO BORN, SO DIE
In olden times, when all the world believed in Christianity, there lived in India a pious Christian. This man resolved to lead a hermit’s life; and, as he was wandering up and down through India, he found a great cave, where he took up his abode, that he might lead a life wholly pleasing to God. Thus passed away many years while he dwelt in the solitude of the wilderness, far from any living soul.
One evening, when he had said his evening prayer and lain down upon his bed of moss, he thought in his heart, “O Thou my God! I have already tarried many years in this solitude, and it has never been vouchsafed to me to convert a single soul to Thy holy faith. For in the many years which I have spent here I have seen no human being nor any living creature.”