He said he did, but he would examine it by the light of history and reason, and reject what he did not find to be true.
“And do you believe that the soul of man will live hereafter?”
“I doubt,” was his desponding answer.
I then addressed him tenderly, “My dear young friend, I have loved you since the hour I met you at Altorf. And now tell me, with all your studies have you yet learned how to die? You doubt, but are you so well satisfied with your philosophy that you are able to look upon death among the mountains, or by the lightning, without fear? My faith tells me that when I die my life and joy will just begin, and go on in glory forever. This is the source of all my hopes, and it gives me comfort now when I think that I may never see my native land and those I love on earth again. I know that in another land we shall meet?”
“How do you know that you shall meet?”
“My faith, my heart, my Bible tells me so. I shall meet all the good in heaven. I am sure of one child, an angel now.”
“And where are your children?”
“Four in America, and one in heaven. I had a boy four years ago; earth never had a fairer. His locks were of gold and hung in rich curls on a neck and shoulders whiter than the snow: his brow was high and broad like an infant cherub’s; and his eye was blue as the evening sky. And he was lovelier than he was fair. But in the budding of his beauty, he fell sick and died.”
“O no, not died!”
“Yes, he died here by my heart. And that child is the only one of mine that I am sure of ever seeing again.”