The Argosy — page 146: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

UE —————_— OT OO — all — About Norway. 131 last stage of consumption: so ill that the doctor had feared he might not live to reach home. But he was so anxious to do so that he declared he must risk it: he could not die without seeing once more his father and mother. He had been laid on a bed between the decks, and never came up again. During the two days he remained in Bergen he remained below. Suffocated with heat and longing for air he lay, his cry the whole time, Oh! that he might live to reach home! None of the passengers on board knew what was taking place. ‘The whole thing had been kept secret; and the steward got into trouble for telling the fact when all was over. The father had happily come to meet his son and joined him at Throndhjem. ‘Thus for the last twenty-four hours of his life he was not alone. On the Sunday morning, still longing for home, and almost within sight of it, he died. At Halsound, where we stayed for some hours this Sunday morning, they made him a rude coffin of deal planks nailed together, and laid him out ready for landing at the next station, the home he had so yearned for, and where we were due in the afternoon. It was a very pretty village this Halsound, sini out from the sea, lying in a sheltered nook. ‘The hills around were beautifully wooded, and patches of snow lay in the crevices and on the tops of the more barren mountains, glistening and gleaming in the sunshine; a strange, tantalising sight to those who were melting with heat down here in the valley. The stacks of timber sawn into white planks, told us how the people passed their lives and earned their daily bread. A good deal of this we shipped, but the coffin was passed quietly on board through the side of the vessel, unseen by most, and left between the decks with its mournful burden. About twelve o’clock we went off again, and steaming out of the narrow water were soon once more amongst the islands, with the broad sea beyond. Almost the whole time the coast at our right hand was wild and barren, but very grand ; often rising to the dignity of mountain heights, huge walls and precipices of granite with sharp outlines and long undulations, continually diversified and changing form as the steamer ploughed her way through the waters. Yet though there was much sameness, monotony there was not: this very diversity of form and outline was full of interest, and kept awake the attention. About three o’clock we reached the poor fellow’s home who had died just six hours before. A boat came alongside, and the father got into it. The rough coffin, covered by a small sheet, was gently placed in after him. Bowing gravely to the captain, the man went off with his burden. We watched the boat until it touched the shore ; watched the old mother come out of her cottage and down the rocky slope ; saw her throw upwards her hands and her apron in an agony of despair, as she learned that neither look nor clasp would ever again greet her from her beloved son. GONG OO SS (CO) an ——_) ~— —_—— ee OO