PAGE 15
Emerald Uthwart
by
Deceased was in his twenty-seventh year, but looked many years younger; had indeed scarcely yet reached the full condition of manhood. The extreme purity of the outlines, both of the face and limbs, was such as is usually found only in quite early youth; the brow especially, under an abundance of fair hair, finely formed, not high, but arched and full, as is said to be the way with those who have the imaginative temper in excess. Sad to think that had he lived reason must have deserted that so worthy abode of it! I was struck by the great beauty of the organic developments, in the strictly anatomic sense; those of the throat and diaphragm in particular might have been modelled for a teacher of normal physiology, or a professor of design. The flesh was still almost as firm as that of a living person; as happens when, as in this case, death comes to all intents and purposes as gradually as in old age.
This expression of health and life, under my seemingly merciless doings, together with the mother’s distress, touched me to a degree very unusual, I conceive, in persons of my years and profession. Though I believed myself to be acting by his express wish, I felt like a criminal. The ball, a small one, much corroded with blood, was at length removed; and I was then directed to wrap it in a partly-printed letter, or other document, and place it in the breast-pocket of a faded and much-worn scarlet soldier’s coat, put over the shirt which enveloped the body. The flowers were then hastily replaced, the hands and the peak of the handsome nose remaining visible among them; the wind ruffled the fair hair a little; the lips were still red. I shall not forget it. The lid was then placed on the coffin and screwed down in my presence. There was no plate or other inscription upon it.
NOTES
1. *Published in the New Review, June and July 1892, and now reprinted by the kind permission of the proprietors.
2. +Transliteration: askesis. Liddel and Scott definition: “exercise, training.”
3. +Transliteration: Moirai. Liddel and Scott definition: “[singular =] one’s portion in life, lot, destiny.”
4. +Transliteration: Ker. Brief Liddel and Scott definition: “doom, death, destruction.”
5. +Translation: “in this church established for boys.”
6. +Transliteration: he pterou dynamis.