SAID WITH FLOWERS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 49, 13 March 1937, Page 17

SAID WITH FLOWERS

Tombstones to Animals

^N OLD LADY passeiA drfeesed in black with a pot bf chrysantkmums pressfed tb * hfer heart,- says the DrettCh writfer lldrisfe LOndrei. On hfer W &y, no dbubt, to decoratfe ' some iombi Whom is she mourning for? A chiidt a father? a husband? I know nothing of h'fer sbrroW and *i had not intcfided to go to the cemetery, but, out of feuriosity, I follow her, She opfehs tt gatfe attd giides With aceustomfed step bfetwefen hundrfedfe of Vfery 'small slabs tb a ininiatu're flbWfet garden enfelosed by a dwarf railing. But for the fiowers on every side one taight imagine Oneself at a marble-cutter 's showing .the latest emall models bf funeral monument^. . On her ■ knfees -ttbW thfe lady is busy gardening-. She - imirmurs: "I atn bringing you thesfe thi's wfeek. Then I will- plant BOtnfe beauliflil snowdropS, pUffe white likfe you, my daf liilg 'Mimiss tt is the grave of a ddg she ii decoratingj Dumbfounded, I look around me. Near by is a stone adorned .With some uotes of musiCi "Dick, you &te gohe . s a And here I am alond;" A little' fafther on I readi "To my dear little parrot, Zouzou, who died at the age of 45 years.' }

Ott mitty sionfei there ara inscriptioni in Versb. I botttlnub my walk, Baluting ott thfe- Way;j Trfeytown, a. celebrated faorse Who died on the field of honour. A gefitiematt itt light ghiters, witering the grave of Ma cat, pbinta .but to me the tomb bf Barry, a la¥ge St. Bernard who s'dvfed traVeliers* ltveS itt the snow and "was wo'rth, many men.']" There are alsfe the gravefe of dther dogs, not famouB in any way btlt here simply because they "loVed their mastere." And, aftfer all, ii therfe anytfixng in all this tb laugh at or be angry about? These grotesqua infecriptibtts, these childish demonstrations of sentiment, withbUt atty regard for publife opinion, do thfey not form an indictment against those egotists whose affections are centred only on themselvesf Are they not a denunciation of the frightfUl moral solitude in which many humatt beings haVO tb live? Certaiuly there are children fettduring cold, wotoen going hUhgfy, pfeverty jostling you at every streefc cbrtter and here, in this Cemetery , . 4 tnrtledove sleeps under a marble etbnel But in order to live, matt nefeds more than food and shelter; he ttfefeds lovfe. A pobdle Will look at you with his dog's eyefe and you can believe in his attachliient. With him you are not alone.