"The boys were walking in the Cemetery last Sunday,as they often do,and when they came to Ed's grave,the place was all covered with little acorns from the tree that grows on the bank.They each took up some as they stood talking,and Jack said he should plant his,for he loved Ed very much,you know.The others said they would,too;and I hope the trees will grow,though we don't need anything to remember him by,"answered Jill,in a low tone,thinking of the pressed flowers the girls kept for his sake.
The boys heard her,but no one spoke for a moment as they sat looking across the river toward the hill where the pines whispered their lullabies and pointed heavenward,steadfast and green,all the year round.None of them could express the thought that was in their minds as Jill told the little story;but the act and the feeling that prompted it were perhaps as beautiful an assurance as could have been given that the dear dead boy's example had not been wasted,for the planting of the acorns was a symbol of the desire budding in those young hearts to be what he might have been,and to make their lives nobler for the knowledge and the love of him.
"It seems as if a great deal had happened this year,"said Merry,in a pensive tone,for this quiet talk just suited her mood.
"So I say,for there's been a Declaration of Independence and a Revolution in our house,and I'm commander-in-chief now;and don't I like it!"cried Molly,complacently surveying the neat new uniform she wore of her own choosing.
"I feel as if I never learned so much in my life as I have since last December,and yet I never did so little,"added Jill,wondering why the months of weariness and pain did not seem more dreadful to her.
'Well,pitching on my head seems to have given me a good shaking up,somehow,and I mean to do great things next year in better ways than breaking my bones coasting,"said Jack,with a manly air.
"I feel like a Siamese twin without his mate now you are gone,but I'm under orders for a while,and mean to do my best.Guess it won't be lost time";and Frank nodded at Gus,who nodded back with the slightly superior expression all Freshmen wear.
"Hope you won't find it so.My work is all cut out for me,and Iintend to go in and win,though it is more of a grind than you fellows know.""I'm sure I have everything to be grateful for.It won't be plain sailing--I don't expect it;but,if I live,I'll do something to be proud of,"said Ralph,squaring his shoulders as if to meet and conquer all obstacles as he looked into the glowing west,was not fairer than his ambitious dreams.
Here we will say good-by to these girls and boys of ours as they sit together in the sunshine talking over a year that was to be for ever memorable to them,not because of any very remarkable events,but because they were just beginning to look about them as they stepped out of childhood into youth,and some of the experiences of the past months had set them to thinking,taught them to see the use and beauty of the small duties,joys,and sorrows which make up our lives,and inspired them to resolve that the coming year should be braver and brighter than the last.
There are many such boys and girls,full of high hopes,lovely possibilities,and earnest plans,pausing a moment before they push their little boats from the safe shore.Let those who launch them see to it that they have good health to man the oars,good education for ballast,and good principles as pilots to guide them as they voyage down an ever-widening river to the sea.
End