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The Day of the Dead. (All-Souls-Day.)
萬靈節
November 2d.
11月2日
This day is consecrated to the commemoration of the dead. Do you know, Enrico, that all you boys should, on this day, devote a thought to those who are dead? To those who have died for you,--for boys and little children. How many have died, and how many are dying continually! Have you ever reflected how many fathers have worn out their lives in toil? how many mothers have descended to the grave before their time, exhausted by the privations to which they have condemned themselves for the sake of sustaining their children? Do you know how many men have planted a knife in their hearts in despair at beholding their children in misery? How many women have drowned themselves or have died of sorrow, or have gone mad, through having lost a child?
這一天是用來紀念死者的。安利柯啊！徐曉得萬靈節是什么日子嗎？這是系從前死去的人的日子。小孩在這天，應該紀念已死的人，——特別應紀念為小孩而死的人。從前死過的人有多少？又，即如今天，有多少人正在將死？你曾把這想到過嗎？不知道有多少做父親的在勞苦之中失了生命呢？不知道有多少做母親的為了養育小孩，辛苦傷身，非命地早入地下呢？因不忍見自己小孩的陷于不幸，絕望了自殺的男子，不知有多少？因失去了自己的小孩，投水悲痛，發狂而死的女人，不知道有多少？
Think of all these dead on this day, Enrico. Think of how many schoolmistresses have died young, have pined away through the fatigues of the school, through love of the children, from whom they had not the heart to tear themselves away; think of the doctors who have perished of contagious diseases, having courageously sacrificed themselves to cure the children; think of all those who in shipwrecks, in conflagrations, in famines, in moments of supreme danger, have yielded to infancy the last morsel of bread, the last place of safety, the last rope of escape from the flames, to expire content with their sacrifice, since they preserved the life of a little innocent. Such dead as these are innumerable, Enrico; every graveyard contains hundreds of these sainted beings, who, if they could rise for a moment from their graves, would cry the name of a child to whom they sacrificed the pleasures of youth, the peace of old age, their affections, their intelligence, their life: wives of twenty, men in the flower of their strength, octogenarians, youths, --heroic and obscure martyrs of infancy, --so grand and so noble, that the earth does not produce as many flowers as should strew their graves. To such a degree are ye loved, O children! Think to-day on those dead with gratitude, and you will be kinder and more affectionate to all those who love you, and who toil for you, my dear, fortunate son, who, on the day of the dead, have, as yet, no one to grieve for. Thy Mother.
安利柯啊！你今天應該想想這許多死去的人啊！你要想想：有許多先生因為大愛學生，在學校里勞作過度，年紀未老，就別了學生們而死去！你要想想：有許多醫生為了要醫治小孩們的病，自己傳染了而死去！你要想想：在難船、饑道、火災及其他非常危險的時候，有許多人是將最后的一口面包，最后的安全場所，最后從火災中逃身的繩梯，讓給了幼稚的小靈魂，自己卻滿足于犧牲而從容地瞑目了！啊！安利柯啊！像這樣死去的人，數也數不盡。無論哪里的墓地，都眠著成千成百的這樣神圣的靈魂。如果這許多的人能夠暫時在這世界中復活，他們必定要呼喚那些小孩們的名字，為他們而貢獻出自己的壯年的快樂，老年的平和，以及愛情、才能和生命的小孩們的名字。二十歲的女子，壯年的男子，八十歲的老人，青年的，——為幼者而殉身的這許多無名的英雄——這許多高尚偉大的人們墓前所應該撒的花，單靠這地球，是無論如何不夠長的。你們小孩是這樣地被他們愛著，所以，安利村啊！在萬靈節，要用感恩的心去紀念這許多亡人。這樣，你對于愛你的人們，對于為你勞苦的人們，自會更親和、更有情了。你真是幸福的人啊！你在萬靈節，還未曾有想起來要哭的人呢。—母親—
