A LITTLE DEAD BOY
The little boy who lived in the vegetable-vendor's court, the one who belonged to the upper primary, and was the companion of my brother, is dead. Schoolmistress Delcati came in great affliction, on Saturday afternoon, to inform the master of it; and instantly Garrone and Coretti volunteered to carry the coffin.
He was a fine little lad. He had won the medal last week. He was fond of my brother, and had given him a broken money-box. My mother always petted him when she met him. He wore a cap with two stripes of red cloth. His father is a porter on the railway.
Yesterday (Sunday) afternoon, at half -past four o'clock, we went to his house, to go with the funeral to the church.
They live on the ground floor. Many boys of the upper primary, with their mothers, all holding candles, were there. Five or six teachers and several neighbors were already collected in the courtyard. The mistress with the red feather and Mistress Delcati had gone inside, and through an open window we beheld them weeping. We could hear the mother of the child sobbing loudly. Two ladies, mothers of two school companions of the dead child, had brought garlands of flowers.
Exactly at five o'clock we set out. In front went a boy carrying a cross, then a priest, then the coffin,—a very, very small coffin, poor child!—covered with a black cloth, and round it were wound the garlands brought by the two ladies. On the black cloth, on one side, were fastened the medal and honorable mentions which the little boy had won in the course of the year. Garrone, Coretti, and two boys from the courtyard bore the coffin. Behind the coffin first came mistress Delcati, who wept as though the little dead boy were her own; behind her the other schoolmistresses; and behind the mistresses, the boys, among whom were some very little ones, who carried bunches of violets in one hand, and who stared wonderingly at the bier, while their other hand was held by their mothers, who carried candles. I heard one of them say, “And shall I not see him at school again?”
When the coffin came from the court, a despairing cry was heard from the window. It was the child's mother; but they made her draw back into the room immediately. On arriving in the street, we met the boys from a college, who were passing in double file; and on catching sight of the coffin with the medal and the schoolmistresses, they all pulled off their hats.
Poor little boy! he went to sleep forever with his medal. We shall never see his red cap again. He was in perfect health; in four days he was dead. On the last day he made an effort to rise and study his lesson, and he insisted on keeping his medal on his bed for fear it would be taken from him. No one will ever take it from you again, poor boy! Farewell, farewell! We shall always remember you at the Baretti School! Sleep in peace, dear little boy!