The Day of the Dead. (All-Souls-Day.)

万灵节

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?

这一天是用来纪念死者的。安利柯啊！徐晓得万灵节是什么日子吗？这是系从前死去的人的日子。小孩在这天，应该纪念已死的人，——特别应纪念为小孩而死的人。从前死过的人有多少？又，即如今天，有多少人正在将死？你曾把这想到过吗？不知道有多少做父亲的在劳苦之中失了生命呢？不知道有多少做母亲的为了养育小孩，辛苦伤身，非命地早入地下呢？因不忍见自己小孩的陷于不幸，绝望了自杀的男子，不知有多少？因失去了自己的小孩，投水悲痛，发狂而死的女人，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！你今天应该想想这许多死去的人啊！你要想想：有许多先生因为大爱学生，在学校里劳作过度，年纪未老，就别了学生们而死去！你要想想：有许多医生为了要医治小孩们的病，自己传染了而死去！你要想想：在难船、饥道、火灾及其他非常危险的时候，有许多人是将最后的一口面包，最后的安全场所，最后从火灾中逃身的绳梯，让给了幼稚的小灵魂，自己却满足于牺牲而从容地瞑目了！啊！安利柯啊！像这样死去的人，数也数不尽。无论哪里的墓地，都眠着成千成百的这样神圣的灵魂。如果这许多的人能够暂时在这世界中复活，他们必定要呼唤那些小孩们的名字，为他们而贡献出自己的壮年的快乐，老年的平和，以及爱情、才能和生命的小孩们的名字。二十岁的女子，壮年的男子，八十岁的老人，青年的，——为幼者而殉身的这许多无名的英雄——这许多高尚伟大的人们墓前所应该撒的花，单靠这地球，是无论如何不够长的。你们小孩是这样地被他们爱着，所以，安利村啊！在万灵节，要用感恩的心去纪念这许多亡人。这样，你对于爱你的人们，对于为你劳苦的人们，自会更亲和、更有情了。你真是幸福的人啊！你在万灵节，还未曾有想起来要哭的人呢。—母亲—