Recollections in the Cathedral at Malines or “Mechlin” in Belgium.
On this anniversary of the day on which my loved little one closed his short earthly career, called by the will of our Creator to early beatitude, I saw in the cathedral at Malines a beautiful sculptured monument; the subject, I conclude, adopted by some afflicted mother from the passage in Holy Writ which I, in my own sorrow, had engraven on my child’s tomb:
“Suffer little children to come to me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”
On the monument I have referred to, an angel presents to Jesus Christ a little boy, of age and size resembling dear C——; his hands are clasped, and raised as in entreaty; and the sculptor has given to the features of our Saviour all the gentle benignity of his character, while he extends his hands to the infant claimant of heaven, and seems to say, “Come to my bosom, there to be cradled till I replace you in your mother’s arms.”