Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Sidor ...
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
292
SÖNYA KOVALÉVSKY
Sönya was anxious to be cremated, because she had
also a fear of being buried alive.- She pictured to
herself how it would feel to awaken in her coffin. She
described it in such words as to make all who heard
her shudder.
Her illness was so short and violent that probably
she had no time or power to recall at the last moment
all these sad forebodings. The only thing she said
which suggested that she had any idea of her
approaching end she uttered on Monday morning, the
9th of February, barely twenty hours before she died.
" I shall never get over this illness," she said. And
on the evening of the same day she remarked, "I feel
as if a great change had come over me."
But as to the rest, her fear was chiefly that her
illness might be a long one. She had not strength to
speak much, for she had severe pleurisy, high fever,
and asthma. She suffered cruel pain, and could not
bear to be alone for a moment.
The last night but one she said to Ellen Key, who
scarcely ever left her: " If you hear me moan in my
sleep, wake me, and help me to change my position;
otherwise I fear it may go ill with me. My mother
died in just such an access of pain."
She had hereditary disease of the heart, and had in
consequence often expressed a hope that she might die
young. This disease, however, was found at the
postmortem to have been of no importance, though it may
have increased the asthma caused by the pleurisy.
The friends who were near her during her short
illness cannot say enough about her goodness, gentleness,
and patience; or how unselfish she was, fearing to give
trouble; and how touching was her gratitude for every
little service rendered.
On Tuesday her little girl was to go to a children’s
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
