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THE BAT.
131
ought to, and no doubt have," and by that time
the old wife had succeeded in gently forcing
him out of the cemetery, which he left sobbing
bitterly, while his aged mate patted him on his
shoulder.
" ’ True,’ I observed, ’ women always bear up
against real adversity better than the stoutest
manly heart. It is a heaven-bestowed gift.’
And the old couple turned round at the gate ;
and he donned his old hat, and both made the
sign of the cross, and disappeared for ever."
" No doubt you have witnessed many a
heartrending scene from your sombre dwelling ?" I
said to the bat.
" Yes ; but you might see them any day for
yourself in any cemetery, if you like to witness
sorrow and despair, though it is healthier not
to associate too much with them, or you would
soon lose all wish to live. Living in the dark
has made us bats of a contemplative mood,
and I used sometimes to rest in a tree,—always
upside-down,—and by starlight read the
inscriptions on the handsome monuments and
tomb-stones, which of course then appeared
to me the very reverse of what it would to you.
We can only read upside-down, and then the
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