Later an imposing monument was
erected, but Count Batthyanyi's best and most enduring monument is the
part he took in the emancipation of the serfs.
Turning aside from the public demonstrations around the tombs of poets
and patriots, we wandered down the more secluded alleys of the cemetery.
In a lonely spot, quite away from the crowd and the glare, we came upon
an exquisite little plot of garden with growing flowers, shrubs, and
cypress-trees, tended, one could see, with loving care, "and in the
garden there is a sepulchre." I shall not easily forget the look of
ineffable grief visible on the face of an elderly man who was arranging
and rearranging the lights round and about the family grave. We noticed
that the names on the slab were those of a wife and mother, followed by
her children, several of them, sons and daughters, the dates of their
decease being terribly close one upon another. I had a conviction that
the lonely man we saw there was the only survivor of his family; I feel
sure it must have been so. It was very touching the way in which he
(aimlessly, it seemed to me) moved first this light and then the other,
or grouped them together around the vases of sweet flowers that decked
the graves. It was all that remained for him to do for his beloved ones;
and we could see the poor man was vainly occupying himself, lingering
on, unwilling to leave the spot!
We had not much fancy for returning amongst the patriotic crowd gathered
about the gaslighted Valhalla, so we made our way out.
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