Saturday, April 26, 2014

A virtuous sister's stone

A very old lady came to the stone cutter's studio, soliciting a grave stone for her sister. She talked very slowly, and was very grief-struck.
She told him: My sister and myself lived the same way all our lives, always kept each other's company and no man's, keeping ourselves and each other pure. I want the grave stone to say:

HERE RESTS IDA MILLER
SHE WAS BORN PURE
SHE LIVED VIRTUOUSLY
SHE DIED UNTOUCHED

But the lady did not like to spend money, and there was not much in it for the stone cutter, so in the end he engraved:

HERE RESTS IDA MILLER
RETURNED UNOPENED

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