Sisters, 4 years apart, both 10 years old by lil_sizzler
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Description
The graves of two sisters from the Haney family, located deep in the Arkansas Ozark Mountains. The girls were born 4 years apart, and both lost their lives at only 10 years of age.
Life was hard in the Ozarks back in the late 1800's, and unfortunately stories like this one are all too common in most all the old mountain cemeteries. The girl's graves are located next to each other. The grief the parents must have felt, especially as they laid their second little girl to rest, must have made them wonder if it was all worthwhile.
But carry on they did. Their own graves are located in the same place just a few feet away, and both lived many years beyond the passing of their beloved little ones.
I'm sure that over the years they must have visited their girls here many times before finally joining them. As we stood there silently and I realized both sisters lost their lives at only 10 years of age, I could almost see shadows of the grieving parents on the autumn leaves at our feet, still standing there right beside us as they had done so many times before, a long time ago.
We felt blessed as we walked away.
Marshall
Postscript - Part of the hazard of two photographers sharing one computer is that sometimes we inadvertently post in one anothers gallery. Due to the thoughtful comments already posted we decided to leave this post in my gallery. Thanks for stopping by! -Julia
Postscript - Part of the hazard of two photographers sharing one computer is that sometimes we inadvertently post in one anothers gallery. Due to the thoughtful comments already posted we decided to leave this post in my gallery. Thanks for stopping by! -Julia
Comments (7)
Chipka
The tombstones themselves are a testament to the harshness of life in the earlier days of American history. Nowadays, we tend to romanticize earlier ages, but the harsh truth of the matter is that human mortality rates were a lot higher than they are now, and the causes of death were more-often-than-not disease. I'm always fascinated by graveyard pictures, especially in such old resting places as this appears to be. The stones are weathered. They are simple and hand-wrought, and that's the strangest and most touching testament to the harshness of our past (in more ways that I care to go into here.) There are no fancy angels here, no obelisks, or other structures borrowed from other cultures in an even more romanticized past than the one we often look at. There are simple stones with hand carved dates on them, and that is what's so touching. There's no pretense, there were very few comforts available to people back then, and this means that even during periods of grief, there could be no fancy comforts or smarmy televised sentiments about how they've moved on or crossed over. It's touching in a so many ways, that when things were harsh, as they invariably were, people dealt with grief and called death by its proper name. I find that both chilling and comforting, and this duo of images evokes all of that.
Sea_Dog
Powerful images. The shortness of these two lives is touching and a bit disturbing. The weathered headstones and dead leaves intensifies the images and adds to their sadness.
mandloks
Beautiful pictures, and an interesting but sad presentation.
MrsLubner
I used to take my daughter to the old cemetery when she was younger and then my grand daughter used to go with me and we'd picnic on the pathways there. I have been going every so often for the past 25 years. There are many sad sights like this - as many as 5 children dying within a week during the cholera epidemic...all under the age of 10. Many newborns dead in their first 3 weeks. Life was hard and a cough was taken as a death threat back then. Every illness was serious because it could kill so easily under the conditions. I imagine the parents here saw much the same around them to other families. Death was as much a part of life as a birth or a wedding or harvest time. You gathered the sorrow in and pulled up your head and you just kept going. You had no choice. Lovely shots.
npauling
How heartbreaking this must have been for the parents and strange that they both got to 10. Well spotted.
whaleman
There is much to be seen in any old graveyard!
Hubba1
Very cool :)