Koamalu : a story of pioneers on Kauai, and of what they built in that island garden / by Ethel M. Damon. [Vol. 1, no. 2]

666

KOA M ALU

The journey homeward must have been undertaken
soon after this last letter, and for all the heavy shadow
that hung over it, the joys of that homecoming were
intense. Unfortunately, such happiness lasted only a few
weeks, during which it became evident to Paul Isenberg
that he must go with his beloved wife himself and that
together they must try what might be done, for go alone
again she could not. This may have been in March and
the journey did not cover many weeks, because they
were soon at home again where she had her loved ones
around her. The little daughter, less than five years old,
could not understand it all, but the strange quiet days cut
lines into her memory that are sharp today, after more
than threescore years. "I remember when my mother was
ill and often lying down, and one day when I went in
and took her hand, it was cold, and they told me she
could never speak to me again. Then the next day we all
went down to the Grave Yard where I had often been
with her to lay flowers on Grandfather's grave. and I
remember my father crying."
To the children, there had already been long months
of separation, and Grandmother and Father were still
there at home with them. But to Paul, not the greatest
effort of his strong will could make him at first realize
that Maria would not be coming back. And to Grandmother, ah, to the little Grandmother who must now continue always to be Mother as well, it was as if the last
wave of desolation had engulfed her. Not her husband's
death even had overwhelmed her as did the loss of this
eldest daughter, this true comrade who had been so long
a very pillar of strength to her little mother. Looking one
day through Maria's papers, perhaps in the treasured
writing case, Paul Isenberg came upon the beginning of
a letter, written probably a year before, but never finished, the only will, doubtless, that his wife ever made.
He marked upon it the date and laid it away with others