"folks ahead with lanterns..."

31 March 2021: "'Sarah,' said Abby, solemnly, 'what's got to come has got to. You've got to look at things reasonable. There's two of us, an' one would have to go before the other one; we've always known it. It ain't goin' to be so bad as you think. Mis' Dunbar is comin' here to live with you. I've got it all fixed with her. She's real strong, an' she can make up the fires, an' git the water an' the tubs. You're fifty years old, an' you're goin' to have some more years to live. But it's just goin' to be gittin' up one day after another an' goin' to bed at night, an' they'll be gone. It can be got through with. There's roads trod out through everything, an' there's folks ahead with lanterns, as it were...'" --Mary Wilkins Freeman, "Two Friends"

Found myself fighting back tears reading this passage in my ENGL 301 class today. Big emotions all week. Almost too much, but the Lord also sends moments of light (people with lanterns, even if they don't know it), for which I am so grateful.