exclaiming, "fitting emblem of the pure and innocent young life cut
off ere it had blossomed into womanhood."

And the hollow sounds that greeted the mourner as he wandered
listlessly from room to room apparently looking for some object,
some vague uncertainty, something indefinable.

What solemn stillness reigns around where death has been! The
painful oppression, the muffled tread, the echoes that haunt as
tidings from the spirit world, borne on invisible wings, confronting
us at every step.

To the most matter-of-fact mind these things are indeed a solemn
reality. Death has power to change our every-day thoughts to others
ennobling, beautifying and divine! But we do not sink under the
weight of affliction. God has seen otherwise for us. He heals the
wounds and bids us go on amid life's cares administering to those
around us with increased diligence, happy in the thought of doing
what is required of us.

Throughout the inexhaustible stores of poetry and song is there
anything more exquisitely touching than the lofty and inspired dirge
wailed out in tremulous tones--in memoriam--and the healthful words,

"Ring out the grief that saps the mind
For those that here we see no more;
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind."

But to return to the Lawson homestead.