p. 111 | OBITUARY by Editor

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 19, 1858

OBITUARY.

By Editor

DIED in Convis, Mich., July 25th, 1858, Francis Marion Lane, the only child of Thomas and Maria Lane, aged one year nine months, and seven days.

TO THE BEREAVED PARENTS, ON THE ABOVE.

Still reigns the tyrant Death in sable power; Sorrow and mourning wait at his command; For tender bud, as well as blooming flower, Fades 'neath the touch of his relentless hand.

And hath his summons to your hearts been spoken? Hath his dark shadow crossed your threshold o'er? Hath he the links of fond affection broken, And borne a loved one from this mortal shore?

So hath a floweret from your pathway faded; A bright star shining o'er you, set in gloom; Bright rays of hope are from your vision shaded, By the dark curtain of the silent tomb.

'Tis well to weep: stay not the burning tears, If thus the burdened heart may find relief; For this dark earth hath been, six thousand years, A vale of woe, a charnel-house of grief.

Know then that here where dearest forms have perished, There's nothing true on which our love to shed: Not where death reigns, can hopes of bliss be cherished, Which may not crumble 'neath his icy tread.

But ah! there is a land whose shores are nearing; The ills of earth its soil shall never bear: Of that bright world there stands this promise cheering, Death finds no entrance, pain no victims, there.

To that fair land be now your footsteps tending; Fix heart and treasure on that blissful shore; Where friends shall re-unite in joy unending, Nor taste the pangs of separation more. Ed.