Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1862-07-18


| L From the Adams County Independent
ssSHE HAS OUTLINED HER USEFUL-
! NESS"
| A middle aged man came to the village in
quest of certain necessaries and while they
were being put up an acquaintance said to
him, "Well, I'm told the old lady is dead"
"Yes," replied the man. in business like
tone and manner, yes, yes, she is gone
A very great loss, the death of so good and
kind mother" said the mourner's" ac
auantancc. "Wcll, yes,' replied the man
with some hesitancy, I" a mother is a great
loss in general; but she had outlived her
usefulness. She was in her second child
hood and though she retained her mental
faculties remarkably, still her condition of
mind and body had become so feeble, she was
of little comfort to herself and was rather
burdcnsome,'
o God as gazcd in amazement on the
face of the pious, perhaps well meaning, yet
utterly heartless man, and then looked away
ON merry children's faces which smiled or
grew sad in imitation of those around, those
little ones to whose ear no word is half so
sweet as mother,"-I prayed in my heart
that the day might never come when they
should say | VI" had outived my usefulness p
God forbid that any of our circle of friends
should outlive the love of their children
Rather let us die when our hearts are part of
their own, that our graves may be watercd
by their tears, and our love linked with their
hopes of heaven.
At the funeral of the aged mother, many
people assembled to pay their last tribute of
rcsprc ct even though she "had outved her
usefulness and had come to be burden.
some" to some of those whom common hui
manitv and the ties o. kindred should have
rendered charitable and indulgent was
glad that there was no great bell to toll out
the long number of her weary years, so long
that before the iron tongue and mournrul
sound should tell the weary sum that they
would seem to lie like a stone upon the heart
And yet as the mind looked back through
the long vistas Of years Of her weary life, the
very brceZes seemed
"Tolne-t -tolling-tollng
In a muiiled monotone"
The imagination could but hear the merry,
peaceful o--thrce--iour-five that
told of her once peaceful sumbcr on her
mothers bosom, and of her seat at nightfall
on her weary fathers knee. Six--seven--
eight nine - ten, rang out the tale of
her sports upon tncprcen SWald IN tue mead
ows and by the brook.
Eleven observation-disclosures cn--rourtccn-fif-
teen, spoke most gravely of her school days,
and little household joys and cares. Sixteen
--seventeen-eightecn sounded ont the en-.
raptured vision of maidenhood, and the dream
of early love. Nineteen brought us before
the happy bride. Twenty spoke of the young
mother, whose heart was full to bursting
with the new song of love which God had
awakened in her bosom. And then stroke
after stroke told of her early wOmanhood--
of the love and cares. and hopes, fears and
tolls through which she passed during these
long years, till fifty rang out harsh and loud.
From that to sixty each stroke told of the
warm hearted and grand mother, living over
again her own joys and SORROWS, in those of
her children and chldsen'S children. Every
family of the group wanted grandmother
then, and the only strife was who should Sc
cure the prize but bark the bell tolls on !!
Seventy-one--two a.> 10.
She now begins too grow feeble, requires
soae care, is not always perfectly patient or
satisfied; she gees from one child's house to
another so that no one place seems like home.
She murmurs in plaintlve tones, that after
all her toll and weariness, it is hard she can
not be allowed a home to die in; that she
must be sent rather than invited, from house
to house Eighty one-twe-three--fou
all. she is now second child" now she has
outlived her usefulness, she has ceased to be
comfort to herself or anybody" that is she
has ceased to be profitable to her earth -crav.
ing and money -grasping children.
Now sounds out, rcvcrbcrating through the
lovely forest. and echong back from our "hil
of the deadn eighty six there she lies now
in the, coffin, cold and still = she makes
no trouble now, demands no love, no soft
words, no tender little Offices look Of
patient endurance, 1 fancied also an express
sion Of grief for unrequted love, sat on her
marble features. Her children were there
clad in weeds Of woe, and in irony remem
Der the strong mans word. A mother is
great loss in general; but She had outved
her usefulness" a. rsf a}f
From little child have honored the red !;
was taught by pious, good parents, the re-
spect due from all those in the morning Of
life; but never so fully realized the love and
sympathy due this class as when | saw the
mortal frame Of this mother of more than
four score years sink into the bosom of kind
mother earth Dust to dustr' said the
clergyman, as he threw earth upon the coffin
of this mother who for long years toiled as
only mothers can toll and for what Was
it for herself that she might lay up treasures
on earth? No! no! But that her children.
whom she had in the fullness and love Of wo-
manly pride reared to maturity, might be
happy ard fully prepared for this lifeand that
which is to come. Yea, clad in the weeds OF
womanhood, she dwelt among her children
and while health and vigor endured, she lab
ored but for her descendants, and her dying
words to them were the simple, kind, yet
comprehensive and forciblc injunction. "be