The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1866-05-24
The Grave of
FIR AN GE s. -
who died+in her 18th W.

'sIIer sunbas gone down whileit is yet day.
Icould have been forgiven, [ thought
then, by the whole world for weeping, and
believed her fresh grave with such tears
as men can shed but once. For there is one
fountain and it lies in the very depths of
the soul, which can be unsealed only by
such misfortune as this. 1t opets for
those tears we shed when we kneel for the
first time over the ashes of our first and on
ly love, and then leaves the heart desolate
as it closes forever.
Here | opened a sealed packet from Fran
ces and committed to Mary's keeping to be
given to me, with her last request that
would read it for the first time at the grave.
found letter within in her own hand,
few days before Sue died.
''MY OWN DEAR Edward | have waited
long months for your return, and it has
been my only prayer for this world that
might see you once more before die. But
fel that the sands of life are fast falling,
and that in a little while this feeble hand
will grow cold i'll death. Since the evening
that we parted at our door, and you held
me in your arms, every throb of my heart,
to its pulsation. has beat and shall beat for
you-I have loved you better than all else
this side Of heaven. But my only concern
now is for you for myself have no soic-
itude. You have received my letter-you
know how deeply l love you, and you will
try to reach my arms before | die, but you
cannot; know your heart will be desolate;
you will be alone in the world when am
gone But let the thought that | have
loved you deeply and loved you to the last
/ III obi
come to break this seal, and weep over my
grave, cast your eyes beyond it, for we
shall meet i'll heaven.
! ''Where no farewell tear is she'd"
Oh what glorious thought it is, that
in heaven there shall be the rapturous meet.
ing of friends-there the mildew of disap
pointment shall never fall to blight the flow
er of love-there the wicked shall cease
from troubling and the weary and aching
heart of man shall find an eternal repose.
You will find in the hands of your sister
my miniature, aud some other little treas
! ures | priced accept them: they are my
parting gifts. Let me ask you one dying
request and l will make you dying prom
| ise-Oh Edward, follow the Saviour and
be Christian, and then our separation will
be only for season. For myself let me
say we know little it is true, but prom
Use you, if | shall be permitted, l will hold
! communion with you. | will cheer and
| console you in every hour of Sadness and
I drive grief away from your heart If l car
will visit you when you come to my grave
and give you, if possible, some token of my
presence. | will be as near you and a,
j constantly as l can. If knew that THU
could all be, it would be blessed assurance
We do not but we can nope.
And now, dear Edward, the being
have loved best on earth--the one whom
have prayed to see but once more before
die--the one whom hope to meet il
| Heaven and sing bis safe arrival there
farewell-farewell My latest prayer an,
thought be with -farewell-farewel
farewell. Your own frances
} There was a spirit in these lines tha
breathed of heaven. They expressed tn
last fond feelings of her soul. and wou
| not have parted with the consolation the
, afforded my wounded heart for the Who'll
5 world, recalled her request and her prom
Use. l could not separate them. knel
D before the Father of the Universe, and b
that grave | sealed my vows to be his obs
Q dent child. In moment the deep strue