North Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1867-current, 1867-11-20

Obituary-Elizabeth Read. ....
1t is seldom we are called upon to mourn
for one more respected, more beloved by all
who knew her, than we are in this in
stance. Her long residence among us, her
extensive acquaintance, her respectable
connections, and above all, her good and
noble life, calls from me more than pass
ing tribute.
Men die, and the historian records their
deeds in living words, which pass down
the pathway of futurity, exciting either the
wonder Or the admiration of generations
yet to come. r..... ....
But women, calm, silent, patient and de-
voted in their sphere of action, pass thro'
life with all its varied trials, achieving
deeds of holy greatness, over difficulties
which would make the stoutest heart of
man shudder, and then after finished
life, sink into silent grave without a
word or whisper from those they have
left behind them, to connect their name
with posterity. ...... s.-
Kind, loving, virtuous and noble Wo-
man, thy sphere is above the ground; thy
deeds are more than heroic, and thy devo-
tedness is beyond the sublime. Nor 1as
the world ever yet, by pen or pencil, just
ly thrown thy pictured life upon either
curtain or canvass From the cradle to the
grave thine is holy mission. 1t is thine
to tutor the youthful mind, and fit it to
play its part in the great drama of life
1t is thine to help the little ones in their
griefs, to wipe away their tears and offer
consolation. Thine to watch over youth
from infancy to manhood, instilling into
their minds those principles and precepts
of virtue by which alone they become hon
orable to themselves and ornaments to So
ciety. 1t is thine to soothe the rugged
paths of life, and when these become wea-
ry, 10 cheer US onward to deeds of daring
and virtue. The first at the bedside of
sickness and the last to leave it and it is
thine to adjust the pillows and calm the
weary spirit as it wings its way to bright
er land and when thy own life is fir.
ished, when thy mission is ended and thy
last admonition is given, to calmly, silent
ly lie down and die. If beyond this life
there is another where we shall meet,
surely thou shalt there have the reward
and if there is none, thou hast done thy
part here, and made the most Of life OF
care and duty.
The venerable woman who is the sub
ject of this sketch, was born in England
in 1875, and it was there that she spent
her youthful days, and grew up to woman
hood. Under the care of tender and de-
voted parents she received most excel
lent education which enabled her in after
years to become shining ornament in So
ciety.
Her fathers name was Wilkes, and be-
longed to one of those ancient families,
who, in the days of Cromwell, several
times made not only England but Europe
tremble in the cause of liberty and reform,
and from whose valor we are to-day in
debted for many of the blessings we en-
joy. The historian cannot fail to trace a
chain of circumstances, even down to our
own time, connected, link by link, from
the great uprising in England, by which
Charles the First lost both his head and his
crown, to that Of the American Revolu-
tiCn.
In her youthful days, as she often in
formed the author of this, she would lis
ten to the strange ad yenturer from the
shores of the new world relate his thrill
ing stories Of Border life, of hair-breadth
escapes, romantic scenery, habits and Gus
toms of the Red men, lofty mountains and
majestic rivers, woody wales and aowry
plains, until her youthful mind itself be-
came imbued with the same wild spirit of
and, like many females of our
own day who forsake kindred and friends,
md traverse sandy deserts beneath an At
rican sun, she sailed uponethe broad ocean
md landed in America in the year 1918.
10 the West, to the land Of the Sun-down,
his heroic woman directed her way, and
soon after she landed she made up her
mind to cross the Alleghanies and settle on
he banks of the Ohio. At this time no
'ailroads traversed the broad continent as
hey do now. The steamer had scarcely
'egun to pillow the rippled waves Of west
'rn waters. The four-horse covered wag-
IN was the cur, and the keel-boat the stea.
ner, and the road from Philadelphia to
he Ohio wound its way over lofty noun
aims and through dangerous deales, but
till she pushed on and arrived at Pitts
,urg. Here she embarked in a keel-boat
or Cincinnati where she proposed to make
Ter future home. Cincinnati at this time
vas frontier village, aud Ohio from the
,orders Of Virginia to the Wabash was al
most a wilderness. The savage still held
he largest portion of the State, and lurk-
ID in ambush on the banks Of its rivers to