Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1868-08-20
The Dead Wife.

There is no sorrow so crushing, sooverwhelm-
ing, so utterly irremediablc as that for the dear
dead wife the wife of our first love, of your
buoyant, hopeful youth with all its early
struggles, its mutual aims, its hopes, Its labors
and its frutions: for long years together you
worked side by side, hand in hand; she shared
your troubles, and kissed away half their Sc
WORTHY; she doubled your gladness by the plea
sure which it gave her to sec you happy; and
when in the lapse of years you bad arrived at
a position to enable you to take life easy and
enjoy it, as you had never done before, hea-
venly hand takes her from your side and trans
ports her into the presence Of God, where you
may not follow her now. You want to tell her
how sweetly she died how her friends gath
cred around her funeral bier, and, in their az
fection. strewing white flowers uponher bosom;
how lovingly and long they gazed on the dead
familiar face, so beautifully calm in death
heavenly sweetness so pevading every Inca
ment as to give it an angel seeming lon
want TO tell her, too, how that last, long, fond
kiss almost broke your heart, and how you
wanted to die when they covered her face from
your sight forever and then as the weary
weeks pass on. how busy memory brings up the
forgotten past, with its long array OF loving
acts of spontaneous tenderness; Of seli-abne-
cations; of sleepless vigilance Of instructive
solicitude; how you would give your life away
for ore short interview But il cannot be;
she is an angel now, and in her heavenly pu-
rity waits in patient affection for the time when
it shall be the Masters will to bring you to her
feet, and make Of you an angel too. Beautl-
fully has it been said of THE DEAD WIFE:
ain comparison with that loss, all other be-
reayments are triAcs. The wife. she who fills
50 large space in the domestic heaven; she
who is so busy, so unweary-bittcr, bitter II
the tear that falls on her clay. You stand be-
side her grave and think of the past an am
ber-coored pathway, where the sun shone upon
beautiful flowers, or the stars hung glitterinS
| in the sky. No othorns arc remembered above
the sweet clay, save those your own hand may
have unwittngly planted. Her noble tender
heart lies open to your nmost sight. You
| think Of her as all gentleness, all beauty, and
all purity But she is dead The dear head
that SO often laid upon your bosom, now rests
upon pillow of clay. The soft hands that
ministered so untiringly to your every want
arc folded, white and cold, beneath the gloomy
portals. The heart whose every heartbeat
measured an eternity Of love, lies still under
your feet. And there is no white arm over
your shoulder now no speaking face to look
up in the eye Of love; no smile to greet you at
nightfal-and the clock ticks and strikes, and
ticks again-it was sweet music when she could
hear it 4; and now it seems 10 knel only the
hours through which you watched the shadows
Of death gathering upon her sweet face; but
many a tale it telleth Of joys past, sorrows
shared. and beautiful words and deeds register
ed above. You feel assured that she is In
happier world, and that with an angel presence
she is often at your side. Cherish tbeso emo
tions. Let her holy presence be as a charm to
keep you from evil Never forget what she
has been to you, aud be tender Of her memory"
But if desolations like these sweep rcsistless-
ly over the heart Of the stout, strong man when
bis wife has been taken from his side, how 10
computably greater must be the sorrow Of the
widowed bosom when he has been removed
upon whose arm sbe 20 wholly leaned, upon
whose counsel she so wholly rested, and upon
whose providence she 50 implicitly relied
Give your warmest sympathies, then, to the
widowed heart, reader, and no longer wonder
that Divinity has made it one oftheeyidences Of
fitness for the heavenly mansions, " to visit the
widow" to stand by her, ever ready to lend
your countcnance, your counsel, your aid, your
support, and your defence.