National opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1865-1874, 1872-10-04
Alice Cary.

luis DplltlfuI tribute 10 tue memory
OF gifted woman, whose sweet and
tender utterances will long live in the
hearts of the people, we taka from the
Christian Uaioa:
Considering the multitude OF her
literary engagements, and the quantity
Of verse which she gave to the press dur
ing the twenty years Of her career, the
amount of mental labor which she must
have performed was indeed great. And
yet, busy as was her life, Alice always
had half hour for friend-.seeming
greatly to enjoy these breaks in her
working hours while, to the applicant
tor advice or assistance, she ever lent n
willing ear.
"Ths readiness OF sympathy opened
the gates to wide work Of charity, and
during the last years Of her life she be
came, in II confidential way, the dispenser
of AID, encouragement aud advice 10 an
extent which even her best friends could
hardly realize or measure. Was it n
woman ont of work ? Alice placed work
in the willing hands. Was it n sick
family in nced Of food or Attendance
Alice was the good angel who brought
peace into the sad room. Was it a Young
girl going astray? Alice, the gentle,
sympathlzng sister, Won the wandering
feet into sober paths. Was it Il disap-
pointed author who came to tell her story
Of disappointed hopes =? Alice, from out
If the stores of her own experience.
drew lessons which comforted and en-.
couraged. She was, indeed, very Sister
of Mercy. and when she died, tears were
shed for her at many a tireside, in many
lone cham ber where her memory now
is something verv sacred and sweet"
Referring to her death, the writer
adds:
4" In life, the sisters were inseparable.
Their love for each other was very beau
tiful to behold. Unlike in many respects
they were alike in affection and when
ilice fell sick, with her last lingering
and intensely painful illness, Phoebe
was almost her sole companion and com
forter. She watched carefully through
days. weeks, months, of such suffering
as happily, it is not often our lot to
witness. The disease at first assumed
the form Of inhammatory rheumatism I;
then developed into sciatica, which grad
ually drew the hip-socket apart. Relief
was obtained, in the moments of acutest
agony, ouly by morphine, il iected and
her body finally became mass of punct
nres inflicted by the steel of the inject
or. It was Phnbe's hand which gave
the lesser pain to soothe the greater
torture. Brave in her duty, she would
press the cruel probe into tie shrinking
flesh and tnen, when sleep followed,
she would steal away to her own room to
sob 4er own nerves iuto suhjection.
"Death came at last. How great
relief it was to the sufferer cauuot be
expr. ssed in words. To Phoebe it was
real joy-for her beloved one, after so
long agony, had repose. But who can
say what loneliness was in her heart
That beautiful home, 80 full of associa
tions of the dead, how inexpressibly sad
must have been it's very atmosphere
Left to herself-courting no companion
slip even with her most intimate friends
she seemed to dwell with the dead
Earth, and life, aud friends, were no
longer as they were and though she
seemed to others cheerful and resigned,
it was only too evident that Phoebe longeI
to follow her sister gone before. She
had not long to wait, for, ere six months,
she, too, fell asleep"