Whig and tribune. [volume] (Jackson, Tenn.) 1870-1877, 1873-11-01

i-c -DAoW-lB on L4-C marriage q
| Thomas Hawk to Miss S. J. Dove:
.Iti,u't often that YOU see
50 queer q kind or love-
| Oh what q savage be must Dee
To Tommy Hawk q Dove
/ For .he Wing AMI TrbUne.l
hattie STEVENSON.
What lips can breathe the name o
Matte Stevenson and not quiver witt
the tremuIous awe which a sound al
most too sacred for human ears SHOULD
excite? What mind can read tn,
chapter of her life without being
stunned at the splendor OF its COLDER
pages? Who can gauge the length
and breadth of her majestic character
Amid the clash Of sytems and wher
generations upon fgureless genera,
tions shall have been swept from the
theatre of life and consigned TO for,
getfulness, Matte Stevenson will
stand erect-a moral pyramid in the
solitude of time, beneath whose
shade things VIII moulder and around
whose summit eternity viii play
The old world WAS cxuItaut IN the re-
novn Of her Caesar and Napoleon TN
til the sun Of Washington asceuded
to the zenith and paled every other
Iuminary. Europe heavcd with emo
tions stirred from the depths Of her
heart at the rccoLcctions of Lady
Jane GrJy-IsabelIa of Castile-Char-
Iottc Corday and Florence Nightin-
gale, until America held up Matte
Stevenson to her gaze, before whose
radiant presence every object grew
dim IN twilight and every feeling be-
came mute with reverence. Unlike the
maid of Saragossa" she is not indebt-
ed to the artistic touch Of n Byron TO
give her a grace which succeeding
generations will admire. Hers is no
reflected light-it IS innate and viii
shine isolated and uninhuenced by
other bodies. The historian who re
cords her life, or the poet who sings
her praise VIII enjoy an eternity Of
fame; not, however, from the splen-
dor Of his genius so much as from the
radiance of his theme. Her name is
the brightest gem set in the crown Of
Immortality and viii dazzle as long
as the everlasting stars. Her exam
pie is a Divine Arch of Promise with
its extremities resting upon the hori-
zon and its span embracing the uni
verse, drawing its sustenance from the
tears of deep-felt emotion, and its
hues from the reflected smiles Of her
holy countenancc.
Oh, Matte, so pure, so divine, was
thy birth and stay on earth q splendid
dream or an incredulous reality p
Did God in his tender compassion
permit you to remain with Us a while
that our weak faith in a happy here
after might be changed into demon
stratiyc proof. InfdeI. peruse the
history Of her glorious career and
dissect the feelings of her snow-white
bosom and then venture your heresy
that death is q dreamlcss, everlasting
sIeepl UnivcrsaIist! let your heart
make a pilgrimage to her tomb, and
there, in its sacred presence, feel that
the reward which you are to reap in
eternity, VIII be equal TO hers! Both
of you open the Bible of the Twelve
Apostles and test its verify in the light
Of her heroism and blush with shame
at your stupidity and sacrilegel Oh,
Matte, you are not now with us but
the memory of what you then were
still fingers to purify our feelings-tc
incite us to good deeds and to con.
vince us that there are ties binding
earth 70 heaven. Dear girl, when yoU
were smitten with the remorseles.
hand of death in the midst of gloom
/ horror and destruction far away from
home, its endcarments and loved ones
was the presence Of the Infinite Coo
and his host of angels by your dealt
couch sufficient to compensate thi
bereavement? Oh, yes. You wer
/ too pure for this world. The i'm
mortal crown which adorned you
brow and the spotIess robes whicl
/ decked your persOn-were not a liver
suited to this Eden Of briars an
. brambles and thorUs and thisties.-
/ Tou were an exotic transplanted fror
| the siuless soil of Paradise, wher
| alone the plant could attain its fu
/ growth and blossom with flowers c
divine bencvoIcnce. Though fathe
and mother and sisters and brother.
and where they lived, we're dear t
/ YOU, Vet they were but acquaintance.
and the place Of their abode a taver
on the highway Of life for your de-
/ tiny was eternity, your home HEAVIER
, and your companions the angels {
God.
Farewell, dear Matte. Thoug
all which VIC were accustomed to st
Of you in life, except your immorti
soul, is now hidden in the cold, coIl
puIscIcss grave, you are not forgo
ten. \ shaft commemorative of OF
| affection besring the name Of MATT.
STEVENSON, in golden letters, viii
! erected so all may see and bow
l reverence. The memory Of your j
! role sacrifice 10 the call of sufferi1
humanity blooms fresh in our hear
!. with roots piercing to its deepest 7
;. cesses and c2twining every fibre.
- Your sacred resting place, enamelI
with green moss, decked with blus
+ ing flowers and waving grass a,
: overshadowed by the weeping Will,
a in whose branches the soft winds 81
and the little bird MARBLES its pla.
tive song, and through whose foIia
the sunbeam darts its bright T.
.e VIII forever be the Mecca Of {
IA hearts pilgrimage and the shrine
= = fore which its saddest, purest, a
"a fondest feelings viii swell into 4 70,
is tain. TENNESSEE