Bristol news. [volume] (Bristol, Va. & Tenn.) 1867-189?, 1874-05-12
OBITUARY..

Mrs. JULIA A. BROWNE, was the
daughter of William Chapman, and
was born in Pearisburg Va, OH the
10Th of September 1919. On the 10th of
June 1914, she was married To Rev.
G.. w. q. Browne, of Jacksonville
Va. and she died in the city of Austin
Texas, on the 9th Of April 1874.
A life of unObtrusiVe. but patient de-
votiOn to duty. is not apt To attract the
attention of mankind To any marked
extent. Its fruits are both beautiful
and valuable, but they are gathered
and admired with too little recognition
of the painful labor and self de-
NAL which have produced them. 1t
would he better if the world could be
induced to pause and analiZe the vir-
tues of those sublime lives which are
worn to dust Oh the altar Of duty.
SO common and consuming is the
thirst for fame. that the absence of il
is too apt to be regarded ~ the absence
of genius. But ! have seen and
marked one life which was at once 50
beautiful in its proportions and so un
obtrusive, IN its bearing, that while /
must dissent from likening il unto the
ivy which grows and listens among
4
der woodbine, which, doomed to the
shadow of the forest, breathes its frag
rance into every passing breeze, and
" hich, while ii plcases and surprises
the passer by, leaves him to wonder
over and enquire the origin of 81 much
sweetness. Such a life was that which
these lines are intended to cOmmem-
crate. Julia Ann Chapman was born
in All age which is said to have been
fruitful virtue. The shadow of Ma
poleon had passed off the old world
and the power of England had again
been oveTtErOwn in the new one. A
long aud prosperous era of peace had
dawned, and our fathers and mothers
had been remanded Ivy events, to life
of simplicity an industry. Those of
them who came west OF the Blue
Ridge and erected their tabernacfes
in its most fertile localities, like the
defendants of Noah, left the pomp of
the world behind them and brought
up their children III school whose
discipline has never been eXcclled.
The subject of this sketch seemed TO
have imbibed IN her nature. the gram
deur of the mighty mountains, which,
in some past age. took their perpetual
positions along the New River Valley.
The modesty of is beautiful valleys.
and the purity Of its streams, which
there fill their crystal uras, and start
upon their silvery paths to the Ohio,
were imaged in her beautiful life. She
was beloved by all who ever looked
down into the depths of her spar king
ewes. and those who were permitted to
sound and learn the purity of her heart
re rartled her with devotion which
WAS incapable of alloy. In her 18th
year. she first met and embraced Jesus,
aud during the remainder of her life.
she walked ia ali the painful ways OF
duty. supported by His mighty hand.
and comfOrtpl by His counsel aud His
promises, Need add, that at its close,
She gladly went out with Him into the
sDlendid heritage to which 81 e had so
long and patiently jOurnied? For ~
years she lived in distant land, but
those who stood beside her, as she laid
aside the weapons of life, and bowed
her heal 10 receive the crown of the
new life, tell US that ut last she had
entered beneath clOudless skies. The
storms. even in this life. had all ceased.
the thOrns had all disappeared froIS
tie way, and a size leaned forward 10
receive the stroke, the merCiful execu-
TONER dexteriously and painlessly
slipped the jewell from the ruined
casket, aud bore it to the palace of the
skies.
In many years of derest intimacy /
have never known her To speak cruel
word Wherever friend was entail
pled in the web Of sorrow, her delicate
RnrarS ware found disenpaSing the
tangled web. Wherever a height Ur
was known to be in the smoke OF at
fiction, her cooling hand wasJound.-