The evening light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1881-1883, 1882-07-14
A SOUVENIR.


T. H. II.
Young, joyous, her loving spirit sinless with
infancy, passed on to the Better Land July ii,
1882, at I:o5 a. m, at San Antonio, where she
was born, Annie Wharton Green Williams,
5th daughter of our fellow citizen, Col. T. G..
Williams. Let all who suffer bereavement in
her departure be mindful that "There is no
DEATH
Let the harps of the angels now newly be
strung
There is mirth to be made, there are songs to
be sung,
For Just now has our loved one put angel
robes on,
And Just now to the Realm of the Beautiful
gone;
Just now has that exquisite vision of years
Been dissolved-and rainbow is shed from
our tears;
Through the azure of Heaven, splendor- clad
doth she glide
>erene in Lies joyousness there to abide
Till the loved ones come, one by one, up to
her side.
When the tired pilgrim from the care-land
Of earth first finds himself on Heavenly soil.
first walks upon the green lawns, and treads
the polished floors of the homes Of spirits, he
beholds the Heavens above him starry with
the magnifcence of those rescued by death
from the wreck-strewn sea of earth troubles
and grief, sailing through the Heavenly en-
phyrean and rejoicing in their deliverence.
80, Death! where is thy sting?"
The entertainments of spirit-life are not Ara
bian fiction. They are real and await all who
qualify themselves for their enjoyment This
dear and beautiful departed one has left to all
the JOY of knowing that her pure spirit is I'M
sullied with the dross with which earth encum-
bers so many. Her light breaks into the
atmosphere of Heaven as streams of radiance
flow into dawn when morning comes to US;
and all who loved her deeply and were chas-
tened by the serenity and truthfulness she in
Spired. can almost see and feel its glory.
Annie was one of those exhalations from
Loves home which seem always lent for a
brief season only. In her fifteenth year of
earth she has passed to the Morning Land to
find preserved for her, sublimely cared for and
unimpaired by season or event, every thing
she had loved while here; every,heart ''gone
before" whom she cared to meet, watching
for her coming; every once mournful memory
restored to her in its freshness but cIeanSed of
its grief her early childhood's joys garnered
in Loves keeping-even her chidhood's toys
stored in Loves cabinet, secure from rot and
rust, with all the Images they awakened in
earth's young dream brought back to her with
infinitely multiplied delights.
'.God of the granite and the rose!
Soul of the sparrow and the bee!
The mighty tide of being flows
Through all thy creatures back to Thee.
~ -
A mighty sea without a shore,
While men and angels, stars and suns,
Unite to praise Thee evermore."
The earth-companions of your joys and
troubles speak to you in these thoughts. and
hope to keep their spirits clean of impurities,
dnd worthy to greet you in your earthly home
whenever you come to it, Beloved one! worthy
to be greeted by you when they shall exchange
it for yours. The radiance shed from your af
fectons will light the house now dark in the
shadow of your gong. Year by year will
bring its offerings of treasure-gitts Of atfec-
ton, wisdom, joy-to the cherished shrine
where those you love shall bend, as before,
with daily incense now purified because
poured from stricken hearts.
20, grave! where is thy victory"
But we are too human to ignore what to our
senses seems. We find in fiction, or at play,
a mournful incident and, recognizing the
earth-heir of the Reality, with our tears do
homage to the Apparent. Thus do the dear
ones bow to its sovereignty O, thou darling!
as to thee, and their tears flow because the
unreal is stalwart shadow in our world of
sense. To their s.Hses thou seem'st dead
just at the beginning of life; thou seem'st
parted from them just when you can part no
more; thou seem'st lost to them Just when
it is made sure they can never lose thee.
We are lifted, seemingly by our thoughts
and warnings, but truly by her spirit magnet,
into the glorious spaces which make the spirit
homes of Earth's enlranchised children, who
by millions sing their songs of deliverance,
while endless tides Of delight How over and
around them. Happy, beauteous Annie,
your lovely earth-form has been lain with its
kindred dust, not without tears, not without
sorrow and outbreaks Of lamenta-
tons. because all thy dear ones loved it. By
many endearments, of which it was the APP
pointed means, they had BECOME over fond of
its presence and its charms. Yet they know
il was but your raiment, and that now you are
IS much better clad as in6nity is better than