The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1885-05-13

81 tile principal events ia 1 long lie
Between these date, which mark eyents
Of special prominence, are crowded Ia
those daily experienceB Of Joy and sct.
row, Of hope and disappointment, Of
toll and suffering, which are the conn
mon inheritance oi human life. The
things which make life fall and give Il
kinship with other lives, and which arc
too fpe and spiritual 10 be recorded BY
written wordi. For this reason, no hn.
man LIE can ever be fully written, But
the mother lives in the heart and MEM.
DRY Of her children, and there her life Il
written the life which Is o ministry. OF
kindness and loye-as no pen can trace
Il on the printed page. The close Of q
long life, such IS Mrs. Neale's, Is not
without rs suggestion Of useful lessons
and solemn reflections. II isa solemn
reassertion Of the mournlul language
with which the dirge Of our race began,
and which declares mortality 70 be the
inheritance Of oil generations OF men.
dust thou art, and unto dust thon
sbalt return It's 0 visible iulfllment
OF the words Of the Psalmist: "The days
Of our years are three score years and
ten; and II by reason Of strength they be
Jour score years, yet Is their strength,
labor and sorrow; Tor II Is soon cut off
and wehyaway@ Labor and sorrow
this, with the personal notifications
Of each individual lie, Is the tale forever
told. And 30 the impression Of its brew.
ity, ut Is soon cut oil and we fly away"
this Is the feeling common 70 us al,
as We look back from the close Of life.
''My days," says David, "are as q hand
BREADTH To this deep feeling Of the
transformers Of human life, the widest
chasm between the cradle and thegrave
Is spanned by a mans hand. And yet
between the years 1902 and 1885, which
mark the birth and death Of Mrs. Neale,
how many millions Of human beings
have been born and died! More than
two generations have come and gone.
And how many in Mason county, who
moved about among us-familiar forms
and laces-and how many Of our friends
and kindred have passed awayl and
what q prophecy that all in time shall
be goneI The death Of an aged person
like Mrs. Neale is like the removal OF an,
old landmark, or the falling Of an aged
tree, ontwhich our eyes had been aecus-
toned 70 rest from early childhood, 1t
~, indeed, the breaking Of one Of the
few links which bind . community 10
its own past. When Mrs. Neale was
born, the independence Of America had
just ended the first quarter Of It's first
century; the Constitution Of the United
States was not yet yet fifteen years old,
and Thomas Jefferson was in the second
year Of his first term as President.
Hfty.nine years Of Mrs. Neale's life
were spent In Mason county--a period
which embraces much Of our local hist.
DRY. Within this time our county and
State have advanced. from a frontier
Community-much Of 1t then a wilder.
ness-to its present condition Of devel-
0pment and prosperity. Where the
path Of the savage and the wild beast
could then be traced, our railroads pen.
citrate now; and our mountain rivers
and streams which are now adorned by
cities and villages, and enlivened by the
sails Of commerce, were then still lined
by their primeyal forests. The last
years OF Mrs. Neale's life were marked
by disease and suffering. When / last
saw her, few weeks before her death,
under her great suffering, and oil hope
Of recovery gone, she was rejoicing In
the hope Of a speedy release from her
unequal contest with disease, and in
prospect Of that repose which comes all
the more sweetly at the end Of long
and bitter struggle. She declared that
the grace OF God and the hope Of Heay-
en- were her only consolation. In the
early years OF my ministry, / often
shared the hospitality Of her home, and
at her own request, often repeated, Off
Ciated at her funeral. In this last ser.
vice, Rev. Walter L. Boggs, pastor Of
our Church at Point Pleasant, assisted
me, and many friends and relatives
formed In making their final tribute Of
respect to the aged woman who had
spent more than half o century in our
midst,
"And there shall be no more death,
neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall
there be any more pain, for the former
things are passed away" Rev. q, 4.
F. B. CARROLL.