The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1886-05-21
DEATH OF s1xN1n STEWART.

taken from our midst one who will be
missed by many. He had been sick
for almost two weeks with congestion
of the lungs. His general health up
to the time of his recent illness had
been quite good. During the past
year he has been able to be about
nearly all of the time. He was not a
strong boy, scarlet fever which occur
red when he was a years old, left him
in very weak condition, and deve.
oped in curvature of the spine. For
several years mechanical appliances
were used but to no avail. The weak
BODY was in alliance with a strong
mind and warm pure heart In
many respects he was wonderful
child and young man. For quite a
while he kept carfully written diary
of all events ofimportance 70 him and
matters ofinterest of various kinds. At
school-he attended the Oakside for
eight months-in all matters he was
as near perfect as one could be. In
manner he was reticent, genial, full of
quiet good humor and keen wit. In
the home though constant sufferer,
he was accomplishing and kind. He
was born July 8, 1869, and so was
nearly II years of age. The funeral
occurred Sunday afternoon. 1t was
fully attended by some of the many
who deeply sympathlze with the
stricken family. Rev. Geo. H. Wilson
preached the sermon which we give
herewith:
ellis father says he is just begin
ming to realize what boy Bonnie
: was," said relative of the family to
me yesterday afternoon. That say
ing, of course, 1t is not difficult to
account for. 1t shadows reality as
intense in well nigh every sphere of
human life. Death, only, is the re
vealer of lie. We cannot know the
worth of life till we look at it by
the softer glow of death. In all it
means of anguish and sorrow, caused
by sundered ties and bleeding hearts,
death is a horrid form clad in the
garb of mourning. In all it means of
light by which worth is shown, death
is the angel of love and the trans
former of life. We are never twice
called to face the work of death un-
der exactly like conditions. Though
essentially the same at all times, the
sorrows occasioned In the outgoing of
a loved one are modified and quail
fed IN every case. There are aggra-
vations as well as compensations in
all we are called upon to bear. If
we speak from the hard and harsh
philosophy We are at times forced to
face, it may seem less severe to lay
aside in death one i'll fitted in body
to meet the struggles incident to life.
But if we speak from deeper and
truer philosophy, it is not difficult to
sense the overcoming of every obsta-
Gle created by physical weakness,
through the activities of an energetic
and disciplined mind. And if we
look at life from its affectional side,
it becomes at once self-apparent that
the soul is made to love most keenly
and tenderly that it cares for most
constantly.
If it is impossible to describe the
anguish or picture the sorrow caused
by the death of one whose relation to
the living has been that of one well
person to another, how shall we refer
to the greater grief which comes when
one whom our very care for has made
almost an essential part of our lives
is taken?
When the mother drops with bleed
ing heart on the shrouded form of her
dead babe, to let her very soul go
forth as if to defy death and bring
the little one back to life, we say it is
love craving and crying for its own
very life. But when a care like that
of mothers is carried on year after
year, and into its sweet and hallowed
ministry a whole family is brought,
we are only seeing the enlarged and
intensified form Of that same sorrow
when death takes the object Of such
a love. 1t is this latter we witness
to day. Who, then, can minister to
such grief To each heart comes the
answer, God only.
The mightiest forces in this world
are manifest through suffering and
service. Measure them as we may,
we find this to be marvellous fact.
Nothing is more touching, nothing
more refining, nothing in all Gods
world can lay such hold on human
ity as suffering, sanctified into sweet
ness. Nothing is more repulsive than
those natures in which suffering has
had a long sway and the sufferer has
become pevish, soured, unsanctified.
Did you ever reflect how hard 1t was
to endure the presence of one whose
sufferings-no matter how real-were
a constant source of complaint? How
at times-thank God they are rare
we have 70 force charity into the