The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1893-12-13

Minnie L. 0'Neill.
So sweet is the communion OF friend
with friend, so dear is the association oil
relative with relative, so sacred is the
Preside relationship, that, at first thought
it sometimes seems to us that no other
than an unsympathetic, than merciless
God would .rminate this felicity, would
sever these sacred ties, and call MS into
the great beyond When with tear-dim-
med eyes and bleeding hearts we ask,
"What means this?" How feeble is the
voice that whispers consolation within
our troubled breast. Yet, there is
enough divinity in our being, enough
wisdom, enough love, enough power to
enable our broken spirits TO lift their
poor heads above the roaring surf and
exclaim with voice that re-echOes from
the stars, "God rulrth all things well"
Just as the fairest lily OF the dale,
though long kissed by the gentle sun
and perfumed with honey dew, must at
last return its bcauteous form to mother
earth that gave it, just as the hardy oak
that has so proudly raised its tall head to
the heavens and has so triumphantly
defed the blasts, must succumb to the
force of the invading tempest; so must
the fairest and strongest of Gods child
ren-the smiling babe in the mothers
arms, the blushing bride, the gallant
wooer the sacrificing parent, one and all
alike, return to dust whence they came
all must bow to His stern mandate and
acknowledge that He, who hath the
power to give hath the power to take
away.
AS dear friends, loving relatives and
an aged and devoted father gathered
around the death-visited couch of Minnie
l.. O'Neill and with eyes baptized in
tears, saw her lamp OF life glimmer and
90 out in death, saw her sweet spirit de-
part from its house o. clay, take its
flight beyond the mists, and like white
winged dove, settle upon the Eternal
Throne, we doubt not that it was only in
this that weeping spirits found relief
only in the belief in a God, one and
eternal, only by trusting in His tender
mercy, only by confding in his infinite
love that they were consoled in seeing
the beloved meet her God.
Though thus early in lie called upon
to appear before that ba. of justice,
around which we must all, sooner or
later assemble, to render an account 6f
her temporal career and receive her
eternal sentence, she who is now known
to earth only in tender recollections did
not 60 without having encountered the
severest conflicts of life. No, she whose
spirit now rests with her creator did not
90 from earth without having seen loved
ones supersede her. With firm and
womanly courage she had seen loving
, faces become pale; she had Sc, adored
eyes close in their everlasting sleep; she
had seen spirits depart with which she
was not to again commune until they
should meet in Heaven, where there
they must slumber together until the
morning of the resurrection.
Reared in home where God is rever-
ed and loved, she knew how to revere
and love. And though she had ceased
to worship at the family alter where her
voice had mingled with those OF father
and mother, though long since a moth
ers voice had been silent, though she
had ceased to trod the familiar paths
along which she had strewn childhood's
roses, she suffered not the teachings OF
her dear Kentucky home TO be in vain.
Though stricken down by the cold
hand OF death in the summer of woman
hood, Just when the tender shoots of
virtue and high feminine usefulness
were developing into strong plants and
we're ready TO burst forth into blooming
roses Minnie's life was not lived in
vain. BY gentleness, generosity and love
she had accomplished more than many
ever achieved, though their locks are
silvered by three score winters and ten.
Through virtue, through truth, through
genuine feminine affection she left many
here whose hearts long 70 again beat in
harmony with hers, and with whose
spirit theirs will commune with tender
fondness like two doves upon the breast
OF bridal angel.
awe loved her yes we loved her;
But angles loved her more.
And they have sweety called her
To yonder shining shore.
The golden gates were opened
gentle voice said, "Come,n
And with farewells unspoken,