Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1895-01-25
OFFICIAL PAPER BURLEIGH co.

session of the legislative assembly were
unprecedented. The joint session was
held in accordance with a resolution of
the senate and house providing therefor,
and was held for memorial services of
Josephine O.. H~ansbrough, deceased,
wife of United States Senator Henry G.
H~ausbrough. Such sessions have fire.
q~uently been held on the death of prom
inent officials or men Of particular note
but never before as a mark Of respect and
esteem to the wife of a prominent person.
The exception to the general rule, how
ever, only makes this token of respect
and regret the more pronounced on the
part of our lawmakers.
In another column will be found the
proceedings had by the joint body in
full. They will become a part of the
records Of this legislative assembly, and
AS such, for all time stand as a monu-
ment to her in whose memory the session
was held. They are also intended to
convey to the sorrowing husband the
sincere regrets of his constituency at his
irreparable loss. The resolutions passed
express this sorrow and the remarks made
in their consideration are full of pathos.
Some undoubtedly there are, few we
hope, who understood the full import
Of what the meant, in all
their significance to a sorrowing, crushed
The full significance of these proceed
ings to a sorrowing, crushed and bleed
ing heart could not have been a]ppreciat.
ed by few; for unless the solemn
messenger has knocked at their door
and summoned a loving wife, n can
not realize the blackness Of despair that
has come to that home. If one has ever
been out upon the open prairie at mid
night, searching for home, and guided
by a bright star, he will not have appre-
ciated it's whole brilliancy until 1T has
been suddenly obscured by a passing
storm-cloud. The black camel came
and knelt at the gate Of our honored
senator the moment of eternal separa-
ton. An angel whispered and aspirit for
sock it's earthly abode. The beating of a
loving heart is stilled, and a grief
stricken husband mourns.
sumed his wife. The heart where love
reigned Il o longer palpitates.
The writer has seen Mrs. Hansbrough,
the true helpmate of a newspaper pub
Usher in straitened circumstances in a
sparsely settled country; has seen her
the wife of our member of congress CIV
ing material aid to her husband in his
candidacy for the senatorship and gain
ing him support by the lovable and en-
Pertaining qualities she possessed; has
seen her in the parlors of the best hotel
in the nations capital, receiving her hus-
bands official colleagues, their wives
and daughters, as we'll as the most dis.
tinguished citizens of the nation at sena-
torial receptions, and at all times she
was the same unassuming and lovely
woman, the one person apparently un-
conscious of the pleasure she bestowed
by her very presence.
"A foot more light, a step more true
Ner from the heath flowers dashed the dew;
Zen the slightest harebell raised its head
Elastic from her airy tread"
All with whom she came in contact in
her daily life were treated as her equals
mol as her superlors. Whether car.
rying dew-decked flowers to cheer the
heart Of a poor sick child at Devils Lake,
or sustaining the dignity of our state at
the Inauguration Of our chief magistrate,
she was the same unsel6sh, confiding
wife. And while naught can fill the
aching void left in her husbands affec-
tons, be may, in a measure. be consoled
by the answer of Argosy who, when
about to give up his life in obedience to
the gods, when asked by her whom he
loved SO fondly, if they should meet
again, answered:
l have asked that dreadful question of the hills,
That look eternal: of flowing streams
That lucid flow forever: of the stars,
Amid whose fields of azure my rising spirit
Hath trod in glory. ALI we're dumb; but now,
While l thus gaze upon thy face,
l feel the love that kindles through it's beauty
Can never wholly perish. We shall meet again.
~r,-