Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1896-03-05
MAUD BARDIN RYA
An Eloquent and Touching Tribute
From the Pen of Her Pastor,

Rev. r.. c. Beaman, to the Memory o
Maud, Only Child of Mr.. and Mrs. less.
j. Bardin. of Fremont, and the Bride
Wife of Lawrence Bryan
[ saw her for the first time ir
the winter of 1885. Then she
was a beautiful, brown~eyed.
sunny-beamed child of a few
brief summers. She was the
only child of afflicted parents,
whose devotion to her was the
idolatry of love, aud whose lives
she enriched with q wealth OF
filial affection have never known
surpassed.
L became her pastor, and as
such she gave me a place III iler
pure young heart Henceforth /
was "her preacher" to be ever
more sacred in her eyes.
Now that she is gone, and I
SHALL see her no more this side
of the gates of pearl. [ recall her
manifold ministries Of love, how
she wept with me aud for me
when my babe lay dead in nv
arms and deaths mysterious
shadow fell dark upon my bro-
ken heart; how she watched for
my coming and gave me always
the loving welcome of her guile
less and trustful soul, bestowing
upon me those little attentions
and kiudnesses of which AN un-
selfish and thoughtful nature is
alone capable. Up out of the
deep shadows of vanished years
comes the memory of her
devotion to parents, pastor,
friends, everybody-the out>
reachings of her heart to gather
into itself every other heart in
the sacrament of loye, and she
stands before my thought in her
rare and marvellous beauty Of
character, TRANSPORTED in the
light of other and higher worlds,
Upon me this child of the
morning (she dwelt always in the
regions OF the sun) made a most
profound impression. For three
years [ watched the unfoldings
of her life, She grew as the
lily grows, naturally and towards
that perfection of beauty which
in the divine thought is the ulti-
mate end of life.
Her spirituality was remarks
able. II such a thing was posi-
BILE, [ should say that her acute
ness Of spiritual life was some
thing abnormal. She saw God
in anything from the daisies and
bluebells paving the path of her
feet to the stars burning in the
crown of night.
Creation was Gods sensuous
robe. yelling for the present His
l~netfiable glory, too bright for
mortal gaze. To her there were
no battling, ~tormenting myster-
les with which finite mind CRAP
piles only to be overwhelmed and
crushed at last. She lived in
Gods world, and to her un-
clouded faith and adoring spirit
God was the final and perfect
explanation Of all things. Bless
ed are the pure in heart for they
shall see God," and with this
vision of God there comes a rev.
elat.on that meets all the neces-
stiles Of the human soul, and SAT-
isles all the proper inquiries,
furnishing it an immovahle base
from which to direct it's flight
into the Infinite. Such was her
beautiful life in the richness and
tullness of its spiritual express
sion.
I have watched her sitting by
her mothers side when there
would fall upon her face a
strange, spiritual light, her eyes
would take on a far away look,
and she seemed to be caught up
and carried away into regions
far beyond the utmost boundary
of this little world, where, for
the moment, free from the tram
mels of flesh and blood, she com
muned with God as spirit with
spirit, and felt in her pure heart
the rhythmic pulse beat OF an
endless life. I have seen her in
the great congregation with face
radiant. tears trembling in her
eyes, her heart palpitating, thrift
ing, burning under the touch of
the Spirit, when her souls su-
preme desire for the moment
might have been expressedin the
magnificent lines of the poet:
o, that He would more of Heaven be-
stow,
And let the vessel break,
And let the ransomed spirit go
To grasp the God 1 seek.
In thought, in feeling. in spirit
she was wnrshiping with the in
Vulnerable company-the spirits
of the just made perfect, the
church Of the first born whose
names are written in Heaven.
And yet she was but a child.
Her love was wonderful, the
range of her sympathies mar
vellous. Her heart was large
enough to hold every other heart
in it's loving grasp. Upon the
poor, the afflicted, the sorrowful
she bestowed a love that was dis
vine in its beauty. An old man,
poor and neglected, formed the
habit of coming to her home ev-
cry Sabbath evening to have her
play and sing for him the sweet