The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1897-12-22
Obituary.
JULIA WALLACE HuTcHINs
Gone to the land where the kindly dwell,
Gentle-hearted fare the well.
Com o TO the brink OF the cold, stern river
And clasp my hand when pasa over"

Gone to the land where the kindly dwell,
And clasp my hand when pass over"
This was the tender good-by and the
fearful entreaty OF Julia Wallace Hutchins
" hen, on bright spring day in 1893, her
husband, Solomon Cross Hutchins, passed to
the further verge OF " the cold, stern river"
On Wednesday, the 18th instant, Mrs.
Hutchins, from her home in Waterbury,
passed over the dark stream that flows be-
tween the living and the dead; and who
| shall doubt that the gentle-hearted subject
OF her widowed invocation welcomed her on
It's farther brink? A few days befor her
departure. Mrs Hutchins had been stricken
with paralysis. She fingered for while In
q state OF semi-consciousness, apparently
recognizing her friends and under standing
the words addressed to her, but unable to
reply except by signs and the answering
light OF her countenance. Kind friends and
neighbors attended the stricken woman and
administered to her dying wants. Her
| funeral was observed on Friday, the Rev.
g. e. Ladd officiating, and her earthly re-
mains were deposited in the village GEN.
etery, by the side OF him who had gone be-
| fore.
In the years OF her early womanhood Julia
Wallace was we'll known figure In the So
ciety OF Waterbury. Nature had endowed
| her with lively Imagination and bestowed
upon her rare gift Of poesy. Her skill in
prose composition, also, was early exhibited
! by productions that showed the versatility
and the brilliancy OF her mind. Her poeti-
cal productions Of generation ago had a
| wide publication by the newspaper press
and the selections from her pen are among
the most notable that are embalmed in the
Poets and Poetry OF Vermont" q work con-
tanning some of the best productions OF the
men and women OF Vermont on whom the
| gift OF versifcation had descended. One Of
these describes, in delightful play of the
fancy and feiciious diction, q pathetic incl
dent In the earlier days OF "Athenwood I"
the home of the artist T. W. Wood, near
Montpelier. when the living presence of Mrs.
| Wood, who had been lend of Miss
Wallace, graced and enlivened the painter 8
picturesque abode. young mother of for
| eign descent, " cary and travel-stained, pass
ing the artists home. conceived it to be a
shrine. The buildings peculiar architec-
ture and the notes OF an organ sounding
from the open door and windows contrib
uted to the way farer's illusion and she en-
tered. without quoting from the poem at
length 1t would bs impossible to do justice
to the nature Of the incident and the pleas
ant lines in which the story is told 1t is
| enough to say here that the poor woman,
her spirits revived by rest and material
good cheer, and much kindly sympathy,
| departed believing,
"If I've found no priestly altar,
Surely I've not missed II saint"
in the gentle mistress of "Athenwood."
Miss Wallace had fondness for martial
subjeCs and military heroes, which find
spirited expression in poem on 1.-THE Re-
turn of Napoleon" Among her later pub
lished productions was I" A Trilogy," ten
der tribute to a cherished friend who died
some ten ears ago
Mrs. Hutchins was an intense reader of
current literature. She had a 70 ndness
also, for Biblical literature. To her vision
the great events OF the last generation, par
ticularly the Civil War and the abolition OF
slavery, were the fulfllment of Scrptural
prophecies, and she had embodied her
,isws upon this subject in poeical COM
position which for several years had en-
gagged her thoughts, in the intervals which
Sickness and domestic duties gave her for
composing. Parts OF this poem which she
has sometimes recited to her friends en-
courage the hope that this task was com.
pleted and that the manuscript, with
other productions that may have never seen
| the light, survive their author. Mrs. Hutch.
ins carefully matured her compositions be-
fore committing them to paper. The work
| OF transcription was simply writing down
what had been distilled and refined in the
mental laboratory.
In early life Mrs. HUI chips had been a
school teacher. Responding to the prompt.
ings Of filial duty, she surrendered congo.
NAL pursuits to care for her aged parents
For the last twenty five years she had led
the life of recluse-quite unknown to the
| later generations, and a memory only to the
survivors among her old friends and &C.
quaintances In her was found the re-
quirement of the true pOet-the poet born
not made. Under happier circumstances
| with a more coDgenial environment, enjoy
ing opportunities unrestricted by material
lin t &, ions, Mrs Hutchius nigh have beer
a brilliant star in the skies of literature. A
life full Of sadness and psthos has ended.
/" Full many a &c OF purest ray serene.
! The dark unfsthumed caves OF ocean bear;
Full many flower is born to blush unseen,
Ana waste its sweetness on the desert air"