Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1898-11-04
In Memoriam.

The boatman with his silent oar has passed
again through our midst. Mr.. Joseph N
Bailey, eldest son of the late Joseph T.
Bailey, died at his home in this town on
Thursday evening of last week, In the 54th
year of his age.
Mr.. Bailey was born near Rockville, ed.
ucated at the Rockville Academy, and dur.
ing life held several positions of public
trust, which he filled honestly and efficient
~. He was devoted, indulgent and affec-
Tomato husband and father, a good and up
friend, and charitable to all. A tedious dis.
ease was commissioned to conduct him TO
the tomb, and however prolonged affection
may tend to ruffle the spirit and confuse the
soul his end was tranquil and happy.
Whilst standing at his grave, at the SOL
emn moment when the hollow rafting
sound told US that all of what remained was
being confided to its home in the silent
mother earth, our ears caught In broken &C.
cent these words: "Joe, you will not come
home to- night, boyW
AS we walked slowly along the aisles of
the quiet and sacred resting places of the
dead-sacred to the memory of the mother,
of the father, of the husband, the wife, the
sister and brother, relative and friend-sa.
cred to the tears of angulshed hearts that
bedew its graves, we caught ourself repeat
ing over the words, "Joe, you will not come
home to. night, boyp
No, you will not come home to night, the
paraphanalia of mourning, the solemn chant
of the miserere, and the slow and measured
tread OF the funeral cortege, told me too
plainly that you had made your last pill
grimage ON earth; that you were sleeping
your last sleep in the silent city of the dead.
Here then with you was the last Of earth.-
Here the reward of earthly ambition and
earthly struggles. "Dust to dust, ashes to
ashes" And,
"Can storied urn or animated bust
Back to its mansions call the fieeting breath
Can honor's voice provoke the silent dust,
Or f1attery sooth the dull, cold ear Of deathf"
No, "you will not come home to night,
boy" The connections Of life, the strife
and warning with human destiny Is over,
the honest little earnings of your days of
toll must be scattered, and all that has come
within the range of your feeble achieve.
ments must be thrown aside, for to. day you
sleep with the dead
"The breezy call of incense breathing morn,
The swallow twittering from the straw
built shed,
The cocks shrill clarion, or the echoing
horn,
No more shall rouse them from their lowly
bed"
No, "you will not come home TO- night,
boy" The past with Its trials, its accumu.
lated responsibilities, its clinging memories,
its vanished hopes, is rendering up Its future
account and the solemn quiet Of that awful
reckoning must not be disturbed.
"You will not come home tonight, boy :"
Speak not of fading memories or affections
whose objects perish in their loneliness like
the flowers OF Spring or wither in slow
decay talk not of earthly homes where
loved ones linger, where seat has been
made vacant, cherished voice hushed for
ever, or of the desolation that will seat itself
by the hearthstone for to. night, you are with
the dead boy
mo more the blazing hearth shall burn,
Or busy housewife ply her evening care;
Nor children run 70 lisp their sire's return,
Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share"
"You will not come home to night, boy"
The soul is at peace with God, let 1t pass
calmly away. What is life that 1t should
be chung TO longerp What the joys OF the
world that they should be regretted What
has earth TO place before the spirit Of man
to tempt its stay or turn II from its eternal
,Eest?
"You will not come home o-night, boy"
No, we heard 1t in the rustling of the fall
ing leaves, we heard it in the sad whisper
ings as 1t swept through the half.naked
branches of the forest, which seemed to be
mourning the departed glory of the beau
tiful summer time-we heard 1t from your
grave for as the clods fell upon your coffin
lids they shaped themselves into words and
murmured "You will not come home any
more, boy ~
Beneath the mellow rays of an Autumn
sun, in a soft spot where the birds ever come
with the first blush of Spring to MARBLE
their earliest and tenderest notes, in the Gem
etery attached TO st. Mary's Catholic church,
of which he was practical member from
early boyhood, his remains were placed -
Here, through the hours OF the day and the
night, under the sunshine, under the cling
ing stars, far from the reach of the dismal
wailings of the wintry winds, they will rest
until the earth shall give up its dead
He was our friend In life; in death, with
a sad heart and faltering hand we offer this
humble tribute TO his memory. Tears may
moisten the mound of your newly made
home-howers may be strewn around, they
will not be attended with deeper sorrow
than the placing Of this farew ell memento.
Rockville, Nov. 8, 1898. W.K.