Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1903-06-18

life and tried TO live it we'll A good
wife, loving mother and kind
friend has gone, aud those who had
the pleasure OF her acquaintance will
cherish her memory for the good
she has done.
Funeral services were held at her
home on Front street, Monday, at
10 o clock q. m, when large num-
Der of relatives and friends assembl-
ed TO pay their last respects TO one
whom they loved and esteemed. Mrs.
DR.. Ferguson sang three solos and
eulogies were spoken by Mrs. j. II.
Durham of Ionia and Mrs. Luella
H. Webster of Belding lnterment
in the Disco cemetery.
Among the relatives and friends
from distance, in attendance at
the funeral, were I. b. Belding, Of
Groton, South Dakota; Annabell
Morse, of Winona. Kan. Mrs. ]. w.
Perrin, OF Minneapolis, Mimi; Guy
Harrington and wife, of Orleans;
Moses HolcomD and wife, of Eas ton
Ed. Snyder, of Ionia township; Mrs
Jonas Hadder, of Six Lakes; Norman
Putney and wife, of Ronald; and +.
E. Ranney and Charles Harroun, of
Greenville.
Mrs. Webster, in her eulogy,
among other things, said:
Ny friends, | am here today, by re-
quest of the one just gone, 10 help
pay this last tribute Of kindness to
the one we love The funeral rite
is a natural sacrament which has
been observed in some form, by all
people from the earliest period Of
the worlds history; and we are here
in accordance with an impulse as
universal as the human race and as
enduring as love and sympathy to
pay this last tribute of respect to
utt VIM INV llcS III buc SpllluCSS vi
| death.
The sincere sorrow which the
heart feels at this time is the noblcst
tribute TO human worth.
All nature teaches the lesson al
mortality Everything is born to
die. 'Tis natures law. for in all the
forces that control are written
growth and decay. The plants that
furnish sustenance for our being are
touched by the whitening hand OF
blight; the beautiful flowers that
please the eye and gladden. the heart
are scared by winters frost. In all
that speaks of life, love, hope and
Joy, we reads these words, "life and
death.
Thus man, a divine combination
of Natures elements, lives but 10
die And what is death?
Everywhere is change, constant
change; and when we stand again in
the presence of that greatest OF
mysteries, death, we ask again the
question that the lips of love have
asked thousand times, yet the
sacred silence has never been brok-
en- We know not whether this
change is the herald of an endless
night or the messenger of eternal
day. But this we know, that in the
great mechanism of the universe,
nothing is lost. The smallest atom
that moves through space, seeming.
| " lost in the labyrinth of the whole,
serves purpose and works to q
common destiny. The flowers that
bloom in the spring, though cut
down by the chilling blasts of win.
ter, greet us ever yearly again. The
clouds shat gather and darken the
sky for time disappear and the
blue sky remains. When we have
crossed the sea, we find land; the
butterfly wakes from the dormant
crvsalis; all these are lessons from
the great storehOuse OF Nature
which all NAV read To some they
speak Of IA conscious existence beyond
the grave; to others, they are but
an endless chain of causes and eff
fects, showing that nothing is eve,
created nor can ANYTHING be annihi
lated, that everything is subject to
the immutable law of change, bring
ing consciousness only to the life
that exists, regardless of its prior
existence or environment.
Our sister believed that when the
life is ended, the spirit leaves the
body to remain here, its subtitle in
tluence ever present; that not only
are our lives made better by the
memory of good deeds done, but the
spirit remains to comfort and tc
cheer. This is beautiful thought,
more to be cherished than the old.
time idea of eternal life.
Only through the unchanging laws
OF Nature are the keys to an immor.
tai life given or withheld.