The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-01-02
Uctnen and Society.
IN MEMORY OF MISS JULIA REID.
By Mrs. J. M. Deeottes.

MI
 At the annual banquet at which the employees of The Advertiser entertained yesterday afternoon in honor of MaJor Screws and Mr. Glass the place cards were miniature Advertisers. sheet oI eif<at pages, eight inches by ten ancnes square. which is gotten out eacn yea. .a One page of that paper was devoteo .o the late Miss Julia Reid, the beloved co-worker who was one of the numoeI that sat about the board a year aso and who on this occasion was saoly missed. In the centre of the page was a picture of her and In Memory or her the following appeared;
 The circle is broken.
 The brightest, the sweetest, and the best-loved among us will meet with us no more.
 She is resting.
 In the joy of today. in the comrade- ship of the occasion, in the impulse or affection. one for the other which moves in this hour. we pay tribute to the enshrined memory of her who has zone from among us. Her going away was our one great sorrow of the year. Even as the beauty and sweetness or her life entwined her in our affections, so does our affection cling to and hold together the memory of her graces. The Ioveliest and the most lovable of us all, is the prize that death nas denranded None other would sufhee. It was the costliest sacrifice, the dear est sacrifice, he demanded. She loved these gatherings. She loved these gathering because she loved for hap piness to dwell among her friends.
 We remember her now. We remem- her, that her smile was the kindiiest' the most winsome. And her eyes. we remember, were the kindliest. the truest, the tenderest. There comes keen, sharp thrust of grief with the --f.A Al -h,o |, with us here. To know that the gentle eyes are closed in sleep, to know that the light of the kindly smile has gone out--is sall a gripping sorrow. we have not--we cannot forget all she was and all she did.
 When death moved among us, it was a right royal hostage he claimed. He passed one, another, and another, until the princess was reached. And she went away, confident, unafraid. and with her soul untyrrified. She could not have done otherwise. because. her life had been so gentle. so calm. and so confident.
 So much of affection, so much of honor we gave her, because she gave so much of kindliness, so much of gem erosity. God made her fair to look upon. She would have been loved for that alone. But hcr spirit was fairer, and more beautiful than the form W 1ich kept it on earth. Today we miss her most and sorrow that the spirit has flown and the form has passed from among us.
 None was too strong or too great to feel the winsome gentleness of her steadfast nature-none was too humble for her tenderness to go out to, to aid ana to uplift. She was ever helpful, In the insiduous worries, in the hanker- ing cares, in the daily routine, she had a voice of gladness and a smile, and she stretched forth a helpful hand with gentle sympathy alike to the care burdened strong and the helpless weak. To serve, to help, to brighten, was her mission. We mourn her now, our pride. our dearest boast. lost and gone from among us.
 A year ago we gathered here and she was the most beautiful, her smile was the fairest, her eyes the kindlist and her happiness the greatest And today the flowers that love heaped upon her grave are yet fresh and yet unfolded. Never was fairer earth to earth re- turned and newer did gentler spirit take flight to home above" ws
 The record of just act runs like a vein, with every flower a kindly deed, with every blossom a generous act. And that so young a life should so flower and blossom with kindly deeds and generous acts, may still re- main a wonder And that a life of
  love given and received, that there should be so much in 1t to inspire afA lection, and build an enduring memory in grieving hearts, is no less a myS- tery. But today. today, we only know that she is gone and will come no more
 It seemed impossible and we could not understand it; we do not under stand 1t. She had walked among us so joyously, so inspiringly The road had been dark. the way had been long and some had grown tired and heavy footed. These she had helped with worEs of good cheer, and hel kindly. helpful smile had brightene0 the way and frightened the burdens That she. the brightest. the best and the loveliest among us was weary and fain we would not, we did not, we could not understand.
 And yet she stepped aside a moment from her work of helpfu1ness and oi inspiration and even as she walked thu radiance of the morning sun was upor her and about her feet there blossomeG the flowers of affection and love. She stopped moment to rest and with hel own burden for a pillow she fell asleep We go forward, but our haerts turr back lovingly and tenderly to hel asleep among the flowers.
 There comes to mind the beautiful story of the Recording Angel and Un. cle Toby, generous and splendid. Uncle Toby to bind himself to do a generous