The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1908-05-22
Lies Rec0mpenSeS.

LIE y hbCUllpbllSbS.
The little town Of Manassas, Va, is
famous for Is history and for the he
roes whose bones have been laid To
rest beneath its sod. Two great bat
Ties of the Civil War were fought in its
fields, aud thousands who bravely
charged both the blue and the gray
gave up their lives for country's sake
there. over the slope beyond the
Henry house and through the inter
stices Of the dark young pines upon
the ridges, white monuments stand,
like fingers pointing upward into the
heavens, which j. their reward. The
tall stones tell of them that they did
well and died gloriously. Their
names are forgotten.
On quiet street of that little town
a woman died the other day, and all
the people from all thecountry round,
both great and small the black and
the white, went 10 her funeral. They
went weeping. Ii was no spectacle Of
funeral pomp they went TO see, but
the simple placing To rest of one whom
they had loved much because she had
loved them much. And yet il was "a
great, a vast public gathering. They
would not have turned out so to have
seen mighty warrior placed in some
imposing tomb Of state. Nor would
there have been such grief on every |
face.
Why was il so? She was but a sweet |
and simple woman, without riches,
without pretensions 10 social glory |
and of no fame among the doors of big |
deeds. She had no official position,
and no fraternal orders carried her
name on their rolls. Why, then, this
high honor of almost whole county |
attending her funeral, with every face
bathed i'm sadness or bearing traces of
griefs tears?
1T was because she had been wO-
man with a soul more beautiful than
fine gold, with heart larger than the
claims Of humanity, and because she
possessed fidelity Of nature as deep
as the blue depths of heaven. She
loved everything and everybody. She
loved the children and the old men,
and the laughing youths Of both sexes
knew her a their dearest friend. She
loved the helpless old colored mann
mics and the crippled old 'uncles
and she loved the little ragged colored
boys that played in the alleys. She
loved the stray dogs that came To her
home for bones, and the prosecuted
cats and the little birds that built their
nests in every nook and Granny of her
house. They were all her friends, and 4
she was the friend Of them every one.
asked her for help or sympa-
thy or attention that she did not give
Il. No one ever heard her speak "a
harsh word or "A malicious one None
ever heard her complain or bemoan
her lot-and her lot was at times a
bitterly hard one. Through a life de-
voted To sullering and self-sacriice she
'aised large family carefully and
enderly and with the wisdom of
great mother-lOve. And for these
Kings and her good deeds she was
Known the length and breadth of Nor
hern Virginia, and widely beloved.
Therefore, when she died all her little
world lost dear friend, and it went
n masse, deeply sorrowng, to her fu-
ieral.
The brave soldiers sleeping their last
leep under the white stones on the -
illsides were heroes Of great deeds. ;
lrs. Mamie Waters was but the her N
inc Of little things. Yet the names l''
{ the warriors are forgotten, end only
heir tall monuments tell how they o,
we'd and gave their lives well. But IN
)r her-the woman of the true, ten ID
er spirit, who loved every creature Pa
II her life long-no stone monument
needed to tell how beautifully aud
18th what faith she lived her life; the g,
ps of her neighbOrs aud the memory i
her, craven on their hearts, shall m
eep that record alive. And so long Ca
) there be LEFT i'm Manassas but one of
nat generation whose childhood saw !
er sweet smile, her name shall not tio
E forgotten. Who shall say, then, clo
lat the glory Of the martial field and tot
he warriors wreath is more precious Coz
IAN that Of the service Of love aud Of
lie tears which 'fnany shed over their
essed de d?- Washington Post sw