The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1917-08-12
A MEMORY
ny ROSA cLrsBY JOHN

When / read of the marriage of Miss
Louise Wise, the niece and adopted
daughter of the late Mrs. Robert w
Bingham, formerly Mrs Flagler, it
opened a charming vista through the
Years back to my school days at Wes-
leyan college, Macon, Ga. and to the
days of my young ladyhood spent in
that city.
1t was there I saw and loved little
| Louise Wise, a fascinating tot of three
years, the only child of my cousin, T.
| Clisby Wise.
The first meeting was in the home Of
her grandmother, Mrs Louise Clisby
! Kennedy, one of the most cultured,
beautiful and spiritually minded women
| ever met She was the mother of
! four beautiful and gifted children, the
father of little Louise being her second
! SON He bears the name, John Clisby
| of his talented grandfather the nestor
| of southern journalism prior to and after
/ the war between the states Mr. Clisby
owned and edited the Macon Telegraph
/ and Messenger, and his editorials were
! copied far and wide as forcefu utter
1 ances of a mind Independent, cultured
/ and noble Being a man of strong CON
vctions, he wrote fearlessly and elo-
queEtly, and was an example of worth
and power.
| His daughter, the grandmother Of
\ Mrs. Louise Wise Lewis, inherited her
fathers charm of mind and heart Now
as she sits with life's shadows near, sur
grounded by children and grandchildren,
they arise and call her s'blessed of
mothers
1 This picture of her home and children
comes SO insistently before me that my
4 PEN speaking from my herat, moves in
1 fullness and rapidity for these scenes are
! a part OF me-this long ago when | held
little Louise Cher granddaughter in my
arms and listened to her innocent prattie
/ about her dollies. Then again l sat upon
the floor with her in the little brown
house on the hill in the midst of her
toys innumerable, while she prattled,
! prattled of this one and that one, how
she loved it and who gave it to her.
/ Her young mother, radiant in the glory
of her first born, sat near listening with
supreme pride of soul to this-her child
lovely in her Innocence and glee. This
mother, gentlewoman that she is, voices
generations of refinement and culture.
Now, as | raise the curtain, fond mem
DRY fingers and loves that goldenhaired
| baby, now grown, married, surrounded by
all the world can give. verify queen
with many loyal subjects young hus-
band chief of all to keep the winds of
heaven from visiting her cheeks too
! roughly
Today. despite this loving ministraton,
la shadow falls on her heart and home,
i grief that the world cannot take away,
/ and, while sit whitehaired from sorrow.
~ think of this young wife as she sat
upon my knee, my arms encircling her.
j her golden ringets touching my cheeks
i and ever and anon ! would steal kiss
and exclaim: "Oh, you precious, beautiful
! baby, just heavens own.
Our paths now are farther apart than
Heaven and earth-but the memory of
this precious child leaves pictures of
beauty to brighten old age, gives the tint
1 of gold to the snowwhite hair, illumines
the faded eyes and softens the furrowed
| cheeks.
May she, as she sits in grief, find the
comfort her dimpled arms and prattling
tongue gave a young girl whose love she
i won, and may the Gracious Fa<aer lift
and keep her in the faith of her fathers.
Edgefield S. G.