Bogalusa enterprise and American. (Bogalusa, La.) 1918-19??, 1919-03-13
Nh. Ayres' Tribute
to Mrs. Sullivan

By request we print below an ex-
cerpt from a speech by Walter S.
Ayres, industrial commissioner of the
! N. o. G. N. railroad, delivered in the
Y. w. c. A. building on the occasion
of mass meeting to procure fur
Their funds for the work of that in
stitution, and in which he pronounced
a most worthy tribute to the late
Mrs. w. H. Sullivan-the cherished
"Mother of Bogalusa."
"This splendid edifice, / am cred
itably informed, is more beautiful in
its appointments than any other Y.
w. c. A. home in the entire South.
1t was generously donated to your
city by Frank Goodyear and Flor
ence Goodyear Daniels in commem-
Grafton of the life and character of
their noble mother. The building
building itself is, therefore, con-
crete expression of love and affec-
ton, response to the behests of a
sweet charity and commissioned with
the noblest work ever assigned to hui
man instrumentality - service for
others.
1t was, therefore, extremely befit-
ting that the late Mrs. William H.
Sullivan, who believed that she was
only as great as she served, should
be the first and honored president of
this institution. Mrs. Sullivan was
an apostle of that doctrine that it is
the helping, not the dominating hand,
which is the prime factor in all hui
man uplift. The cardinal tenet of
her life was to keep so unremittingly
busy doing good that she had little
or no time left for the mere preach
ing of good. She learned in her pas
sionate care Of flowers, that as it is
the prickly, ill-shapen shrub which
frequently blooms into more won
drous beauty, so in life the thorny
stalk of self-denial ripens the richer
fruitage of high sacrificial duty.
/ was in your city when, unexpect-
edly, but courageously, cheerfully,
smillingly, forgetfully she lapsed into
immortality. / stood in front of her
beautiful home, amid the flowers she
had planted and the exquisite floral
tributes which had come from the
bleeding hearts of her friends
throughout the country. | saw the
stream of humanity come-the white,
the black, the rich, the poor, the
manned, the halt, the blind, from
wherever her ministering hand had
touched, the multitudinous company
moved hither in last tribute of re-
speet. The eulogistic phrases of the
minister and the solemn requiem Of
her obsequies floated out over the
sOrrowful throng, but thought there
was grander sermon in the SADIE
faces of the people who hearts her
life had moved than in all the pas
sionate appeals of the funeral ora
tor. ! followed that mournful cara
van to yonder spot where tonight the
'moonbeans sweetly sleep upon the
mound that marks her tomb. Last
night stood upon the self-same
scene. The winds were soughing
through the pines and the oaks their
silent vigil kept above her sleeping
ashes. The 'sweetly solemn thought
came to me that I would rather have
my grave drink up the tears of the
people whose lives this sanity wom-
an had benefited than have over me,
when / am gone, all the boosted pomp
of emblazoned heraldry or booming
cannon.
Women of the Y. w. C. A. and of i
Bogalusa, the mantle OF Mrs. Sulli-
van has fallen upon your shoulders.
She was a kindly minister of gentle
quality, whose loving deeds tied hui
man hearts together. Like Tenny-l
sons IDEAL she wore the pure white
rose of blameless life. The MEM
DRY of her beautiful life fingers and
spreads through our hearts like the
fragrance Of sweet flower. It is
for you to take up he work where
with her unselfish life she laid it
down. Her life work has been hand
ed you as sacred trust and you
should see that it is transmitted to
the young womanhoOd of Bogalusa
unimpaired.