The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1922-08-03
AN APPRECIATION

DIT Olu CdSll6 OCLOUST 1Cs low.
His education was received in the
public schools of Brandon, and at
tne Agricultural and Mechanical
College of Mississippi. !,
Alter his fathers death. General
Estopinal gave him an ap-
pointment to the Naval Academy.
ne declined it. because, as there
were younger children to educate,
ne would not let his mother bear
her burdens alone. His was the
same spirit of self sacrifice that
hrs uncle, Willie Jayne, had had
under similar circumstances.
When he stood at his fathers
grave before going away to take
mis- first position, he said to his
mother, What Daddy was-hls
nigh ideals and noble living will
make the future for me-" And so
they did. In every avenue OF life,
nonor was his watchWord. From
his father, he inherited a talent
for brilliant conversational powers
and for literary composition.
Everybody loved him because of
ais winning personality and bright
nature. He felt the lure of ad,,
venture, visiting England and
ireland before the world war;
After travelling in the south and
west he established himself IN
business in Kansas City, Missouri,
where he had been living for six
years. He had planned that when
Joseph was recovered from shell
shock, they would buy a farm,
because Joseph loved farming.
This knowledge was helping Jo-
seph to take hold of life again.
When we entered the war,
Willie" volunteered and was sent
to the University Of Missouri for
training, later to Camp Taylor,
where he was top-sergeant OF his
battalion. On account of efficient
service, he was recommended TO
an Officers Training Camp.
On the morning of June. 18th,
1922, he was fatally burned by the
explosion of a gasoline tank. His
physician said he was the bravest
man he ever saw. Desiring to
save his mother pain, he said,
Don't telegraph, wait until to-
morrow. | NAV be better, and then
you can write" A little later he
said, 81 am sleepy" 1t was the
end. He awoke in a fairer land
than ours.
He was buried from the Metho-
dist Church. In Gods own acre,
in Brandon, June Is. Rev. Mr.
Galloway spoke beautifully of how
fitting it was that he should be
bourne to rest from the church
where he had first pledged his
faith in a Risen Lord. 1t was in
the early morning that friends
bore him to the cemetery and laid
him to rest under a covering OF
flowers, (while the birds sang.)
Mercifully, his face was mot
burned. He lay as though asleep
in perfect health. He looked SO
magnificent, with an expression
of great nobility upon his perfect
gaze upon him!
The world ir better for his hav-
ing lived in it, for wherever he
went, he carried sunshine with
him. He was affectionate, brave,
optimistic. In his passing the
world has lost a valiant soul.
To those who love him, he is
not dead. The very atmosphere
of the morning, noon, the evening,
seems permeated with his spirit
He was so full OF energy, of cheer,
of life, that the termination OF
his bright career seems sad be-
yond description. And yet. who
can tell? 1t may be better for him
that he can enter the other life,
while his powers are at the full
est, to find full frutition for his
nigh ideals.
He is not dead! His mother
sees him playing, a child with his
brother and sisters under the great
oaks at Old Castle; then as a
happy school boy; then a little
later he is arrayin~ himself to
call on the love of his young man
mood, while Joseph looks on in
admiration of his handsome,
borad-shouldered big Buddy"
Some years later, his mother is
with him at the camp where he
h" 4 high ambition for service in
France. Again she sees him, he
is comforting his brother who is
in the hospital at Fort Riley. In
these last years, she sees him
struggling to accumulate in order
that the farm, for which Joseph
longs. might become an establish
ed fact.
The chatelaine of the home in
which he had been an inmate for
six years, was a second mother to
him and loved him as if he was
her own. The very night before
the end, they were singing to-
gether. "The Great Physician
now is near, The Sympathizing
Jesus" 1t seemed prophetic.
Only few short hours and the
Great Physician had transported
him, from a bed of pain, into the
fields of Elysian, where the River
of Life flows from the Great
White Throne, making glad the
City Of God.
His Little Mother" walks not
in the Valley of the Shadow, be-
cause his presence is always near.
His love enfolds her like a soft
mantle, covering over the scars
of time and grief, and keeping her
heart warm with trust and hope
for the future, when she may
clasp him to her once again. How
can she weep and moan when his
bright spirit is ever present with
her? He must be wholly alive. or
it would not be so. May his great
heart of love ever thus cheer her
her until she, too. enters through
the gates of death into the portals
of Life Eternal.
When she is far away, it will