Collections and Recollections

THE MOST GENIAL OF COMPANIONS
JAMES PAYN
AT WHOSE SUGGESTION THESE PAPERS WERE WRITTEN AND TO WHOM THEY WERE INSCRIBED
DIED MARCH 25, 1898
Is he gone to a land of no laughter—
This man that made mirth for us all?
Proves Death but a silence hereafter,
Where the echoes of earth cannot fall?
Once closed, have the lips no more duty?
No more pleasure the exquisite ears?
Has the heart done o'erflowing with beauty,
As the eyes have with tears?