“So live, that, sinking in thy last long sleep,
Calm thou mayst smile while all around thee weep.”
On another occasion, when one who was near him had a sad countenance, he told her to be cheerful; and then, taking Bryant’s Poems he read the four last verses of that exquisite little poem called “The Old Man’s Funeral.” It is so beautiful in itself, that I want you to read it; and perhaps you may like to see how he thought it applied to his own condition. I have placed in parentheses his remarks.
THE OLD MAN’S FUNERAL.
THE OLD MAN’S FUNERAL.
I saw an aged man upon his bier;
His hair was thin and white, and on his brow
A record of the cares of many a year—
Cares that were ended and forgotten now.