And somewhat further down we find in another handwriting—"All sitting together tonight, and Johnnie proposes that each of us write something in his diary and sign his name.
O. A. Carr."
So the day, bright and beautiful, is at a close; the waves of the Ohio no longer sparkle with diamonds as the steamboat plows its way southward; and the jolts of the journey—let us hope—are eased; and the sermon has been preached; and if we smile at the thought of the sand-scouring of the boots, is it not with the smile of sympathy? For we, too, find beautiful the feet of those who bring tidings of great joy! So, as we say, gone is that bright day of July, so many years ago; and every little movement in the river one saw that day has, for many years, lapsed into stillness, to give place to the movements of other times. But the words spoken then, the sermon preached, the hymns sung, the prayers offered,—who shall say there is not in the world to-day a greater love for humanity, a deeper adoration of the Christ, because of them?
This same year Mattie Myers wrote,
"The leafy bowers their shadows cast, and on the grass so cool, We lay our burning brows and weep the fleeting joys of school"—
For her school-days are at last ended.
Four years of instruction under her brother's surveillance, six more at St. Catherine de Sienna's and Daughters' College—ten years of lingering at the founts of knowledge! And now that they have slipped away, and the young girl faces the graver problem of life itself, the school-girl breaks into swan-song, and dies to her youth, as she immerges into womanhood:
"We leave thee, Alma Mater, dear, with all the bitter grief That farewell brings to loving hearts, yet with a sweet relief,— A hope to tread thy walks again, to breathe thy fragrant air,— A hope to hear again thy voice, thy holy truth to share."
To her mind, education was not only acquirement of truth, but of holy truth; such an acquisition as called for its inevitable reward:
"When from the dust the good shall rise When glory's streaming from the skies; The hand of love a wreath will twine, Eternal, glorious, divine."