I thought then that it was terrible for her to be cut off almost in the springtime of her life; that my affliction was unendurable, and that life without her would be intolerable. But I feel now that all things are in the hands of One whose wisdom is beyond our thought. Better for her to rest in the dreamless sleep of eternity than to bear the shame and trouble that a gambler brings upon his family. Her power over me for good has been greater in death than in life, although at first I did not listen to the voice of love which came to me; yet there was a constant power drawing me to the better life. If angels are allowed to pray for and visit their holy influence upon those they love upon earth I know now that my dead wife followed me through all the years of my subsequent career until the light of God’s truth broke in upon my heart in the prison at Jeffersonville.
“Oh, friends, I pray to night,
Keep not your kisses for my dead, cold brow,
The way is lonely, let me feel them now.
Think gently of me; I am travel worn;
My faltering feet are pierced with many a thorn.
Forgive, oh, hearts estranged, forgive I plead!
When dreamless rest is mine, I shall not need
The tenderness for which I long to night.”
