“Those whom he loved aforetime, still,
I doubt not, bear him company;
I think that laughter yet may thrill
Where he may be.
“A thought, a fancy—who may tell?
Yet I who ever pray it so
Feel through my tears that all is well
And this I know.
“That God is gentle to His guest,
And, therefore, may I gladly say,
Feel through my tears ’tis for the best,
On this sad day.”
Will of Margaret Haughery
The first monument erected to a woman in this country was that to the memory of Margaret Haughery.
The monument stands in Margaret Place, not far from Canal Street in the City of New Orleans. The figure is that of a woman sitting in a rustic chair, dressed in a plain skirt and loose sack, with a simple shawl thrown over her shoulders, her arm encircling a child.
Prior to her death and by her last will she gave to charitable institutions of the city of New Orleans about six hundred thousand dollars. She died in 1882.
Her parents were Irish immigrants, who died of yellow fever. When quite young she married an Irishman of her own rank, who also died shortly after the marriage, and a year thereafter she lost her only child. The childless widow became a laundress in the St. Charles Hotel, and afterward entered into the bakery business, in which she was eminently successful. Her whole life was devoted to charities, Catholic, Protestant, and Hebrew alike. She never learned to read or write, and could not distinguish one figure from another. Her will is signed with a mark.
The fund for the monument was obtained by popular subscription.
Her funeral sermon was preached by the Archbishop; the business of the city was stopped, and a thousand orphans representing every asylum occupied seats of honor.