Obituary.
Ed. Democrat: – It is my painful duty to chronicle the death of Mrs. Julia A. Stout, wife of Benj. D. Stout of this place. Her death occurred on Saturday Feb 27th, at half past five o’clock P. M. Her age was sixty-five years and one month, Her sepparation1 was very sudden, as well as unexpected, she had been quite ill for some time, but at the time her death occurred, it was thought that she was recovering and her friends were all rejoicing in the hope of her speedy restoration. While it is justly due the deceased that we should speak of her as she was, yet we feel that anything that can be said of her will but faintly convey to the mind, the character of her who now sleeps in the silent grave. As a mother, she filled that most responsible of all stations, she exhibited the tenderest watchcare over her children, endeavoring to supply all their wants, to guide them in the paths of virtue and honor, at all times a desire was apparent to all upon her part for their happiness, and if their line of life was at any time crossed by shadows and clouds, it could not be said that it was owing to any fault of hers. As a wife she had throughout the entire course of her married life lived in such a manner that it would meet the approbation of the good so for as her acquaintance extended.
Amid all her toil and family cares she never murmered2, but with a consideration that ever characterized her life for the welfare of others, to make the life of her husband one of pleasure and comfort seemed to be the main feature in her home life. As a member of society she was eminently useful, she was at home perfectly in the sick room, like an angel of mercy would come and go with no other ado than to carry peace and joy to the heart of the sufferer. Her charities were of the new testiment3 type, “I was a hungred, and ye fed me, naked and ye cloathed me.” While in a social point of view she was at perfect ease with the most highly cultivated and refined, yet if necessary she could with the more unfortunate in this respect make herself, and them perfectly at ease, a point in my mind that but comparatively few can boast of having attained. But it was in the church that her sterling qualities were exhibited to the best advantage. At the age of seventeen years, by a complete obedience to the requirements of her Lord and Saviour her sins were pardoned, and out upon the straight and narrow way that leads from earth to paradise, commenced her journey heavenward, constantly looking to Jesus as the author and finisher of her faith. Salvation to her was a moral certainty, to have doubted the promises of Christ would have been a greater crime than she ever committed, she was prepared at all times to rejoice when the cause of Zion flourished and would sing:
Come we that love the Lord
Come we that love the Lord
And let our joys be known,
Join in a song of sweet accord
And thus surround the throne.
The hills of Zion yields
A thousand sacred sweets,
Before we reach the heavenly fields
Or walk the golden streets.
Then let our songs abound
And every tear be dry,
Were marching o’er Immanuels grounds
To fairer worlds of high.
I feel that her loss to her family is very great, to the community not less so, in the church in many respects her place can never be filled, but we are consoled that our loss is her eternal gain, and while she is not personally with us, we feel that we will still continue to be blessed by her life, that her works will follow her. We trust that her friends may all live so as to attain to that land whither she has gone.
There’s a land far away mid the stars we are told,
Where the pure waters wander through valleys of gold,
And where life is a treasure sublime;
‘Tis the land of our God, ’tis the home of the soul;
Where the ages of splendor eternally roll;
Where the way weary traveler reaches his goal,
On the evergreen mountains of life.
O the stars never tread the blue heavens by night,
But we think where the ransome have tred,
And the day never smiles of our god.
We are traveling homeward through changes and gloom
To a kingdom where pleasures unchangingly bloom.
And our guide is the glory, that shine through the Tomb
On the evergreen mountains of time.
Respectfully, J. T. Smith
[The funeral services took place from the Christian Church, where an appropriate and eloquent sermon was preached by her pastor Rev., Mr. Smith, and the remains were followed to the grave by a large concourse of mourning friends and relatives. – Ed. Democrat.]
