Page:Robert Carter- his life and work. 1807-1889 (IA robertcarterhis00coch).pdf/232

216 “You are a happy man to have had so good a wife for so long a time. In her departure there is great mercy also, for she passed away so sweetly. Nothing remains to be desired, for she has gone home beyond all question, and though she has left you, she has left you almost at the gates. Peace be to you!…

“Your kind letter cheered me greatly. I have been sore sick, but am slowly recovering. I rejoice greatly to have given comfort to your dear wife, and all of you.”

In less than a month after Mrs. Carter’s death, her dear old friend, Mrs. Downs, mother of Mrs. Samuel T. Carter, died in the same house after a lingering illness. Mr. and Mrs. Carter had greatly loved and esteemed her for her sweet Christian character. She died upon a Sunday, and in the afternoon Mr. Carter with his three children and their children, and Mrs. Downs’s own family, assembled in the sitting-room and had a very touching service commemorative of the three dear ones who had so recently gone home from their midst, Mrs. Carter, Mrs. Downs, and Mr. Cochran. Each one gave some tender memory of the loved ones gone,—sorrowing, yet rejoicing at every remembrance of them.

Even the very little ones brought their tribute of praise and love to those whom they held so dear, and every heart was quickened with the desire to live as they had lived,