Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 61, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 March 1913 — A TRIBUTE [ARTICLE]

A TRIBUTE

To the oldest member of the Ladies’ Literary Club of Rensselaer, who departed this life on February 7, 1913.

In the death of Mrs. Purcupile, our club has lost one of its mothers; and in the loss of her one cannot help but recall the many good and kind things that she has done in the years that have passed. In my earliest childhood recollections I knew her well. Her home and yard were my playground. In my early ■womanhood I knew her better, and in middle life I knew her best, for I had learned to love her pleasant ways and to know her real worth. When this club was organized, she was one of its promoters and no member ever took more interest in •its welfare than she did. She was indeed, like a mother to all of the younger members, and her fidelity to this club should be imitated by us all. For many years our meetings were held every week in the year, and it mattered not whether the sun was shining or the rain falling; she was there, ready to do anything that was assigned for her to do, and I never remember one time that she failed when on duty. Her quotations were always in her head, instead of her hanids; and her work was a pleasure to her.

She saw the good in everything. She was charitable and kind and ever displayed a true. Christian spirit. In . the early history of our club it was oiir custom to open our meetings with devotional exercises, and some of the dear old mothers would lead us in prayer, and I can never forget the sincerity of hers. Her supplications were from the heart, and with earnestness she would ask for a divine blessing upon us all. She was proud to be known as a “Soldier of the Cross,” and her pleasure in it ended only in death. In life she had that “sweet peace” within and in death received the reward that awaits the faithful. » Several years ago when by her own request she was placed upon the associated list, I told her how I regretted to see her do it. She replied by saying: ‘The time has coxne when I must stop.” It was a hard matter for her to be reconciled to the change, for she loved the work. Just a few weeks before her death she sent us her last quotation, and it was truly a fitting <sne. She fully realized that day that she was nearing the borderland; but with all that she still thought of us and said that she had longed to be with us that day, but no, it was not to be.

With tear-dimmed eyes and a warm clasp of my hand, she skid in- broken tones: “Take this to the Society,” for she called. it that always, and she gave me this quotation; “Old Age is Youth’s Richest Bloom, which ripens on the side.” It would be a great consolation to us all if we could, at the close of so long a life have so much to be proud of and so little to regret. In death) a look of peace was on her face~a look that would indicate that she had “safely crossed the Bar,” and as I saw her then these lines came to me:

“Twilight and evening bells, and after that the dark, And may there be no sadness of farewell when I embark; For, though from out our borne of time and place The flood may bear me far, I hope to see my Pilot face to face, When I have crossed the Bar.” CHARTER MEMBER. February 20, 1913.