Annals of our ancestors; one hundred and fifty years of history in the ...

CHAPTER XVII
WHAT THE YEARS HAVE BROUGHT
m as
HE day is far spent, and the calm of evening
has come, the time of looking far back into the
past and far forward into the future — the time
of dreams and the time of loneliness for those
who walked our way awhile and then departed
by a way we have not tried; and
"We can but wonder how very fair
It needs must be since they tarry there."
The first to lay down the burden of life was the eldest; the kind
heart of our brother William grew still on December 19, 1898.
After his departure Sister JuHa came and made us a visit,
which we all remember with satisfaction. It was some two
years after that loss of hers, which was also our loss, and we
talked over the past and concerning the last days of Brother
William. She regretted most of all that his grandchildren
could not know him well. As she wrote just after his passing
from earth: "We feel that the loss to his grandchildren is
irreparable. His own children have in a measure reaped the
lesson of his life, but the grandchildren he loved so well will
never know much about him."
While Sister Julia was visiting us in Hiram, Ohio, we went
for an outing to a popular resort some two miles from our home,
called the Ledges. This is a picturesque spot, where a singular
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