CHAPTER XXXIX.

RELIEF IN WORK.

When bursts the rose of the spirit
From its withering calyx sheath,
And the bud has become a blossom
Of heavenly color and breath,
Life utters its true revelation

Through the silence that we call death.

-Lucy Larcom.

When one who is a part of our life is suddenly taken from us, the heart utterly refuses to credit its overwhelming loss. And as day by day the evidences multiply, the sense of desolation grows more and more keen. At such a time, work which occupies hand and heart is the best human remedy. And for Edward's mother there was no lack of such work. Of immediate urgency, there was the study in the church, with all its precious associations, and where I had passed so many happy hours with him, to be despoiled of its treasures. And for three weeks I spent day after day in this heart-rending task. Letters partly written were in his desk, and on the outside was a sermon commenced for the following Sunday, from the text: "I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness."

Among the treasures gathered from his desk, and which are sacredly preserved, are some thoughts on Graciousness, so characteristic that I cannot forbear giving them, and also A Birthday Song:

Graciousness is the perfume of the beautiful flower, the shining forth of the inward light, the tinting of rainbow and sunset. It is something very different from mere politeness, or polish, or even culture. It is simply the kindness of the heart made manifest, always, everywhere, in everything. It shows itself at meal time in the tone and manner with which the viands are accepted or declined; in the

common, every-day greetings; in the treatment of equals, inferiors and superiors alike. There may be graciousness, too, in the assertion and performance of what is right, or the rejection of what is wrong. Graciousness is loveliness. It speaks the truth in love. It sprinkles its sentences with gentle words. It is more than beauty of complexion or feature. It is the most attractive charm of womanhood. It is something more even than helpfulness. Graciousness is really an attitude of the spirit—a spiritual attainment.

A BIRTHDAY SONG.

The time was sad. Cold winter pled
For fervid pulse, for vivid ray

To pierce and melt-e'en though it shed
Its frozen life on that bleak day.

And thou didst come, a summer child,
The heat of southern climes aglow
Within thy blood. So we beguiled
A rose to bloom amid the snow.
The snow, will it not chill the rose?
The thorn, will it not pierce the hand
That plucks it? Nay! Within thee grows

The power to melt the frozen band

Of ice, and bless the favored hand.

Thy glance is warmth and musical thy voice.
Thy touch is balm, and flowers enhance

The joy of all thy buoyant steps.

I've seen the smile flit o'er thy face

Like wind o'er sunlit fields of grain,

And thou didst beam with rich, rare grace

Of charms long lost, but found again.

So from this day

Be thou the ray

To light the way

Of those who seek for Love's pure light.

And let us bind

All heart can find

That's true and kind

In one strong band of joint delight.

The sad task devolved on me of answering letters directed to my son. One of these was a business letter from Mr. Müller of Mayer & Müller, Berlin, from whom Edward procured his German books, and whom I had known well in Germany. His reply to my communication is here given:

"Honored Lady:-"Your information of the death of your son struck me to the heart. It came so unexpectedly that I could not for a long time go on with my work.

"You know best what your son was in character and knowledge, and there is on the earth no one who loses more than the mother. But his friends also lose in his kindness, in friendship, in advice, all this which can never be replaced. I dare count myself in the large multitude of men to whom he was kind, and my thanks go over the grave. "Accept, please, my full condolence for your loss, which appears to me is scarcely for you to bear."

My home during all these sorrowful days was at Mrs. Nunn's, where I was in an atmosphere of kindness, and where I was constantly receiving letters of sympathy, Records of Memorial services and Resolutions from various societies and associations,-all saddening proofs of my loss, yet more comforting than words can express.

I was greatly touched one day by finding written on the corner of one of my letters, "With the postman's warm sympathy." All the years of our Baltimore residence, he had delivered my letters at the house, and my son's at his study. It was a pleasure for me to write him, expressing my appreciation of his thoughtfulness.

From Herbert W. Adams, Professor of Sociology in Johns Hopkins University:

My Dear Madam:

I enclose a copy of some remarks which I made the night before your son died.

I had met him Saturday afternoon, Nov. 4, at the rooms of the Charity Organization Society, in the Wilson Building, North Charles Street. I was there talking with the secretary, Miss Richmond, about the Parkin Street experiment and the possibility of duplicating it in East Baltimore, when your son came in. We continued the conversation for some time. Mr. Lawrence mentioned some of the difficulties which he had encountered and recognized with me the limitations of such social work. He then asked for some information from Miss Richmond concerning the work of the dispensaries in this city. She told me that Mr. Lawrence never shrank from drudgery or details; others found it easy to make suggestions and plans, but Mr. Lawrence took hold of the work.

After our interview with Miss Richmond, your son and I walked up Charles Street and across to the University, where he bade me good-by. We talked chiefly of social settlements, as I stated in my remarks to the Seminary. We also spoke of his call to Manchester, New Hampshire. He said it was manifestly a broader field for social labor among the working classes, and that he was going to look over the ground.

Your son was active and successful, not only in his labors in connection with the Charity Organization Society, but also in his street preaching and in his social missionary work at the Parkin Street settlement.

His Modern Missions in the East is his best living monument until you publish his Life. I wish I had known him better. He was a singularly devoted and catholic man. His range of interest extended from Baltimore slums to the redemption of the world, and he worked practically with pen and voice; with deeds as well as words. I own some of his best books in Jewish and Church History, but I want to have his illuminated life, and to see his soul in a good biography.

The continuance of the Parkin Street work and its extension from Southwest Baltimore to Southeast Baltimore was the last subject discussed by Mr. Lawrence with me as we parted last Saturday afternoon at the door of this University. He was taken ill that night and early this week was removed to the Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he submitted to a surgical operation which came too late. There is no possibility of his recovery. It seems very mysterious that such a useful life should be thus brought to its end.

(Extracts from Remarks by Professor H. B. Adams to the Seminary of History and Politics, in the Johns Hopkins University, Thursday evening, November 9, 1893):

SOCIAL SETTLEMENTS IN BALTIMORE.

In the winter of 1892-93 the Rev. Edward A. Lawrence, pastor of the First Congregational Church, established in Parkin Street, by the aid of the Christian Endeavor Society of his congregation, the first social settlement in Baltimore. There had previously been a great many guilds and various workingmen's clubs, organized by the aid of churches and private subscriptions for the encouragement of social and educational work in various parts of the city. But Mr. Lawrence was the first practical worker to take up residence among the people whom he proposed to benefit by his personal efforts. He took with him as a co-laborer, Mr. Frank D. Thomson, a graduate of Knox College and a student of economics and history at the Johns Hopkins University. Together they occupied rooms in a small tenement leased for the proposed work. There in class rooms were gathered night after night the boys and girls of the neighborhood for instruction, healthful entertainment, and pleasant society. Young people from Mr. Lawrence's church took turns in visiting the club rooms in Parkin Street and contributed to the success of the experi

ment.

The following is the substance of what was said by Rev. C. C. Creegan, D. D., at the Memorial service in the First Congregational Church, Manchester, N. H., Nov. 19th, 1893, the date fixed for the first sermon of the Dr. Lawrence, pastor elect:

After preaching a sermon on the Immortality of the Soul, from the text, "If a man die, shall he live again?" Dr. Creegan said:-We are a congregation of mourners to-day in view of the departure from this life of our dear friend and brother, Rev. Edward A. Lawrence.

Dr. Lawrence was one of the best examples of a pure, highminded, thoroughly_consecrated Christian whom it has been my pleasure to know. He was in fact just that kind of a Christian that many of us have as an ideal, but do not in our personal experience reach. I recall a time in his experience when a great trial came upon him, a trial of such a nature that many of us would have been paralyzed by it, but to my surprise he so bore up under it in the strength of the Divine Master upon whom he leaned so completely, that you would hardly have noticed from his appearance that he was passing through an affliction at all. His presence in my home for a year will be remembered by every member of my household as one of the delightful experiences of our lives, and I could not feel the loss more keenly of one of my own brothers. I do not believe he ever entered a home for any considerable length of time without proving himself a blessing to every member of the family.

Dr. Lawrence was of distinguished lineage, coming from two of the families well known and highly honored. In view of his ancestry and his own literary accomplishments, he could have taken his place among the exclusive class, but he chose rather to live among the lowly and needy. It was this spirit that led him to cast his lot among the poor, and, to some extent, share their hardships and burdens in the city of Baltimore.

Dr. Lawrence was one of the most scholarly ministers of our denomination. With excellent early advantages, he took high rank during his college course at Yale; stood among the foremost in his class at Princeton, and was one of the few students to receive special_recognition in Berlin, where he studied for several years. Prof. Francis Peabody told me, while we were crossing the sea together, that Dr. Lawrence ranked as one of the first students from America, according to the testimony of the distinguished professors in Berlin. He gave evidence of literary talent of high order. The articles which he wrote for the reviews and church papers during his tour around the world, and his lectures on missions delivered at Andover, Yale Divinity School, and Beloit College were greatly appreciated by the students and professors in these institutions.

Dr. Lawrence, while invited several times to chairs in literary institutions, followed the decision of his early years and the inclination of his sympathetic heart and gave himself to the work of the pastorate. His preaching was of the scholarly, but at the same time thoroughly spiritual character, feeding the thoughts of the intellectual. and at the same time being easily understood by the unlettered. It