by those who knew and loved him. For the influence of this short
life was felt by many, and even this brief record of it may do for
other children what the reality did for those who still lay flowers
on his grave, and try to be “as good as Eddy.
Few would have thought that the death of a quiet lad of seventeen
would have been so widely felt, so sincerely mourned; but virtue,
like sunshine, works its own sweet miracles, and when it was
known that never again would the bright face be seen in the village
streets, the cheery voice heard, the loving heart felt in any of the
little acts which so endeared Ed Devlin to those about him, it
seemed as if young and old grieved alike for so much promise cut
off in its spring-time. This was proved at the funeral, for, though it
took place at the busy hour of a busy day, men left their affairs,
women their households, young people their studies and their play,
and gave an hour to show their affection, respect, and sympathy for
those who had lost so much.
The girls had trimmed the church with all the sweetest flowers
they could find, and garlands of lilies of the valley robbed the
casket of its mournful look. The boys had brought fresh boughs to
make the grave a green bed for their comrade’s last sleep. Now
they were all gathered together, and it was a touching sight to see
the rows of young faces sobered and saddened by their first look at
sorrow. The girls sobbed, and the boys set their lips tightly as their
glances fell upon the lilies under which the familiar face lay full of
solemn peace. Tears dimmed older eyes when the hymn the dead
boy loved was sung, and the pastor told with how much pride and
pleasure he had watched the gracious growth of this young
parishioner since he first met the lad of twelve and was attracted
by the shining face, the pleasant manners. Dutiful and loving;
ready to help; patient to bear and forbear; eager to excel; faithful
to the smallest task, yet full of high ambitions; and, better still,
possessing the childlike piety that can trust and believe, wait and
hope. Good and happy–the two things we all long for and so few
of us truly are. This he was, and this single fact was the best
eulogy his pastor could pronounce over the beloved youth gone to
a nobler manhood whose promise left so sweet a memory behind.
As the young people looked, listened, and took in the scene, they
felt as if some mysterious power had changed their playmate from
a creature like themselves into a sort of saint or hero for them to
look up to, and imitate if they could. ‘What has he done, to be so
loved, praised, and mourned?” they thought, with a tender sort of
wonder; and the answer seemed to come to them as never before,
for never had they been brought so near the solemn truth of life
and death. “It was not what he did but what he was that made him
so beloved. All that was sweet and noble in him still lives; for
goodness is the only thing we can take with us when we die, the
only thing that can comfort those we leave behind, and help us to
meet again hereafter.”
This feeling was in many hearts when they went away to lay him,
with prayer and music, under the budding oak that leaned over his
grave, a fit emblem of the young life just beginning its new spring.
As the children did their part, the beauty of the summer day
soothed their sorrow, and something of the soft brightness of the
June sunshine seemed to gild their thoughts, as it gilded the
flower-strewn mound they left behind. The true and touching
words spoken cheered as well as impressed them, and made them
feel that their friend was not lost but gone on into a higher class of
the great school whose Master is eternal love and wisdom. So the
tears soon dried, and the young faces looked up like flowers after