| Notes |
- **Tribute to the Memory of Grace Douglass**
Departed this life, March 9th, 1842, in Philadelphia, Mrs. Grace Douglass, consort of Robert Douglass, Sen.
When we have been deprived by death of those with whom we occasionally mingle in society, we feel our loss. But when we are deprived of the company of those who were near and dear to us, by whose sympathy our hearts have been cheered, and the balm of consolation administered, whose tender admonitions have been engraved upon the tablets of our hearts, by whose instructions we have been profited, and by whose truly Christian spirit, precept, and example we have been encouraged to yield obedience to God and rely upon the precious promises of Immanuel, how deep, how poignant is our grief! how irreparable is our loss!
Such was the character of our much-beloved and lamented friend, Grace Douglass. Possessed of a highly gifted, deep, and penetrating mind, she had it well stored by religious, moral, and scientific reading, and she was ever ready to impart freely that knowledge which she had so ardently acquired, to all who were desirous or in any way willing to receive instruction.
Never, no, never shall I forget her self-devotedness to the cause of education. The early instructions of the young, and the effects of the various modes of instruction were to her subjects of peculiar interest. To have them possessed of solid and extensive knowledge, and a taste for scientific and philosophical investigation, were with her familiar topics.
The cause of the perishing slave lay so near her heart that it seemed to be a part of herself. She breathed the very atmosphere of anti-slavery. For years, her generous heart and her purse had been engaged in this holy cause. Obeying the directions of the apostle, remembering those that are in bonds as bound with them, she confidently believed that the day of their redemption is near at hand, and hoped to behold the time when the bondman shall be free from his master.
But it has pleased Almighty God to call her from works to rewards. As a Christian, she was truly a follower of Christ, devoted to great and eternal principles laid down in the Holy Scriptures, from which she daily gathered renewed strength and courage to put her trust in that God, who alone, in the sixth trial, will be with us, and who, in the seventh, will not forsake.
She was a shock of corn fully ripe, always cheerful, always in submission to the divine will. In the death of Grace Douglass, the slave has lost one of his dearest friends, the anti-slavery cause one of its firmest supporters, education one of its most devoted advocates, and society one of its brightest ornaments.
But, friends, let us Weep not, she is at rest,
From misery, and madness, and all strife.
That makes but night of day, and death of life.
In the grave's peaceful breast.
Rejoice, rejoice, how long
Should the faint spirit wrestle with the clay,
Fluttering in vain for the fair cloudless day,
And for the Angel's song?
It mounts, it mounts! Oh, spread
The banner of gay victory and sing
For the enfranchised, and bright garlands bring.
But weep not for the dead.
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