On the first of February, at the
village of Langton, at the age of thirty-nine years, died Malissa [sic]
Earle,
who was truly a remarkable woman or maiden, and youngest daughter of
Xenophon Earle. She had always been a weakly person, so much so that she
was never able to walk more than a quarter of a mile at once in her life,
and that with the aid of a cane. Her average weight was about seventy
pounds.
She was given medicine for fever
in her youth much too strong for her constitution, causing curvature of
the spine and other ways disabling her; but although her body was left a
complete wreck it contained a mind not so easily shattered and a will that
no obstacle could daunt.
She acquired through her own
exertion a good education. She has been known when she resided too far
from school to hire the neighbor boys to draw her there on a hand-sleigh or
little waggon, always earning the money in some way herself to pay them,
as she loved to be independent and always abhored the thought of being a
burden to any one.
She was very industrious, always
endeavoring to maintain herself, besides being a liberal contributor to
those she thought more needy than herself; and she was often heard to
express herself in pity for the poor and afflicted, who perhaps, were
often much better off than herself.
She learned dressmaking and
millinery, but her strength would not allow her to pursue them; her
favorite employments being hair work, at which she was an expert, and
teaching school, the latter occupation, of which she was very fond,
occupying the greater portion of her time when she was able to perform the
duties attached to it.
She might be considered quite a
traveller, as she had been over most of Canada and the Western States,
having been twice as far west as Minnesota, always being her own guide and
bearing her own expenses. She taught school at two different times among
the Norwegians of that State, the certificates being found among her
papers after her death.
She was not a miserly person, far
from it, she always believed in having good clothes and a good living, and
although she was always compelled to be paying more or less for medicine
and medical attendance, she was able at her death to bequeathe unto her
aged parents, with whom she had always lived and helped to support, by a
will she drew herself, a nice house and lot, very comfortably fixed and
furnished a nice sewing machine and piano, besides several hundred dollars
on interest, all her own earning.
She died in the full faith of her
Redeemer, and has gone to reap her reward in heaven for a life so well
spent here. -- Com.
[Compiler's
Comment: also see photo
of Melissa's cemetery stone.]
