One by one the old
residents in Middleton, as elsewhere, are severing their earthy ties and
leaving behind them memories only of the by-gones of seventy years ago.
It is sad to reflect
that these links to the early past, these originators of our present
surroundings, and those who scattered seed to such rough places should be
fast passing away, leaving only the results of a tireless industry to
awaken our old sympathies and the desire to once more grasp their hands as
we often have in the most sincere friendliness.
The first settlers,
following closely as they did on the Indian trails of our unbroken
forests, planting themselves where the midnight howlings of the wild wolf
dropped startling upon the ear of the benighted wayfarer, and rough hewing
their course slowly, but steadily onward, against towering obstacles,
overcoming in their manly struggles every variety of deprivation, present
to us a spectacle the memory of which should impress us with mournful
feelings when they break away from us forever -- one primitive wilderness
we can only have, and we are but a step removed from its lights and its
shadows, let us then not allow these pioneers of the life of Art and
advancement yet to come, to drop and to sink, unseen and forgotten, and
remembered as leaving only a trace behind. They rather should exist as
land marks never to be obliterated.
The Ray family was
one of the first that located in Middleton on Talbot Street. Two brothers,
the last of the family, have always dwelt together from infancy up in the
most brotherly and affectionate manner. The youngest one, Samuel so
quickly taken away by an attack of measles, possessed many kind traits of
character.
He was just,
generous, at all times considerate and never given to ill humored
altercations. He was a consistent Baptist, and at the time of his death a
deacon of the Courtland church. He was a Conservative in politics, and
always took a feeling interest in the elections when any questions of
importance were to be decided, though of late years, he may be said to
have dropped the heat of party warfare in a desire to promote the unity
and harmony in Church circles.
In his younger days,
he was active and decided in his Conservative instincts and sentiments. He
leaves behind him a bereaved wife, an only daughter now lying low with the
same disease, and an almost disconsolate brother, who mourns as a loving
bird for its lost mate.
[Poetry omitted]
The Rev. Mr. Burns of
Langton, in his funeral sermon made many appropriate references to the
life of the deceased brother, and plainly set forth the need for a firm
trust and reliance upon God in the dark hours that gather about the tomb.
How deeply we may be impressed that "Life is but a shadow and man a
dream."
-- W.M.
