The National Era
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Contributed by Susan
Description: Obituary.
Date: April 18 1850Newspaper published in: Washington, DC
Page/Column: Page 61
Obituary.
On the morning of the 6th inst., at the residence of her father, in Clark County, Ohio, Miss MARY ANN SWAYNE sweetly feel asleep in Jesus. Gifted with a mind of no ordinary cast, Miss SWAYNE was untiring in the acquisition of those treasures which adorn, and polish, and refine the intellect; her matured judgment enabled her to cull and garner the gems of literature, while her chastened taste led her to reject all that was ephemeral and enervating.
Naturally reserved and retiring in her general intercourse with the world around her, she was sometimes deemed cold - nay, proud - by those who know her act; but around the paternal hearthstone, or in the social circle of endeared friends, she unbosomed the treasured hoard of her young heart's deep affections; and none who have witnessed her untiring and unselfish devotion in the family circle, or have listened to her chaste and beautiful expression of sentiment, that did honor alike to intellect and feeling, but will treasure the remembrance as gems, to stud with pure radiance the Hall of Memory. Truly we may apply this (oft misquoted) expression to our dear young friend: "She was lovely in life, and lovelier still in death."
Her disease was that insidious, slow-wasting agent of the grim Destroyer, Consumption; and, while passing through the furnace of affliction, she was indeed purified, until the image of the great Refiner was beautifully and clearly reflected in her whole demeanor. With a sweet and childlike confidence in the precious promises of inspiration - with faith that could pierce the boundaries of the spirit land, and claim a home among the throng of the redeemed - with patience that no suffering could diminish - with resignation that sweetly quelled every murmur, even in thought - and with chastened hope that looks beyond the grave for deathless fruition, she calmly surveyed the swelling waves of Jordan, for she felt that the white-robed Angel of Peace had calmed the oft-turbulent billows, and she knew that a radiant convoy was poised on angel wings to hear her from the footstool to the throne.
Remember, dear young reader, that the predominating trait in the character of her, "not lost, but gone before," was purity of heart and life; and may her mantle, woven in the beauty of holiness, descend with its hallowing charm upon her young compeers, for the goal she has so early, so happily won!