Dear Mattie, Bryant tells us to
"So live that when your summons comes to
joint the innumerable caravan, that moves to the
mysterious realm where each shall take his
chamber in the silent halls of death,"
For us not to go "like the quarry slave at night
scourged to his dungeon, but rather sustained
and soothed; By an unfaltering faith
approach our graves like one who wraps the
drapery of his couch about him, and lies
down to pleasant dreams"
Your true Friend
Mrs Frank R. Smith
Chelsea, Iowa
March 8, 1884

"From the autograph album of Martha M. "Mattie" Roach of Chelsea, daughter of Fred and Eliza J. (Hutchins) Roach. She married Samuel T. May in Toledo, Tama County, in 1891."

Submitted by: Bob Hutchins tecxas@earthlink.net