* * * I do not like to end this eventful week
without trying to send you a few lines. * * * Please
tell mother, with my dear, dear love, how very acceptable
her note was, and how much I hope that her kind good
wishes may be realized, and how frequent a thought of
pleasure it has been while we have been setting things
in order, that before long I may enjoy to show our little
territory to her and father,--to have her kind advice and
opinion about my little household. * * * I yet feel
as strongly as ever a daughter's love to the home of my
childhood. When I think of you, I can fully share in
the illusion thou spoke of, fancying that before long I
shall be among you just as before. * * *
To her sister, P. Tregolles.
YEW-TREE ROAD, 9th Month, 1851.
* * * I could not have thought I should have felt
so easy amongst so many, lately, such strangers; but
every day I feel more strongly that on one nail "fastened
in a sure place" many things may hang easily;
and truly all treat us with such kindness, that I should
be ungrateful not to value highly my connection for its
own sake, whilst that on which it hangs grows firmer
too. * * *
The remembrance of the cheerfulness with which Eliza Southall entered
into the duties and cares of her new position in her adopted home has
afforded cause for much gratitude on the part of those dear relatives
who welcomed her there. Newly made acquainted with some of them,
she won their love and esteem by her unaffected simplicity and the
geniality of her sympathies; but, whilst she showed true conjugal
solicitude in her plans for domestic comfort and social enjoyment, it
was evidently her first desire to have her heart and her treasure in
heaven. It was designed in the ordering of Divine providence that a
cloud should very soon overshadow the bright promises of her arrival;
and the following account of the illness which so speedily terminated
her life will, it is hoped, convey a correct impression of the
peacefulness of its close. It is compiled from memoranda made very
soon after her decease, but is of necessity imperfect; the attention
of those who contributed from memory portions of her conversation
being so much absorbed by their interest in the conflict between life
and death, and by the overwhelming feelings of an hour of such moment
to some of them. Whilst it is hoped that nothing inserted may appear
to go beyond the simplicity of the truth, it may be added that it
seems impossible to convey in words a full and faithful idea of
the holy serenity of her last hours, which showed that the work of
religion had not been in vain in her heart.
With the exception of a slight cold, which soon left her, she appeared
to be in her usual health and spirits. But it was so for only two
weeks, and on Third-day, the 30th of 9th Month, on returning from a
visit at Woodfield, she complained of not feeling well. The next day
she was more poorly, and medical advice was obtained. The following
morning she suffered much pain, but the remedies used soon relieved
her; and, though she was not able to leave her bed, the symptoms did
not continue such as to excite much uneasiness. She enjoyed hearing
another read, and not unfrequently Isaac Pennington's letters, or
some other book, was in her own hand, and during occasional pain and
uneasiness she would request to have some chapter in the Bible read,
or a hymn of comfort. There was always an air of cheerfulness in her
chamber, and the affectionate greeting with which each relative who
visited her was welcomed was very precious. Few words passed of a
religious nature, or such as to induce the supposition that in four
more days earth would be exchanged for heaven, except one short remark
to her husband in the evening: "I have been thinking of the text,
'Then whose shall these things be which thou hast provided?' they may
not be mine much longer." This was touching to his feelings, but was
viewed as her wonted cautious manner of speaking of temporal things.
There was nothing further in her remarks which showed that she
regarded her case as a critical one.
On Sixth and Seventh days she seemed decidedly better--entering into
the varied interests around her. The evening of the latter day was
particularly bright and cheering, when she conversed cheerfully with
her husband and sister and spoke of her plans for the future. She also
listened with pleasure to some pieces of poetry which were read, and
amongst them appeared to derive comfort from the hymn beginning,--
"Nearer, my God, to Thee--
Nearer to Thee!
E'en though it be a cross
That raiseth me;
Still all my song would be,
Nearer, my God, to Thee--
Nearer to Thee!"
Early on First-day morning she seemed rather depressed, and requested
her sister to repeat the hymn, "'Tis a point I long to know," [Olney
Hymns.] In the course of the morning she wrote a touching note to her
beloved mother: it was her last effort of the kind:--
5th of 10th Month, 1851.