Just then a messenger was hailed;
To God and to their mission true,
Firm-souled, went out to meet the plague
She and devoted sisters two.
Emblazoned in archives of light
Those titles no worldling may hold;
Whilst their star, in our nether sky,
Shines forth in a circlet of gold.
With practised eye, and tender hand,
With quiet mien, and noiseless tread,
They grappled with the dire disease,
Or soothed the sufferer's dying bed.
They listed, with a patient mind,
The longings of the exiled one;
Or treasured, for a mother's ear,
The last faint accents of her son.
Yea! all along that tardy night,
Black with the bitterness of woe,
They toiled in unison with those
Whose skill[Note] and courage foiled the foe.
Fame proudly vaunts her hero dead;
Ambition's tools, in glory's van;
Thrice worthy he of lasting wreath,
Who lives for God, and dies for man.
Ah me! for the silent martyr
Whose tireless feet so surely trod
The pathway leading on and up
Towards the city of our God.
The poison draught entered her blood;
In brightness of Spring's early day
Sister St. Thomas bowed her head,
And passed from her labors for aye.
I know that 'yond the swelling surge,
She reached that tideless, tranquil shore,
Where faith finds anchor nigh its source,
And storms of time are heard no more.
I know that robed in spotless white,
Her pure soul on Mount Zion stands;
And yet I see her as she sat
With satchel in her willing hands.
Ho, peerless crown! Ho, fadeless palm!
Bright land where ransomed spirits be!
True love to God with love to man,
Ensures a blessed eternity.