34 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY 



Lacey 's lovely traits and home life, from which I make 

 the following brief extracts : 



As I gazed into his death-stilled face, my rneniory reverted to 

 when I was a lad of twelve years of age, and employed at the 

 Lacey home ; and many of the scenes and incidents of that time 

 came before me as vividly as though it were but yesterday. 

 Though then young in years, I seemed to realize that Mr. Lacey 

 was a great and good man, and it naturally followed that I 

 watched him closely, and admired him. His exemplary routine 

 and kindness about his home were so instilled on my youthful 

 mind that as the years passed on, I came to a true realization of 

 the noble man's worth. No man ever loved and worshiped his 

 family more than Mr. Lacey. He held the sacredness of his 

 home above all else in the world. His legal and other profes- 

 sional business, which were of inexhaustible volume, were a sec- 

 ondary consideration. His home and family came first. He was 

 the kind of a husband and father that God intended man to be : 

 kind, loving, devoted, and pure. And often with childish envy 

 have I watched his children run to the old front gate, as I called 

 it, to meet him at the noon hour, and how a smile would illum- 

 inate his face as he gathered them in his arms and caressed them, 

 and I feel safe in saying that there were never happier moments 

 in this good man's life than to hear the prattle of his little ones 

 coming to meet him. His home-coming was looked forward to 

 with joy by his family. I knew it. He was happy in their 

 presence. I could see it with my own eyes. He was loath to 

 leave them; they hated to see him depart. I see him again in 

 the library of his home at evening time — which, by the way, 

 was his favorite room — with his family gathered about him, 

 and I often tried to conceive of a prettier, more sublime picture 

 of happiness and contentment. Such were the environments 

 that made the Lacey home an ideal one. And it can also be 

 truthfully said, that never was a needy one turned from the 

 door of the Lacey home empty-handed. 



Perhaps more than enough has been said to properly 

 typify the character and accomplishments of Mr. Lacey ; 

 but I could not forbear the elaboration I have given, for 



