ST. STEPHEN'S PARISH. 85 



the wicked, the beautiful, the gay. How lived they ; 

 how died they ? Are all their deeds buried with them ? 

 and is nothing left but the brief record of others? 

 Was happiness within these walls ? Did those who 

 dwelt within them feel as we do, who now look upon 

 these ruins ? Did they too look back upon the past 

 and forward to the future, and then turn to dust at 

 last, feed the worms of the earth, and nourish the 

 weeds that cover it ? Are these masses of ruins all 

 that they have left to bear witness of their lives ? 

 In the graveyard, the resting-place of the dead, there 

 is only the gloom of death. Silence is becoming 

 there ; it is what we naturally expect. But here, in 

 the abiding-place of men, where was once the din of 

 busy life, we have now the silence of death, and more 

 than its gloom. For these walls were meant for the 

 living, but now no living soul dwells within them. 



Samuel Dubose. 



