CALEB COOKE MEMORIAL TABLET. 19 



To one who is always conscious of the lofty harmonies 

 of the universe, the confinement of a meeting house, and 

 the somewhat labored requirements of stated devotion, 

 are often less a help than a hinderance to real adoration. 

 Above all things Mr. Cooke was real and true to a re- 

 markable degree ; and if he was careless of the outward 

 formulas of worship, the best and most genuine of his 

 clerical friends have borne manly testimony to the fact, 

 that his whole life was an act of devotion. " While we 

 preached the Christ and him crucified, he lived the Christ 

 life," said one of the five ministers of the Gospel who at- 

 tended the funeral of this unobtrusive, humble worker ; 

 and the statement sums up Mr. Cooke's being, which was 

 indeed a perpetual prayer; unuttered by the lips, for 

 he made no outward professions of any sort, but acted 

 in his unconscious daily existence. Could he help the 

 needy in mind, body or estate, there was his service. 

 Could he assist a friend in any work or pleasure, there 

 was his hymn of praise. And nothing could daunt him 

 unless it was the expectation of some acknowledgment of 

 gratitude, from which he shrank as hastily as most men 

 seek reward- here or hereafter for the good they have 

 done. 



His life was undoubtedly shortened by his untiring de- 

 votion to the charity with which his name will be forever 

 associated ; and almost his last strength was spent in giv- 

 ing pleasure to a friend's children, whose sunny natures 

 always found an answer in his QWU unselfish child-heart. 

 The lovely arethusa, which they had gaily plucked to- 

 gether on the last Sunday morning he was with us, 

 bloomed on unwithered, when his own outward form was 

 returned to the Great Mother whose gentle spirit blos- 

 soms anew in the sweetness and purity of his own. 



