IRENE IN PACE. 177 



early Christian era which have been found in the Roman 

 Catacombs and elsewhere, has failed to notice how fre- 

 quently the word was used there to give expression to 

 the dearest hope of the Christian living for the Christian 

 dead. 



Lounging along the Vatican Gallery one day I was 

 struck with the double use of the word in one of the old 

 steles from the Catacombs. IRENE IN PACE. Her name 

 was peace, and she rests in peace. Irene has been at 

 peace well - nigh two thousand years. Who was Irene ? 

 Little matters it now on earth, but this I read on the 

 stone, that life was then as now somewhat stormy, some- 

 what tiresome, somewhat wearying. Then as now, the 

 young and gentle, the old and worn, longed for repose. 

 Then as now, the voice of affection hushed the wailing of 

 sorrow with that tender whisper, peace, peace. 



It was a word that men loved, even in old Rome. 

 And when the hand of affection would trace the utmost 

 of consolation over the grave of the dead Irene, it was 

 only able to say, she is at peace ! No more struggling 

 or sorrowing, no more working or wearying, no more 

 sleepless nights and agonizing days. Did she live in the 

 stormy times of the early kings ? It matters not, for she 

 is at peace. Did she sit watching by the window for a 

 coming footstep from the North, in the days when the 

 great Julius fought in Gaul, and waiting vainly, did she 

 die of lonesomeness ? It avails nothing to know, for she 

 has long lain at peace. O blessed word, that Roman 

 mothers whispered over their children, whose sound yet 

 thrills the hearts of sad women and world-worn men, the 

 word that sums up all the hopes of the mortal, all the im- 

 aginations of immortal joys ! 



M 



