492 MEMOIR OF GEORGE WILSON. CHAP. XII. 



CHAPTER XII. 



VALE! 



" Thanks be unto God, \vlio giveth us the victory ! " 



" Wrong not the dead with tears ! 



Think not the spirit fears 

 To cast away its earthly bonds of clay, 

 To rise from death to everlasting day ! 

 Wrong not the dead with tears ! 

 A glorious bright to-morrow 

 Endeth a weary life of pain and sorrow." 



WYKE BAYLISS. 



THE tidings of George Wilson's death spread next day with 

 mournful speed. As often happens, his long struggle with dis- 

 ease had led to the hope that again he would triumph over it. 

 " We had begun to fancy that he possessed, not a charmed, hut 

 a blessed life, which was to be prolonged for further usefulness." 

 The illness, also, had been of such short duration that many 

 knew not of it. A gentleman, who had written to him a few 

 days before, and received no reply, went on the morning after 

 his death to the University, unaware of the state of things, to 

 make inquiry about him, and addressed to the first student he 

 met, the question, whether he knew if Professor Wilson would 

 be at the College that day. The sole reply was a burst of tears. 



Professor Balfour met the class, according to previous arrange- 

 ment, not to speak of " gum or starch," but of the marvellous 

 transition from the earthly tabernacle to the heavenly home of 

 their much-loved teacher. A student, in reply, expressed the 

 dismay with which the tidings had been heard, and the grief 

 with which they could not but regard the mementoes around 

 class specimens and diagrams without hope of again hearing 

 the voice that had expounded them. " Even in classes never 

 personally connected with him, the students showed their sense 



