10 Henry Augustus Homes. 



scions existence. "The rest that remaineth" is not, I think, the 

 rest of unconsciousness or of idleness ; it is the rest of perfect freedom. 

 All the faculties of the soul, with their incalculable possibilities, will 

 not be less active when freed from the fetters of this corruptible body. 

 We may, then, think of our departed, friend, as living in the full free- 

 dom and light of the Heavenly world. But he is not wholly lost to 

 this world. He still lives in his worthy example and in the influences 

 which his life-work set in motion ; influences that will continue to 

 bear fruit long after his mortal remains shall have returned to dust. 



While visiting the museum of Brown University a few years since, 

 my attention was directed to a relic which interested me more than 

 all else I there saw. It was simply the root of an apple tree, but it 

 had a history. It was taken from the grave of Boger Williams on the 

 removal of his dust from the place where his body was originally de- 

 posited, long after that body was resolved into its native element. 

 At the time of his burial an apple tree stood at the head of his grave, 

 and one of its roots seeking nourishment and guided by a mysterious 

 instinct of vegetable life, made its way downward, penetrated the 

 coffin and fed upon the decaying remains. It passed down the trunk, 

 then dividing into branches, moved along the limbs to the feet, and 

 there turning upwards, continued its way to the extremities. The 

 dry root, carefully preserved in the museum, still repeats the story of 

 this marvelous process. The nourishment thus sought and found "was 

 sent up into the tree and there converted into fragrant blossoms and 

 rich fruit. If the decaying and unsightly remains of this mortal 

 body may be thus transmuted, how much more beautiful and precious 

 are the flowers and fruitage of a " life " like that of Dr Homes. 



At a subsequent meeting of the Albany Institute, held on the 3d 

 day of January, 1888, the following memorial paper was read : 



By David Murray, LL. D. 

 Mr. President, it was a matter of great regret that I could not at- 

 tend the meeting of the Institute which was devoted to the memory 

 of Dr. Homes. I would have been pleased to add a word in honor of 

 one whom I had long loved and respected. The Albany Institute had 

 good reason to reverence Dr. Homes' memory. Few within its mem- 

 bership had done so much as he toward rendering its meetings profit- 

 able and interesting. For many years he has been a constant and 



