The story of my life ; or, The sunshine and shadow of seventy years / by Mary A. Livermore ... with hitherto unrecorded incidents and recollections of three years' experience as an army nurse in the great Civil War, and reminiscences of twenty-five years' experiences on the lecture platform ... to which is added six of her most popular lectures ... with portraits and one hundred and twenty engravings from designs by eminent artists ...

BURIAL OF LAURA.

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room, where lay in dreamless repose all that was left on
earth of our Laura, was beautified with flowers that blossomed in vases, that encircled the picture frames, and festooned the windows. The halls, library, dining-room, and
sitting-room also shared in the floral decorations, and the
heaviness of our hearts was lightened by these simple
tributes of affection. We folded within the pale hands of
the dead girl delicate blush roses - Laura's favorite flower.
We placed them in her dark hair; they rested on her pulseless bosom, and trailed down the folds of her white robe.
What a glory of peace and bliss lay on her marble face!
She almost seemed to smile in our faces, as we bedecked her
with flowers as if for her bridal.
As the sun was slowly westering, we gathered in the
drawing-room for the "burial." I read from the service
book of the English Church, as had been previously arranged, and then, at Mr. Henderson's suggestion, we all
united in singing the evening hymn, the last verse of which
was rendered by the children with fervor and feeling:
"Soon for me the light of day
Will forever fade away;
Then from sin, from sorrow free,
Take me, Lord, to dwell with thee."
With the metrical prayer still trembling on our lips, we
followed the sleeping Laura out into the fading sunlight,
and bore her to the very heart of the rose garden, fragrant
with the breath of thousands of flowers. A resting-place
had been hollowed there, so carpeted'and lined with roses
that it bore no resemblance to a grave. On one side were
ranged the house servants, Aunt Aggy, in snowy turban
and with a sorrowful face, at the head. She had begged
that they might take "jess one mo' look on Mis' Lorry,
befo' she started fo' hebben." The servants, with passion