Death of An Estimable Young Lady.

Died, near Gainesville, Hall county, Ga., at the residence of her grandmother, Mrs. E. Clark, on the 2nd inst., Miss Belle Shockley, daughter of Mr. Thomas B. and Mrs. Mary Ann Shockley, of this city after months of severe affliction, aged 27 years and 8 days.

Miss Belle went to Hall county about three months ago with the hope that the change would be beneficial to her health. But, alas! The reaper of human life has cut her down in beautiful young womanhood, and she now lies in our Oak Hill cemetery, while it is confidently believed her spirit is basking in the bright home of eternal bliss. She was not afraid to die, although she hoped and desired to live. The day before her death, she said to her mother that the future beyond the grave looked bright and beautiful. She had been a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, for ten years. Miss Belle was a good young lady. In health she was always cheerful and had pleasant words for all who came into her presence. She was beloved by all of her acquaintances. The writer as well as her friends deeply sympathize with the bereaved family. While the loss to them is her gain, we know it is sad and sorrowful to give up a beloved daughter in the bloom of young womanhood; how dreary and desolate, when their absence is felt around the fireside. But—and what? Christian philosophy and Christian resignation command us to feel the “the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away; blessed be the name of the Lord!”

All who have lost dear ones cannot always come up to this philosophy and resignation. We are weak and naturally give way to sorrow, when we should be firmest in fortitude and most resigned to the decrees of the Omnipotent power that fixes our days, whether few or many. The heart will bleed in spite of all philosophy, human or divine. Hence, the sorrow of the family of the deceased can only be expressed in tears of weeping and no language can tell how deep it is.---- C. H. C. W.