Obituary.

Died—At her residence in Marengo county Alabama, on the 6th July, Mrs. ALTONA S. THOMPSON, wife of Wm. C. Thompson, deceased, and daughter of Mr. James T. Terrell, of the above place.

Her attack being violent, the scene of her sickness and death was soon past. Her dying chamber was “quite on the verge of heaven,” for there it was that angel bands linger around the bed of the loved one waiting to escort the pilgrim spirit to her home.  We gazed upon her as she entered the cold waters of Jordan and there was no fear, for her home had been set in order.  She said to those around “Oh sing to me of heaven,” and when kindred and friends, with her much loved pastor, Rev. J. T. Heard, failed from emotion to carry the tune, she joined and led in singing that favorite hymn “I would not live always.  I ask not to stay.”  Happy in God, and sensible almost to the last moment, our beloved Altona has passed away, having survived her dear companion and children a little over two years.  Well may we mourn her loss, for she was among the foremost in every good work.  Though not quite twenty five years of age, and amply possessing the means to enjoy life in all its luxury and ease, she regarded it a reasonable service to present herself a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God.  She loved the church and labored for its prosperity—she forgot it not in her death, as the legacy of $12,000 to the Alabama Conference will testify.  How mysterious the providence of God.  In the past three years our church in Dayton has lost three of its strongest pillars—the choicest flowers are plucked from our midst.

Sister Thompson was a close student of the Sacred Scriptures—a punctual and ready attendant upon the Bible Class.  As a Sabbath-School Teacher she was prompt, and so much beloved by the children that some were reluctant to return to the school after she had been taken from them.  She was regular in attending upon the various means of grace, class and prayer meetings and the sanctuary.  For nearly three years previous to her death she was the subject of much bodily and mental suffering, but she bore it all with remarkable patience.  The writer of this tribute to her memory knew her in the various relations of life and widowhood, and in each sphere of action she was lovely, but nowhere did she appear more interesting than with humble penitents at the altar, where she labored earnestly to point them to Christ.  Her own soul would catch the fire of God’s love as she agonized in prayer for them, and often would she praise the most high in loftiest strains.—But she has gone from our midst, and though her aged father is called to mourn the loss of his loved Altona, he fondly anticipates a happy reunion after death.—May God sustain him and all her kindred and friends in their sad bereavement, and bring us to unite with him forever in the skies.

D. B. T.