Binford - Maude
Source: Crawfordsville Weekly Daily Journal Friday, 22 April, 1898
I stand in my cottage door and gaze into the beautiful sky. Why do the skies charm my gaze, and send a pang of joy and sweet hope to my soul? Why do I not turn into my little home and seek joy and life within? Ah! All that life held dear to me has gone to dwell in the skies. She has said good-bye to me and her little darling and gone to stay. But that good-bye will not be eternal, but in a short time, only a little while, I shall go too. I shall see her sweet face in peaceful rest. Our earthly loss is her eternal gain.
Maude was left when only a mere babe, with one who reared her up as tenderly as could a mother, one who was all a fond, true hearted mother could be. She never grew tired or impatient, but with all the love of a mother she cared for this child as though she were her very own, and now she leaves her darling babe, who shall never know the love and care of a fond mother, in the hands of this same dear woman that she may teach it of its mamma in the skies and to love the name of Jesus. May she guide her little footsteps heavenward, to the home where mamma lives. And bye and bye husband, child and mother shall ascend into heaven and find at the portals glory, their loved one who has opened wide the gate and made welcome their heavenly home. The Lord shall call us all. Death must come to every home, even at the midnight hour it hovers over the beds of our loved ones. We are never ready for this unwelcome guest. We are never ready to say good bye to father, mother, brothers or sisters, or good bye to husband, wife, or child. No, no, we can’t say good bye. It sends a pang of sorrow to our hearts. How patiently she bore her sufferings. Like an enemy of war she battled for life. Like a sweet child of God, she endured until the end, and when the angel of death unbolted the door of her young life she said, “Thy will, not mine be done.” And now dear husband, brothers and sisters, and you who have been a true father and mother and watched the bedside of your dear patient Maude, mourn not nor wish for her return, but strive to enter in at the straight gate, where your loved one has just gone, and unite again the broken links of the family chain that God has seen cause to sever and may the angel of peace and comfort guide you all through the pathway of life is my prayer.
Source: Crawfordsville Weekly Journal Friday, 6 May, 1898
God in his mercy and wisdom has seen fit to take to himself one of our numbers in the person of Maud Johnson Binford, who died April 16, 1898, aged twenty years, five months and four days. She had attended Gravelly Run Sabbath School and associated therewith all her life, having been one of the faithful attendants.