HELMS, Mrs. Mary
A tribute of love to the memory of our aunt, Mrs. Mary Helm, who died March 1, 1897 at Birdstone, Texas, in her seventy-fifth year. (To Aunt, in Heaven-Writen for the Sunbeam)
There are golden harps, and starry crowns
In the mansions above at the Kings command
For those who walkk in the royal path
That leads from earth to the heavenly land
Dear auntie, ’tis a solace of grief, comfort sublime,
To know that a harp and a crown are thine.
If the golden harps are tuned to accord
With kind words said to the weary and wan,
With counsel and prayer that lessened the load
Of wayside toilers as you journeyed along.
Oh, auntie, how blissful the music must be
Which comes from the harpes played by thee.
If on the crowns there’s a sparkling gem
For deeds on trustful love for Him
Who was your beacon light to heaven
Then, auntie, your crown is so wondrously fair
‘Tis a glittering mass of jewels rate,
If the pictures adorning the mansions above
Are reflections of your brightyness somre lives have shed.
Heartaches forgoten, strife changing to love,
Homeless ones sheltered, hunry ones fed,
Oh, auntie, how radiant your mansion, I know
No artist but Christ could picture one so.
If pleasures in heaven are meted to those
Who faithfully, humbly do their best
In bearing life’s cross and murmuring not,
Patientlt wait for the promised rest
Dear auntie, we misas you, but would not say, come
Away from such bliss in your beautiful home.
When o’er the river the boatman came
To row her o’er the darksome tide,
Her life work ended, she was waiting to cross,
To join the angels on the other side.
Oh help us, our Father, her loved ones below.
To be willing and ready with the boatman to go.
—Ella Hodges
Cheyenne Sunbeam, Cheyenne, OK 19MAR1897