14 July 2018

Remembering Georgia, from long ago...

During vacation, now drawing to a close, Father Busch and I found many geocaches, including one this morning in Freeport, Maine. It was, like many of the Maine caches, close-by to a cemetery, this one in Freeport, Maine (Yes, we made a pilgrimage to LL Bean, too).

We wandered a bit through the cemetery and came across the grave of Georgia Brewer, daughter of George and Hanna Brewer. She was nineteen years old when they buried her on August 25, 1874.

It was the eve of the industrial revolution and barely a decade after the civil war when George and Hanna buried their teenage daughter. Just a little over 2,000 people lived in Freeport (and LL Bean was just two years old and living over an hour away).

I was touched, as I am frequently, by the deep feeling and faith of the epitaph, which I share here with our dear readers. Please join me in saying a prayer for Georgia, and for her faithful mom and dad.

We give thee up our Georgia dear,
Whom on earth we loved so well;
For we know that thou art happy,
In that land with Christ to dwell.
But oh! Georgia, how we miss thee,
Miss thy voice so full of love;
But we know that thou art singing,
Songs of joy with saints above.



“The sense of the joy in anything is the sense of Christ.”   ( Caryll Houselander, The Reed of God ) Is there anything sadder than a miser...