In Memoriam.

Opunake Times, Volume I, Issue 42, 23 November 1894, Page 2

In Memoriam.

MISS MACQUAID, STEWARDESS OF THE WAIRARAPA. JOHN XV., 18. Seek ye the pearl of honor ? seek ye the purest gem ? Will ye find it glittering proudly in the monarch's diadem ? Is it won on the field of battle ? Is it worn on the soldier's breast'? The guerdon of dauntless valor by the kuightly brave possest ? Does it shine in the Bishop's mitre, in

the courtier's orders beam ? Or is't on the neck of beauty that iti radiant glories gleam ? Nay, nay, for the priceless jewel is a soul that's true and brave, That's ready to follow the Master, ready to die to save. Aud that precious and priceless jewel shone bright in the midnight's gloam, Where the fated ship on Miner's Head with her hundreds met her doom. Death rode on the angry billows, and snatched at his helpless prey, And, one after another, his victims in the darkness bore away ; While a brave and noble woman feared not for the hungry wave, But with patient care was striving the young and the weak to save, And the precious lifebelts fastened round many a tender form That perchance might be borne in safety out of the raging storm; And at last her task accomplished, the work of an angel o'er, She buckled the last about her that might waft her, too, ashore, When, running for aid towards her, with a wail of dire distress, A little one hid in terror her face in her flowing dress. And, then, with wondrous pity, she lay down her life for this, And fastened the belt about the child, and comforted with a kiss; And the great waves, overwhelming, swept both out into the night, And the great All-Father took them away to his Home of Light; And there, where 'tis sunny ever, where there is no more sea, By the side of the crystal river, the saved and the Saviour be, And the crown of the new-giade angel

is bright with a peerless gem, 'Tis the pearl of self-abnegation in a martyr's diadem. Wm.J. Steward. Canterbury Times.