It is proper that we stop at least a moment amid the whirl of busy life, to pay a tribute of respect to the memory of the young and early dead who are worthy of remembrance. They may only have remained with us long enough to show the promise of mental gifts and moral beauty — to make a single “foot-print in the sands of time” which but few have noticed, and yet, lovely in life, they ought not to pass away into the darkness of the death-shadow, without one recorded word to evidence our appreciation of their worth.
Thomas J. Watson, Jr., died of congestive fever at Trinity College, North Carolina, on the 12th of Ocotber 1866, in the 22nd year of his age. He sleeps in the family grave-yard, on the plantation of his father, T. J. Watson, Esq., near the county seat of Pittsylvania, beside his mother and his older brother. He, who is “the resurrection and the life,” shall wake him and them to a blessed immortality.
He had been a patient sufferer for years, from the effects of a wound received in 1861 by the accidental discharge of a pistol. The ball was never extracted and lodged near the spine. His case could not be remedied by surgical skill though the best in the United States was sought. It was hoped he would outgrow it, but when disease fell upon him, he proved too weak to bear up against it. The President of Trinity College, where as a student, young Watson had won the affections of all, and who had watched him closely in his last illness, in a letter to the bereaved father, bears testimony to his habit of prayer, his resignation and his worth. Peace be with him.
He was called away at an age when the world looks brightest. His eager mind was gathering large stores of knowledge, which his moral purity assured us would be wisely and usefully directed. Gentle and loving, home hearts were bound to him with no ordinary affection. From all this hope and promise, God took him. "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" Be still, ye that mourn him gone from his place in the home where death has entered so often, look beyond his grave to the life that is better and enduring. Be still, and trust. — S. S. B.
&8220;Blind unbelief is sure to err,
&8220;And scan his work in vain;
&8220;God is his own interpreter,
&8220;And he will make it plain.&8221;
Whereas, An all-wise God has seen in His Providence to remove from our midst by death, our beloved friend J. Watson, Jr. of Virginia, an honorable member of our Society, and
Whereas, By this sad event our hearts are filled with mourning at the loss of one whose native talent, cultivated intellect and manners and indomitable industry bode fair to make him a bright star in the sky of our Society's history, an honor to this institution of learning, and a just source of pride to his parents, his relatives and friends, and to his glorious old State, and
Whereas, We are sensibly touched with sympathy for the family of our deceased brother, whose hearts must be wrung with anguish and disappointment at the loss of a darling member, therefore
Resolved, As a token of our grief and deep regret, that each member of this Society wear the usual badge of mourning for thirty days, and
Resolved, As an expression of our heartfelt sympathy that we transmit a copy of these resolutions to the father and family of our deceased brother, praying that God the great comforter of the bereaved will sustain them under this mournful dispensation of Providence, and
Resolved, That these resolutions be published in the Raleigh Sentinel and Danville Register.
— W. G. Woods, J. F. Heitman, J. W. Reid, Comm__, Trinity College, N. C., Dec. 3d, 1866.
The remains of Robert Watson, (son of Thomas J. Watson, Esq. of Pittsylvania Court House) who died at Trinity College, North Carolina, passed through this place on Sunday morning last, on the way to the residence of his father. — Danville Times
Mr. Watson had no son named Robert. We supposed this deceased must have been Thomas, his youngest son, who for many years has been an invalid. Mr. Watson's many friends in this city and vicinity will sympathize with him in this bereavement.
Notes:
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