Gladys Gruwell

GRUWELL

Posted By: Sharon Elijah (email)
Date: 8/3/2018 at 08:18:28

22 August 1895 - West Branch Times

Gladys May, the beloved daughter of Clark and Nettie Gruwell, died at the home of her parents; four miles north of West Branch on the evening of Aug. 7th and was laid to rest in the Honey Grove Cemetery on the 8th inst.

The earthly tenor of the lovely child was brief, very brief, only two years and one day, and for the greater part of that short history her lot was one of trying affliction, an incessant and persistent struggle on the part of the fond parents to rescue their darling from the grip of the disease which seemed determined to claim the little one for its prey. But brief as the life has been, it has not been without its purpose and its blessing. God gave it a mission, a mission sacred with love and innocence, which it did not fail to accomplish, and then he removed it while fresh in the sweetness and purity of budding life, untarnished by sin, and unscared by earth-cares to add to its lustre to the glory of the heavenly world. By its removal an additional link is placed in the chain connecting the seen and the unseen; heaven will seem nearer than before, and the parents will be made to feel an interest on both sides of the line. It is exceedingly hard and painful to be bereft of our children, but the blow is softened by the knowledge of their safety and eternal happiness; they are not lost to us but only taken in advance to prepare the way to our home coming that they might be ready to meet us and bid us welcome when we have finished our work and enter on our rest. May God give the comfort of his grace to the hearts caused to mourn by this afflictive providence.

The funeral was conducted by Rev. Furniss who tried to improve the circumstance by an address based on the scripture found in 2 Kings 4:26.