LYON, Eva 1884-1895

LYON

Posted By: Tammy (email)
Date: 2/20/2011 at 19:50:13

Eva Pearl, eldest daughter of W. J. and N. B. Lyon, died of scarlet fever at her home two and one-half miles south of this city, May 8th.

Little Eva was born in Jones county, Iowa, November 11th, 1884, and was ten years, five months and twenty-eight days old. She was uncommonly unselfish, and loving, always looking after the interest of others. Her last words were a warning to her little brother "to keep away from the door so as not to take cold." During her sickness she longed to be back in the school room. Here Eva showed her greatest ambition, striving always to be at the head of her classes. To her parents it is crushing indeed to be deprived of so sweet and loving a child.

We have a little golden curl
Of soft unbraided hair,
The all that's left of loveliness
That once we thought so fair;
And yet, though time may dim its sheen,
Though all beside hath fled,
We hold it here, a link between
Our spirit and the dead.

Yes! from this shining ringlet still
A mournful memory springs,
That melts our hearts, and sheds a thrill
Through all its trembling strings,
We think of her, the loved, the wept,
Upon whole forehead fair
For ten short years, like sunshine, slept
This golden curl of hair.

O, sunny tress! the joyous brow
Where thou didst lightly wave,
With all thy sister tresses now
Lies cold within the grave;
That cheek is of its bloom bereft;
That eye no more is gay;
Of all her beauties thou art left
A solitary ray.

--The Grundy County Republican (Grundy Center, Iowa), 16 May 1895