In Memoriam. - Madam Hannah Lathrop,

Died in Norwich, Connecticut, January 18th, 1862, aged 92.     Had I an artist's pencil, I might sketch     Her as she was, in her young matronhood     Graceful and dignified, serene and fair.     --I well remember, when at Sabbath-morn,     With pious zeal, the rural church she sought,     Our rural church,--by rocks o'er-canopied,--     Where with her stately husband and their group     Of younglings bright, each in the accustom'd seat,     How many a glance was toward her beauty bent     Admiringly.                         In those primeval days     The aristocracy that won respect,     Sprang not from wealth alone, but laid its base     In goodness and in virtue. Thus she held     Her healthful influence in society     Without gainsaying voice.                         The polity     Of woman's realm,--sweet home,--those inner cares     And countless details that promote its peace,     Prosperity and order, were not deem'd     Beneath the highest then, nor wholly left     To hireling hands. This science she upheld,     And with her circle of accomplishments     And charms so mingled it, that all combined     Harmoniously.                         That energy and grace     So often deem'd the exclusive property     Of youth's fresh season, or of vigorous prime,     She brought to Age, an unencumbered dower,     Making the gift of being beautiful,     Even beyond ninety years.                         And though the change     Of mortal life, dispers'd her cherish'd band,     And some had gone their own fair nests to build     And some arisen to mansions in the skies     Alone, yet undismay'd, her post she kept,     Guiding a household in the same good ways     Of order and of hospitality.     So, when with mild decline, the sunset came,     Her powers still unimpair'd, all willingly     As a confiding and obedient child     Goes to its father's house, she went above.