AMES, Mary Booth - Putnam

Early Wednesday morning, February 24, I909, the spirit of Mrs. Mary Booth Ames slipped like a boat from its moorings and passed over to the other side. We will see her no more in her accustomed place, hear no more her words of comfort and cheer but the memory of her strong personality, of her rare qualities of mind and heart that endeared her to an ever widening circle of friends, as well as to her devoted family, will remain fresh and green until we too shall join the choir invisible.  Hers was a brave and self reliant nature and though she had known the sorrows and trials that are the common lot of all, she neither broke nor bent beneath the storms of life, but went on her way, faithful to every duty, mindful of every obligation, true and unfaltering to the end. One of her most marked characteristics was her absolute sincerity in thought, word and deed, and with all the Intensity of her strong nature, she scorned the sham and pretense. The tinsel and glitter, the show and pavach that too often are substitutes for the better things of life. Loyalty was another distinguishing trait of her character, loyalty to family, to friends, to principle, to her convictions of truth and justice, and no considerations of self Interest or of popular sentiment could swerve her from her allegiance. Mrs. Ames was a woman of rare Intellectual gifts, broadened and enriched by culture, experience and reflection, and always kept in touch with the vital questions that occupied in attention. She was familiar with the best works in literature, and had treasurer in her memory many helpful messages of the poets. Her frequent quotations from her favorite authors led many of her friends into beautiful but hitherto unknown fields of thought. All who came within the circle of her influence were helped and inspired to higher ideals of life, to a truer appreciation of “plain living and high thinking.” Pope’s “Universal Prayer” had been learned in childhood, and how many can reach the oft repeated lines as heard from her lips “Teach me to feel another’s woo, To hide the faults I see; That mercy I to others show. That mercy show to me. Among other cherished poems, she had no greater favorite than Whittier’s “Eternal Goodness,” and again and again she would repeat the following passages: ’Bat still my hitman hands are weak To hold your Iron creeds, Against the words ye bid me speak My heart within me pleads.” And she seemed to rest contest in the faith expressed In the exquisite lines, “I know not where His islands lift Their fronded palms in air; I only know I cannot drift Beyond His love and care.”  Mrs. Ames did not grow old with the passing years, but seemed to possess the spirit of eternal youth, and steadily her horizon widened and her vision cleared, and she raw deeper into the heart of things, and valued more and more all that makes life really worth while. Ease and idleness and luxury played little part in her ideas of real living, and what inspiring lessons she has given us on the delight of honest work, the dignity of labor, the genuine helpfulness of toil.  We admire her for her intellectual gifts, we honored her for her devotion to principle, and we loved her for her deep and abiding sympathy for suffering humanity, and this sympathy found expression in many sets of  kindness, of which the world never knew. She was “to all of God’s poor as kind as slumber after pain.” Since the passing of her spirit through the portals, beyond which no human eye can penetrate, we have heard so many tributes to her character and influence from rich and poor, from close friends and casual acquaintances, that we have realized this most beautiful truth, that by her helpful words, her kindly deeds, her tender sympathy for the least and lowliest, she built her own enduring monument.- kbz