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Putnam.
Having discharged, with unwearied fidelity and devotion, the duties of this relation, as well as those of a daughter and mother, she sunk into the sleep of death, “with a hope full of immortality,” 8th April, 1839, aged 84 years. His youth was innocent; his riper age,
Marked with some act of goodness every day;
And watched by eyes that loved him, calm, and sage,
Faded his late declining years away.
Cheerful he gave his being up, and went
To share the holy rest that waits a life well spent.
We might well have noticed, while in this vicinity, a monument possessing, for many observers, an interest which forbids our omitting it. This is amply explained by the inscription:--
Here rest the remains of Rev. Samuel H. Stearns. He was born at Bedford, Sept. 12, 1802; was graduated at Harvard University, 1823; studied theology at Andover; was ordained over the Old South Church in Boston, April 16th, 1834; was dismissed, at his own request, on account of broken health, March, 1836, having preached but three Sabbaths after his ordination.
He died at Paris, on his return from Rome to his native country, July 15th, 1837, in the 36th year of his age. Discriminating, tasteful, magnanimous, devout, uniting uncommon eloquence with fervent and confiding piety, he strove for many years against sickness, to be useful in the church.
His last hours were characterised by serenity and blissful anticipation.
A full believer in the doctrines of grace, he died, as he lived, in the faith of his fathers.
