The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Biographical Sketch of the Life and
Character of Joseph Charless, by Charlotte Taylor Blow Charless

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Title: A Biographical Sketch of the Life and Character of Joseph Charless
In a Series of Letters to his Grandchildren

Author: Charlotte Taylor Blow Charless

Release Date: September 6, 2007 [EBook #22534]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOSEPH CHARLESS ***

Produced by John Young Le Bourgeois

A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
of the
LIFE AND CHARACTER
of
JOSEPH CHARLESS,
IN A SERIES OF LETTERS TO HIS GRANDCHILDREN.

Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever
things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are
lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue,
and if there be any praise, think on these things. Phil., chap.4,
verse 8.

SAINT LOUIS:
A. F. COX, PRINTER, OFFICE OF THE MISSOURI PRESBYTERIAN.

1869.

Letter One

MY DEAR GRANDCHILDREN:

We are reminded daily of the uncertainty of human life: for the
young and the old, the gay and the grave, the good and the wicked, are
subject to death. Young people do not realize this, but it is
nevertheless true, and before you are old enough, my children, to
understand and lay to heart all that your mother would tell you of her
dearly beloved father, she may be asleep with grandma, close beside him
in Bellefontaine. An earthly inheritance is highly esteemed among men.
For this reason great efforts are made by them to lay up treasures for
their children. They know not, however, who shall gather them, for
"riches take to themselves wings and fly away." But a good man leaveth
an inheritance to his children, and to his children's children, which
is as stable as the throne of the Most High. Like the stream that
gathers strength from every rivulet, and grows deeper, and broader, and
more majestic, until the myriads of crystal drops are received into the
bosom of the mighty deep, so likewise is the legacy of a good man. It
descends to his child by birthright, and through the rich mercy of a
covenant-keeping God, widens and