William Henry Ray; a memorial

Front matter

WILLIAM HENRY RAY

A MEMORIAL lEetnoir

WILLIAM HENRY RAY

Preface

" There are thoughts we cannot banish,

There are deeds beyond control ;

Men build for a day and they vanish,

But leave us their strength and their soul."

' I ^HAT the day of life among men allotted to ^ William Henry Ray, who died July 30, 1889, at the age of thirty-one years, was unusually short, the reader of this volume knows too well; but how grandly he used the day that was his, no one can ever know. He was a builder of manly and womanly character, and such structures do not obtrude themselves upon the eye. It is possible to see many foundations laid by him, and to the sympathetic observer are disclosed many noble characters, mature and strong, which he has helped to build. But of all the plans and designs for beautiful soul architecture bequeathed by him to others, in such way that they are sure to be wrought out in human lives, to be copied and recopied so long as human characters are formed, even the wisest and clearest sighted can know but little, can see but little. If

X PREFACE.

this volume shall help to make his personality and the purposes of his life any clearer to those who loved him, it will have an excuse for being; if it can help to strengthen those uplifting influences that he himself gave to the young men and the young women he loved, its ideal purpose will be fulfilled.

H. W. T.

La Grange, III.,

Contents

PAGE

MEMOIR OF WILLIAM HENRY RAY.

By Henry W. Thurston i