Page 147

JOSEPH T. MOORE, JR.

[From a Local Paper.]

When the mortal frame succumbs to the weight
of added years, or after long suffering and wasting
disease, though the loss of the loved one may be hard
to bear, yet the surviving mourners can become partially
reconciled to it as in the course of nature. But
it is far otherwise when the blow falls like lightning
out of a clear sky, and, without a moment's warning,
strikes down a strong man in the prime of life, vigor
and apparent health. Then it requires all the exercise
of the deepest religious faith to see in the calamity
the operation of divine goodness, or to think of it
with Christian resignation.

Joseph T. Moore, Jr., second son of Joseph T. and
the late Anna Leggett Moore, was born at Flushing,
Long Island, on May 2d, 1862. Five years later his
parents moved to this country, making their home at
Norwood, a fine old brick mansion near Sandy
Spring. There his early life was spent, his education
being received at neighborhood schools and at Swarthmore
College, Pa.

In October, 1884, he married Estelle Tyson,
daughter of the late Henry and Mary G. Tyson, and
settled at Pen-y-Bryn, a large farm formerly owned
by the late James H. Stone, adjoining Norwood.
For over twenty-one years he lived there, the singularly
harmonious union being blessed with six children,
two of whom died in infancy.

To tell of his achievements would almost be like
writing a history of the neighborhood. He not only
improved his own farm, but reclaimed many waste
acres of it, transforming them into fertile and productive
land. He gradually took from his father's shoulders
the entire burden of managing the latter's
farms; having a decided turn for machinery he sucessfully
operated saw mills, grist mill, and threshing
outfits, without in the slightest degree neglecting
his manifold farm duties. He was prominent in starting
the Enterprise Telephone Company in 1894. For
the twelve years since then he was one of its most
active and useful directors, during most of the time
filling the responsible position of treasurer, and for
some years past was both treasurer and secretary.
He was a valued member of the Montgomery
Farmer's Club and other societies. In all these various
place and positions he preserved a modest, unassuming
manner, as though he was entirely unaware
of his great and growing importance to the community.
He was the same courteous gentleman to all
whom he met, without regard to their age, sex or station
in life. He was ever ready to extend prompt and
efficient help to a friend in need, whether it was to
assist in raising a barn, or to send his team, or sit by
a sick bed through the watches of the night. To
crown all, he was at his very best in the family circle;
always deferential to his parents and elders, devotedly
attached to his brothers and sisters, invariably
loving and considerate to his wife and daughters,
he left an example that few are able to follow.

He led an absolutely temperate life, never having
drunk a glass of liquor nor even using tobacco in any
form. His health was excellent until a few weeks
ago, when he had an attack of the grippe, which was
no doubt responsible for his death, though he appeared
to have about recovered. He went to bed as
well as usual on the night of the 30th of March, but
at two o'clock in the morning the pale messenger
touched him, his death ceased to beat and his life went
out instantly, without pain or struggle. A sweet and
blessed way to die for him, but oh! so terribel for
those who were roused from tranquil sleep to realize
that the one they loved so well had left this world forever.

On Monday afternoon, April 2d, under a beautiful
azure sky, with the voices of early spring in the air,
the mortal remains of Joseph T. Moore, Jr., were laid
to rest in a bower of evergreens and flowers, placed
there by loving hands, in the graveyeard at the
Friends' Meeting House, surrounded by hundreds of
sincere mourners, including many colored persons,
whose grief at the loss of their conscientious employer
and friend was evident and genuine. It was one of
the largest funerals ever held in the locality; he being
without an enemy and with a host of loving
friends, whose fervent prayer it is that the stricken
father and the widow and orphans may find comfort
in the knowledge that their lost one is held in such
universally precious memory; that they may find
solace in the hope of a happy reunion hereafter.

ALLAN FARQUHAR.