Condolence letters re: death of Leland Stanford: Mad- Men includes Jerome Madden, O.B. Mahone, and Margaretta Manning

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[Embossed] GOLDEN GATE

A son was taken from the family tree

When his heart was full of youthful joy & glee

Taken when loving hearts wreathed his brow with fame

Taken when heroes marked high his boyish name

Angels seeking pearls for the land of the blest

Saw a priceless jewel near a mothers breast

And they plucked it from this world of sin & woe

To shine as a star far from mortals below

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Then a father mourned for his boy gone away

He heard the angels near on his natal day

Fame crowned his brow, the gold of earth was his

Yet his fathers heart yearned for his boys love kiss

These parents earth pleasures seemed lost in that tomb

They built college walls to rise above their gloom

To help other boys seek as theirs would have done

Knowledge power with many good prizes won

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The fathers hands are folded in a lasting sleep

While the mother alone her sad vigils keep

Till she hears loved voices whisper dear one come

We are wanting for you in heaven our home

Mrs Martha H Mason

June 26th 1893

Never have I forgotten your beautiful talks on motherhood which I have so often said were poetry itself.

And the mothers heart that God blesses some with which has been so beautifully exemplified in your life, can always find opportunities of casting sunshine about the burdens that ones neighbors are carrying.

I could not wish nor pray our heavenly Father, for any greater blessing than that the path in which my dear little Ruth's feet shall tread may be protected and guarded by your loving friendship.

Should there come a time when you would enjoy getting away from the world it would make me very happy to extend you a welcome to our modest cottage home, where you will be unintruded upon and Ruth & her mother will do all in their power to make you realize how welcome you are; Even, Queen Victoria visits her subjects in their lowly homes and I am your subject in admiration.

With tender sympathy,

Grace Henderson Mathewson

per T. S. Mathewson

July 5, 1893.

HEATH OF STAFFORD.

P.O. Box 175

Santa Ana, Cal.

Dear Mrs Stanford,

I wish that I was well enough to come to you now in your quiet bereavement and sing a little comfort into your grieved life, but the day that brings grief to one brings joy to another.

So it goes that life and death walk side by side on their different missions in the morning of the same day.

Our dear Savior has led your feet into the paths of widowhood where only grow flowers of memory, while in His infinite wisdom He led our dear baby Ruth into my life to share in the mysteries of life.