Sometimes she was filled with joy at the prospect of a speedy release from her sufferings; at other times a dread of death would come over her. But she strove to cling to her Saviour through all, and drew comfort from the fact that He could sympathize with her, for her sufferings were light when compared with His. There was one bright gleam on November 4, when the Mayor of Walsall declared the new hospital to be open, " in the name of Sister Dora." Friends she continued to receive for some time longer, and her natural joyousness of disposition so triumphed over pain sometimes, that superficial observers thought she might recover; but she knew that her days were numbered, and that the last had almost come. She now busied herself in making presents to her friends and patients, accompanying them with wise counsels or words of warning. The closing scene Miss Lonsdale thus describes : "On Saturday, December 21, it became evident that the end was really drawing near, and Mrs. H— came, determined not to leave her dear mistress until all was over. Sister Dora's depression now seemed greater than before, and a dread, amounting to horror, of the last pangs of death came upon her. She had extracted from the doctor, with some difficulty, his opinion that the end would probably come during one of her fits of coughing. These were now almost incessant, and the thought of death during one of these paroxysms seemed to cause her anxious terror. At times all was loneliness and darkness; but still the faith in which her life had been passed stood her in such good stead that one of her nurses, who had watched many death-beds, testified, 'I never saw such faith and patience.' Mrs. H said to her, 'Why, Sister, think how many friends you are going to;' and this idea of a welcome from those souls whom she had herself led to God, comforted her not a little. She repeatedly said, 'Oh, I hope I shall sing my Christmas carol in heaven;' but as each day passed, her hope of release before Christmas Day grew fainter. On Monday night the pain became terrible, and early on Tuesday morning, December 24, she said, 'I am dying; run for Sister Ellen.' Meanwhile, Mrs. H tried to soothe her, saying, 'Our Blessed Lord is standing at the gates of heaven to open them for you.' But she no longer needed such consolation, for all her darkness was gone, and she answered, 'I see Him there! The gates are opened wide.' Mrs. H's thoughts (as she afterwards said) turned involuntarily to the little girl dying of her burns, and she wondered if the child would also be at the gates with her bunch of flowers. When all human efforts for her relief had been exhausted, she said, as they stood watching her, 'I have lived alone, let me die alone;' repeating, 'let me die alone,' till they were forced to leave her, one friend only watching through the half-open door. For some hours she lived on. All pain seemed to have left her; and about two p.m. the anxious watcher only knew, by a slight change of position, that Sister Dora's life was gone." The whole population of Walsall followed the body of Sister Dora to the grave, while mourners came from a distance, including Bishops Selwyn and Abraham, her personal friends, and every public body of the district was represented. Perhaps what would have touched the dead more, could she have been cognizant of it, was the fact that "hundreds of the poor, the maimed, the halt, and the blind, were there; and miserable, ragged women, as well as half-starved children, with the marks of real grief and distress on their faces, walked long distances to say good-bye to the best friend they had ever known." In 1886 the working men of Walsall erected a monument to her memory. Sister Dora was one of the most helpful of her sex in times of pain, difficulty, and sorrow. She had a great hopefulness which communicated itself to her patients. Other characteristics will have been apparent in the course of this sketch. She had a strong intellect, a noble heart, and a saintly spirit. One who knew her well, a Nonconformist minister, said that she loved her Church, but kept still a place in her heart for all who belonged to other communions. Her liberality was unbounded, but perhaps the grandest lesson to be derived from her career is that we ought never to despair of humanity. However obscured the Divine image may be in man, it is possible for such love and compassion as Sister Dora's to assist in recovering some lineaments of it, by leading back the soul through this human affection to the ineffable love and tenderness of the Father. |