IN MEMORIAM.

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 99, 10 December 1879, Page 3

IN MEMORIAM.

One by one: the old colonists are ; silently passing away, and m the busy morchtof progresaiou aUtsadapt upon the de^elupßiueat of 'a. new ; country,' th« men of the presentrhave ■carrely tiaafe "to,. bestow a- thought upon the piono^ra of the past. The ■ veterans who have borne jiiie brunt of the battle, m the infaniry : of the colonies ha,ve,.giwn, .w^y^to-* uew . generation, »pd> liafe when| the atCtl' news ia chronicled, that, ypi* another has passed away^ f.Ol ■ eyof v i,th"«ir ab•enec from the buay scene m which, tliey have taken such a stirring^ pai-t^ i is rawly noticed. I)ay. after djay .wa hear of the decease ot[ some" patriarchal colonist, the mention o£, whose name takes t back. the^recojllectio^ to ; by-gone dayi, j 'wlien. th6 M yi-orlL Of set^' tlement was not th&.zle^y<itaak; I j>£.J to-day ; when the .hardy 'pioneers 6f • civilisation held their lives iv their hands, and thejcoinforts and conveniences of the present tima wero.'only i remembered m the ' land vihiuh they had left^pr^ove;.. ; 0.n.-^!riday >< night there, died, at his roaid^nce m this town, Mr. Isaac Leary, at the ripe old age r of eixty-uiiio, cue who ■ had well played Lii part' m ithe ipiis't,- l as a colonist, a husband, andafuther, , and whose death is w«3ll' worthy of ' more than a passing notice." Mr. lieary was bbrii iv thVGity of Watei*j\ . ford, on the 2ith of August, lSll-r.,. four years before, that decisive victory •which gave peace to., Europe, and a life-long captivity to Napoleon. 'His grandf rttl ier on his mother's ) side- was ■■ -' the Rev. Joseph Poult^r, Rtfctor of Dunkit, m the County of Kilkenny, and as hia f aj;h<?r, . ; who ,. was ,u vflc»ur v merchant m AVuterford! belonged to the Society of Friends.-the marriage was the cause- bi a rupture between the rector arid hif dtfugiiier. ' "Wiiilo quite a young nittn, Mr. litiary settled iv Wexford, where he 6j3ened a bookseller's shopj ai jcl '; niavr ied the '=, w \ti % '• who surrive^fe^ "*I& the' yoa^;lßilv juit thii'fcy-oi^lit years ago, with a'u youngfamilf fee saj^pd . frotn Liverp/»6l^.' m the jOrestos, and ai'ler a uiost perilous voyage of five youths, „ar-. rived m Sydney iv May of the. same year. ■ " On his arrival he; entered iuto business a« a bookseller, but not being Buccesoful, bSf^ok't^tett-huig, kojeping a school- at Cuuidon, and m the ' country north^of^ilaiilanil;" after ; which he purchased a farm within a few milt»d of and settled down to agriculfcurai life, buf; was inducod to reliuu.uiah it to take charge of the British and Foreign Bible Society's Depot. While. ; .iesidenti iai^that . city Mr. Leary m .conjunction ; - with - his brother-in.-law, the Eey. Mr: Pidgeon, City' Missionary, : 'was a^iost earnest worker. in the service of roligion, preaching- regularly^fbr years^' and ably- assiatiag m the good -work of reiAaiiaing the fallen an,d strengthening the wavering." Af tor he. had levered his coune^tiou with that institution, he . wfthi appoiutbd to the ■ • management of a branch eatablisht mentiu Q-eeloug of the* publishing house of Mooi-jaud Creighan,- of jSyd-. •. ney," where .he ; \yas at "tliejautbrealt', of the Mount Alexander 'diggings. , A4, - might h^ye. been expected, he woa. not proof against tlie attractions of the golden bait, anjd.- with two .others; he tried bis fortunes upon the. gold fields. Thoag^' iafld&fiitely 'successful, the lino of life was not suited to his retireu habits, and -after a short _' trial he turned his. back upon the diggings. Fifteen yeajrs ago' h«* ar- .*- --rired m Auckland, aiwi;althoiijgh,;i;he.J;,; had not been ill that time- in^ Miis - Colony, for the pa»V five years. h$ * , has, been .YMideht'.'-ta^.''.Pal' ra or 9;^ OD i' > ' -taking that, rest in^his declining years with his ohildran which he had weUV = earned through v 'his of • three, score and "ten. AUhou<rh so long a resident -in,, the township, pn : - nocount of his failing health he vsr.ts ; not much abroad, .and -cpnseo l i ien.«l.v -- was not personally known U) xhitny,* but all those with whom he came m contact were instjint'ti^ely drawn to- ...' wards him, by his gentleness, cliilcllik;©.simplicitv. and those instinuts of Ihe true Christian gentleman, wjcish wer,d inseparable to his nhture.;i •: Althbugli' so many years— nearly I wpgeneratipas — away from ilie lanH>of his birth, hia love for the Green OH IsJ« wasas " young and as freßh as, eve^ ;and his^ greatest pride, was to meet wit 'i^pue who could speak to him. of the home from whiuh he was so- long- parted. He is gone how, and while, his sorrowing friends are- consoled with, the thought Unit although ho performed no deed of koiiihtly riiloiir hiß?did his . : duty well, lire&as becojne a man, and died »h became a Ciiriutiun.'- During" hu lust illness, which .waA'a long arid painful one, his very Bufferings appeared to be. soun-es of consolation io Kirn,' and bo was frequeijtlyheard t6 ; exclaim, that his hours of -suffering were, those, of most joy to him, bringing him nearer,' and making him liiorc ' wort'iy of his Saviour. Tis sad tv • pw* with those wo.lpce, but still/ " Death's but a path' Whfeh must" be trod • . •••; _; ; If eveis man would pass fd Qrod*