To you who received me with open arms when I came; who have ever been so generous to me, who have viewed with so kindly a heart all I have said, all I have done—in parting from you, what shall I say? Nay, what can I say? There are times when emotions crush out words. But far away is a Georgia home, whose doors will be ever ready to swing wide open to you and to yours; upon whose walls will be hung the resolutions, so beautifully engrossed, and this picture, side by side, in loving companionship. Inexpressibly dear will they be to hearts which must hereafter have a dual life; one there, the other here; one in Savannah, the other in the grand original of this beautiful picture; hearts which will be ever awake to all that may befall you, to all that concerns you, and even to the last will cherish the hope of meeting you again; if not here, if not there, somewhere in the boundless universe of God.
The last word must now be spoken, the word that breaks the future off from the past; the word that wrings the heart, and leaves it to the tumult of its own pulsations; "the word that makes us linger; yet, farewell!"
