Page:In Memoriam. Matthew Fontaine Maury.djvu/28

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.

28

begin again, and his changed tone of voice indicated earnest, prayerful supplication.

When he had concluded, he again reverted to his original intention to have his prayer taken down, and asked, "Have I said eleven?" Seeing that he was overcome by the fatigue of his effort, the one nearest him said, "Yes," for he had two weeks before repeated the prayer in full to his wife; and the petitions now taken down in their fragmentary form, as they were dictated, in the midst of great bodily weakness, were supplemented by those which had previously been recorded.

The Psalms of David were very precious to him, and were often read to him during his sickness. He was particularly fond of the 130th Psalm—De profundis. On one occasion, while his son was reading this Psalm to him, seeing that he had closed his eyes, and presuming that he was asleep, he stopped his reading. Immediately opening his eyes, he continued the Psalm where the stop had occurred, saying: "I wait for the Lord; my soul doth wait; and in His word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning."

He said he had endeavored in all his works to