It was the last time I ever saw Uncle Dyke alive. The next May--1938--he
died. I was gratified that it fell to my lot to attend his funeral. And
what a worthy eulogy the Reverend John McNeely, whom Uncle Dyke always
referred to as "my son in the Gospel," preached, taking for his text "My
servant, Moses, is dead," a text that the two had agreed upon long
before the Good Shepherd of the Hills passed away.
That day when the sermon was ended the great throng that filled the
valley and the hillsides, gathering about the baptismal pool he himself
had fashioned, sang Uncle Dyke's favorite hymn. Their voices blending
like the notes of a giant organ swelled and filled the deep valley:
Like a star in the morning in its beauty,
Like the sun is the Bible to my soul,
Shining clear on the way of life and beauty,
As I hasten on my journey to the goal.
'Tis a lamp in the wilderness of sorrow,
'Tis a light on the weary pilgrim's way,
It will guide to the bright eternal morrow,
Shining more and more unto the Perfect Day.
'Tis the voice of a friend forever near me,
In the toil and the battle here below,
In the gloom of the valley, it shall cheer me,
Till the glory of the kingdom I shall know.
I shall stand in its glory and its beauty,
Till the earth and the heavens pass away,
Ever telling the wondrous, blessed story
Of the loving Lamb, the only living way.
Uncle Dyke chose also his own grave site in the family burying ground
overlooking the house where he'd lived seventy-one years. Often he had
visited the spot and picked out the place beside him where Miss Sallie
should be laid to rest. His life had ended almost where it began. The
house in which he was born stands only a few miles from that in which he
died.
"He built this house his own self," Aunt Sallie quietly reiterated that
evening as some of us lingered to comfort her. "We came here to Big
Creek soon as we married. We've lived here seventy-one year." Through
brimming eyes she gazed toward the new-made grave. "We traveled a long
way together, me and Dyke--" a sob shook the frail little body--"and
now, I'm goin' to be mighty lonesome."
Big Meeting is still carried on just as Uncle Dyke wished it.
In September, 1940, I went again to mingle with the hundreds who show
their reverence for the Good Shepherd of the Hills by keeping fresh in
memory his teaching through their prayers and hymns at the Big Meeting
each autumn. And here again a worthy follower of Uncle Dyke Garrett
eulogized his deeds and mourned his loss. And close by, for all her
ninety-two years, his beloved Miss Sallie, with a trembling hand on the
arm of a kinsman, listened intently while those who knew and loved him
extolled her lost mate.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account