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Note: A TRIBUTE TO MRS JOAB MULVANE
"So mothers have God's license to be missed."
Mrs. Mulvane, wife of Joab Mulvane, the well known Topeka capitalist, died at the family residence in Topeka this morning, January 18. The deceased leaves a husband and three children.
Such an item no doubt, owing to her husband's commercial prominence, the Associated Press dispatch has sent over the wires concerning the passing away of one of Topeka's best known women. But to a wide circle who have known Mrs. Mulvane, the news item carries between its lines an unwritten story. It is the story of a woman who has spent the best years of a lifetime in the capital city; the wife of one of the wealthiest men of Kansa, a woman of high social rank, a leading spirit in the Methodist church, a woman with a bright, studious mind, even to her life's late afternoon. And yet this cannot tell her full story.
To those who came within her sphere of influence, not in all the years to come, will they so measure the memory of Mrs. Joab Mulvane. She was so much more than these things suggest that a loving pen would write her greater albeit the pen marks, because of tear blinded eyes that guide it.
Mrs. Mulvane had those traits that will keep the memory of her evermore a blessed possession to those who knew her. The first of these traits was simplicity, in dress, in manner, in act and spirit, there was an absence of display, a cutting off of the non-essentionals. A certain directness that inspired respect and trust marked her speech. She wasted no energy on the frills of life, and yet this simplicity did not become blunt severity, nor did she ever drop below the dignity of her social plane. it was the outward mark of a mind that was never self-centered.
Coupled with this quality was sincerity. It characterized her every act. Deception, smooth flattery, pretense for effect, these had no part in her thought nor act. Nobody ever doubted her meaning nor questioned her steadfast purpose. It was a part of her life, of herself, to be the thing she seemed to be.
With these elements was a spirit of kindness, the fruit of a loving heart. It was in the atmosphere about her always. it kept fast bound by golden bonds the affection of her husband and her grown up children. It reached beyond her home to those of her own blood and made her beloved as more than a family relative. And still further, from friends and social acquaintances this kindly good will brought her tribute of admiration and love.
To how many minds comes now the remembrance of acts of unostentatious kindness and sweet courtesy, some deed that made her friends happier, done so quietly it is only now that we begin to know what her going away will mean.
Her spirit that found so much good in the world gave her deep, abundant upbuilding sympathy for the needy and the unfortunate. A gracious charity was a part of her day's work. In church, in organized provident work, in the Ingleside, and other deserving institutions, Mrs. Mulvane was a force for moral and material help.
She never sought for leadership, but she kept abreast with the progress of the day. As a lover of art, she was alert and happy in the best fits of genious. As a factor in the literary life of the city she gave her best talent and took to herself the joy and profit that literary association can give. As a church worker she was helpful and willing, a friend that would not fail. As woman of genial culture and broad Christian character, she made life better and brighter for all who knew her.
While her social position was distinguished, she could not be selfish, nor arrogant. She drew no caste lines. The dollar sign played no part in her estimate of human worth. It is on these things that her moument rests the imperishable structure for that it is built on hearts that loved her.
Today with her life story ended, and only a memory left, when the void opens, and we pause to get the true light on her life work, the pen falters as it struggles to pay tribute worthy of her merits.
She might have been so dominant, but she was gentle. She might have yielded to the shams of the world, but she was always faithfully sincere. She might have trifled away her days in idleness, but she filled the long years with useful deeds. She could have developed an arrogant selfishness, but her heart was full of deep, abiding love for her fellow men.
Blest are we who called her wife, mother friend, for she enriched our lives from the treasures of her own good life.
To Him "who giveth his beloved, sleep," we give thanks for the privilege that was ours, and will be ours ever more-the beneficient influence of her beautiful spirit.
"Her path shall brighten more an more,
Unto the perfect day.
She can not fail of peace who bore
Such peace with her away."
M.M. Unidentified newspaper clipping.
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