Transplanted to the Skies Early

1901

Paul, the infant son of Rev. and Mrs. David Herr, died at their home in Springfield last Sunday, aged about 15 months. The baby was of delicate mold, too delicate for the blustering winds and angry billows of this life, and knowing this the Good Shepherd gathered it to his own bosom where there is never anything to harm, no pain, no disease, no death, but perpetual life and ever blooming flowers.

The baby was laid away to rest today.

—The Piqua Daily Call, Piqua, Ohio, June 4, 1901, p. 8.

Comment: The headline "Transplanted to the Skies Early" is the original headline for this little article, and of course the rest of the article is as it was first published. It is a remarkable way to describe an infant's death, or at least it would be remarkable today. You still can find plenty of very sentimental language in obituaries today, which is written by funeral homes or by family members. But I seldom see anything written in quite the same poetic tone as this little article.