| A Pride in family lore is spur enough To probe in frontier archives' musty files For glimpses deep in pioneering's rough Reports. No glories quite erase the piles Of hurts, nor dim the love of sire and dame Their progenies sensed too late at times; The careless sligthts but add to grief, and name May lose its power to aid the chimes Of praise for history's acclaims. The course They set for younger feet will lead to gains Of good and right; their acts abate the pains Our errors bring and give our feet prod Toward augmented trove -- if they lead to God. -- -- Roy Clark
Maddux,
29 July 1968 -- -- |
The above is from History of the Tope Family, by Melancthon Tope, 1896, revised by A. D. Maddux, Copyright © 1981, 1989 (used with permission)