During a quick stroll through Laurel Hill Cemetery today, I encounter Sarah K. Tyson. Born in 1791, she lived to be almost 100 years old, an amazing feat during the 19th century. Other than her birth/death dates, her tombstone does not provide much else in the way of biographical information, aside from this intriguing sentence:
“She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.”
I find that entire statement interesting, but particularly the second section: Sarah “eateth not the bread of idleness.” I take this to mean that Sarah was quite industrious though we don’t really know in what ways. It would seem though that she was a busy homemaker.
I’m pretty certain that I have probably “eateth” the bread of idleness recently. Or at the very least, I have nibbled at the croissant of inactivity. It’s not that I don’t have lots of things to accomplish. My to do list is filled with both necessary items and interesting projects right now. But I am sometimes stymied by the very size of the to do list. It sets me into a fit of decision paralysis and soon I’m taking a bite out of the bagel of wasted time.
Seems like I could learn something from Sarah K. Tyson, 19th Century Idleness Avoider.
This post makes me was breakfast carbs! Bread, croissant and bagels to be exact
Just don’t let them make you idle!
Proverbs 31:27.
Have you researched the name? It seems the K is for Kimble (Kimbel). It seems she was listed as an owner of property up on Byberry Road, which had Wm. Penn as a previous owner. Of course, Penn pretty much owned everything in that region…
Sean, I had not researched the name. Yesterday was the first time I’d seen this one. Without any attribution on the stone, I did not recognize the Bible verse either. I was also taken by how long she lived.
I try to remember when I visit a cemetery that every headstone has a story. In most cases the gravesite gives little clue as to what those stories are. But when you look at the dates of when they were born and when they died, you can at least imagine what they lived through. In this case she was born during the Washington Administration. As a child she probably had memories of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson being President. Philadelphia was the Capital back then. Maybe she some of these guys in person. She was a young adult when British burned the White House. She lived through the Civil War and must of seen some of the industrial revolution.
Tim, that is an excellent way of approaching an old gravestone. I had that thought myself yesterday when I was at Laurel Hill–I ran across a gravestone for a man who was born on the day that Abraham Lincoln was shot.