Last week I arrived for my regular shift in the Bullis Room with a mental "to-do" list for the morning. I soon found my focus redirected by a stacks of small black books in the middle of the round table. Stamped into the cover of each one was the title, Audels Carpenters and Builder Guide. The title did not impress me as something of personal interest but the quote on the flyleaf changed my mind:
When we build, let us think that we build forever.
Let it not be for present delight nor for present use
alone. Let it be such work as our descendants will
thank us for; and let us think, as we lay stone on stone,
that a time is to come when those stones will be held
sacred because our hands have touched them, and
that men will say, as they look upon the labor and
wrought substance of them, "See! This our father
did for us."
---John Ruskin
I can picture Nettie Bullis reading this quote, tilting her head in contemplation, then slowly nodding. And I think she would nod her head again if she could be with us today to see the results of her wise stewardship, her laying "stone on stone" to build a legacy for the rest of us to enjoy.
And so today, we say: "See! This our sister did for us."
Thank you, Nettie.
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