he sent letters to the Chinese Monthly
Magazine and to not a few of the pastors, encouraging them in their labors.
Chiefly did he devote himself to the completion of a Character Colloquial
Dictionary in the Amoy language, intended to be of special service to the
Chinese Christian Church. It was intended to facilitate the study of the
Chinese Character, especially those Characters used in the Chinese Bible.
It was also calculated to promote the study of the Romanized Colloquial
Version of the Scriptures as well as other Romanized Colloquial literature.

In the midst of multiplied duties and many distractions he had wrought on
it for upwards of a score of years. He was eager to make it thoroughly
reliable. He spared no pains to that end. He always felt very much out of
patience with any one who would give to the public an inaccurate book; and
it was the desire to make his dictionary as accurate as possible that kept
him from having it published some years since.

He consulted Chinese literary men. He pored over Chinese dictionaries. He
brought it home with him, requiring, as he thought, still further revision,
and his last labors were the completion of it with the valued assistance of
the Rev. Daniel Rapalje, of the Amoy Mission. It is now going through the
press and will soon be at the service of missionaries and native brethren
who have eagerly awaited its appearance for many years.

His strength gradually failed and on August 19, 1892, in his seventy-third
year, he quietly breathed his last at Bound Brook, New Jersey.

The mortal tent loosened down and folded was laid away in the family plot
near Somerville, New Jersey. Most of his living, working years he had
spent far away from the ancestral home. It was God's will that his dust
should find a place next to the kindred dust of father and mother, sister
and brother, in the peaceful God's acre but a few miles from the old
homestead.

Dr. Talmage left a wife, two daughters and three sons, and a goodly circle
of relatives and friends to mourn his departure. Mrs. Talmage has since
returned to the Talmage Manse at Amoy and taken up afresh her chosen work
in educating the ill-privileged and ignorant women of China. The two
daughters, Miss Katharine and Miss Mary, are rendering most faithful and
efficient service, too, among China's mothers and daughters. Rev. David M.
Talmage fills a pastorate with the Reformed Church of Westwood, New Jersey.
Mr. John Talmage is a rice m