In the latter half of the Anthology the reader meets many wise and heroic souls that cultivate the theme of enlightenment. Lucinda Matlock tells the reader she lived ninety-six years, lost eight of her twelve children before she was sixty, worked constantly and nursed the sick. She never complains to the reader of any of her trials, but rather seems thankful for every moment of her life. In fact she ends her epitaph with a rebuke of those souls who are discontented and losing hope.