The Jeffersonian Democrat. [volume] (Chardon, Ohio) 1854-1865, 1861-11-15

now tho wifo Of Chas. IL Foot; but after
ward another, now tho wifo of Calsir
KnoHfes, camo here and mnde her bom,
also. almost within the shadow of his owt
door and, later still, came his mother
we'll stricken in years. TO find in the families
of her sons and daughters,a peaceful, happy
home, during her passage down tho declvi
ties of life. His tenderness and kindness L
his brothers and sisters. his devoted atten
ton to and reyorential love for bis mother
were such as TO be n constant cause of gravi
tation on their part, toward him, and the
ladies, yielding TO the gentle force of such
attraction, preferred to find their home
beside bis, and to live within tho sunshine
Of h,s affection. What a pleasing com
mcntary on the goodness aud purity of
heart of our friend. il is to know that his
attractive force upon his sisters and mother
was such. that they gravtnted toward him
US the central sun of their social, domestic
systcm
MIR French was purely religious man.
Measuring my words, repeat, Mr.. French
was purely religious man. His religion
was emnentlv practical We could expect
nothing lcss of him. He had an abiding
belief IN tho existence OF God and His
conceded attributes, in His providential
dealings with man and his dcstnies; that
worship was duo to Him. That divine vor.
ship consisted not in published beliefs OF
rhapsodic invocations but that it consisted
OF that Other form which permits and re-
quires action, motive, conduct. to character
ize it. Ho was not in the habit of express.
ing or publishing in words his religious
convictions; ho much preferred to do those
things which high moral sentiment and
correct conception of Deity and His attri
butes should dictate to be done; thus
making his acts. his conduct, speak for him.
He never entered into hair .splittings as to
the meaning Of this word or that; ho never
loft tho substance and pursued the shadow ;
but, as everywhere else. under all othor cir.
cumstanccs, he rendered unto Caesar the
things that were Casar's, and unto God the
,hIngs that were Gods" by well ordered
life. 1t might well be said of others, "Out
of the fuIlness of tho heart the mouth
spcaketh." but of him it could only be said.
"Out of the fullness of the heart his hands
lAb0red !"
1t is written. pure religion and undefied
before God tho Father, is this: visit the
widow and the fatheress in their afiiction,
keeping myself unspotted from the world !"
and most clearly Mr. French did this. He
had no sinister purpOse-no double inten-
tions. His motives were perfectly transpa-
ront hence he was kept unspotted from
tho world" and he visited the poor, the
sick the defencelcss, "the widow and the
tatherless,' as was most valuable and bene
fetal to them. Lot US learn the great truth,
so amply illustrated in the life Of our friend,
that genuine goodness and purity of heart
are much more conclusiyely shown by acts
of kindness. a well directed lberality, and
a life. time of virtuous conduct than in high
sounding self-a f-abasement. and the registry of
names upon rolls of religious organizations.
10 the autumn of 1876, our friend mar
ricd Miss Martha j Smith. most aniable
and excellent lady, of refined taste aud
well educated mind. and with whom he
lived. in full endowment of domestic bliss
until his death, except for the last year of
his lfo. during which Mrs French labored
aud suffered under the pains and SORROWS of
"A serious and protracted Illness; and i
have thought that the great grief of our
friend at tho suffering of his beloved wife.
his extraordinary devotion to. and his soiici-
tude Tor her recovery, provoked the disease
which proved mortal to him on the evening
of Oct. 20th, 1861. at which time he was
43 years, ten months, and twenty days old,
He died at homo, in peace, with friends, rel
atives, sistore. wife and mother in his
chamber and beside his couch his last, lin
gering gaze on earth resting on tho fond
features of those he loved; and. while the
cold spray of tho waters OF the River of
Death fell thick and fast around him, and
his onraptured gaze first foil on the beauties
across the river, tho features of loved onos
on earth mingled iu the view-so near was
earth to Heaven then! WolI might the
poet sing:
"The chamber where the good man meets his fate,
Is privlle ged above the common walks OF life,
Quite on the verge of Heaven"
In the meridian of his llte,our friend died
'llls sun set while it was yet noon," and tho
survivors were in darkness, save as its gloom
was relieved by the cheerful hope of re.
union His friends knew that, "if a man
1e he shall live again )" that, when the
weary wheels" of their lives "stand still."I
hen the good, tho loved and loving, shall
lavo a meeting in peaceful climes. iD city
lot made with hands, whose walls are OF
asper, and whnse every gate is a separate
learl, and through which, TO destroy and
make afraid death can never enter.
1t is said by those familiar with ocean
navigation, shat, in the darkest night a vessel
under full sail. upon tho surface of the
RatOr. in lis wake will leave a most beautiful
md charming light. So is it when good
nan enters the night of death; thero will
% loft behind him shining light. in which
no may behold his many virtues, his true
character and valuo to community. Our
riend, in passing away, left such light
md in it wo can learn the great lessons of
Tisdom which his lie taught and recorded,
md, having read them understandingly, the
importance of their application. in all the
concerns of life, to ourselves. and thus fit US,
shen we shall have done with life, for the
'eward which he SO fully receives.
In tho ito of your friend, we learn that
'uccess or failure in life in no manner do
bends upon chance or fortune that tho
accident OF birth is no reliable prophet of
he future that birth in a palace or cot |
age is alike immaterial; the one cannot
make the good or great, the other has no
power to promote the most eminent success !
II any of the walks of life; that, in facI. |
Zach youth starts even upon the highway |
IF human existence.
Again. We learn that industry and frugali-
" will enable their possessor 10 lay tho
foundation, and rear thereon superstruct-
ire of a comfortable fortune-a fortune
uficient for all the demands of business or
wants of life, and, at the same time, yielding |
constant fund, against which the liberal |
.iver may freely draw, tor tho purposes OF
, iudiciuns charity without fear of dishonor