The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1862-01-17
NEW SERIES-NO. 424

ANA" oA1O1GO I'VE 3S3
we might hear the solemn warning-"Set
thy house in order, for thou shalt die and
not i've" 3
We are admonished, Mr.. President, by
this event, to greater diligence, to more hon.
est and active energy in the discharge OF
the duties that Immediately surround US, in
the discharge of all public and private du.
ties, and our high and solemn obligations to
Him "in whose hand our breath is and
whose are all our ways"
REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE.
Lieut.. Gov. DoNNELLY, having called
Mr.. Reiner to the Chair, proceeded to
speak On the occasion as follows: 1
Mr.. PRESIDENT l should poorly respond
70 The promptugs of my own heart did l
not unite with the Senate in its proceed
ings on this occasion. As presiding officer
of your body, it was my privilege during
the last session to be brought into almost
daily contact with the deceased Senator, in
whose honor these resolutions are offered,
and learned in that time to appreciate not
only his clearness and force of mind as a
public speaker, but his many admirable and
endearing qualities as a man and citizen.
Although be came among us unheralded
by any distinguished reputation, it needed
but his first effort to place him at once
among the leading in.ellects of the Senate
and among the first minds of the State.
When the news of his untmey death reach.
ed US, it fell with suddenness and an unex-
pectedness that added not a little to the Bit
terness of the blow. We had parted from
him full OF energy, full! of hope, full of en-.
deavOr "a few short months passed and the
grave had closed over bis career of active use.
tulness;-he had disappeared from our midst.
=" Like ships that have gone down at sea,
When heaven was all tranquility"
There is, Mr.. President, something pecu-
liarly touching and and melancholy in the
death OF the young. The mind naturally
associates with the idea of old age the ter.
mination of all earthly labor the torn bows
as it approaches its last resting place, the
vital forces shrink and ubate, the harmoni-
Gus round OF life seems almost complete, and
even the SHOWS which. fall softly and lightly
upon the trembling head,are q fit accompa.
niment for that winter which must close in
upon every mortal career But in the death
tof the young, nature appears reversed, and
the purposes of Providence become Obscur.
ed from our sight. We behold the bound
ing pulse Of life arrested 10 mid career, the
slowly accumulated stores of learning SCAT
tered tina we'll grounded anticipatiOns of
usefulness destroyed, and all the riaBs AuA
hopes of an honorable ambition dashed
rudely to the ground. Such fate, Mr..
President, has been not inapsly symbolized
in tho ohoff Of nh ~, -
tapering beauty from the earth, but midway
broken and shattered by the lightnings Of
heaven. ...........
In the case OF our deceased associate we
perform more than the ordi:ary Offices OF
friendship. While we lament the death of
the citizen, and extend the Offering of our
sympathy to those rear and dear ones, whose
grief no grief of ours can measure we are
at the same time called upon to mourn the
extinction of an intellect bright with genius,
which would, had it been spared, have shone
as light for the feet of his fellow men, and
assuredly have shone only upon that broad
path of human progress to which his heart
was so ardently devoted. The poet, Andre
Cbener, the purest genius OF the French
Revolution, when the frenzy of the popd-
lace brought him to the guillotine, struck
his head against one of the posts of the
scaffold and said, cit is pity, for I9had
something here!" His grief was not Tor
the lite that was about to become extin-
guished, but that the harvest of his intellect,
IN all its richness and abundance, would
never ripen tor the benefit OF his race. /
Ii, MI. President, the silence and the
dust OF the grave have fallen upon the lips
of our dead friend, let it be our duty to-
atone in part for the equality of fate, and, in
the proceedings OF this body erect an humble
but enduring monument to his memory.
And let US gather from the lesson Of his life
this one cheering conviction that though
we appear but for a moment npon
the busting and crowded scene, of
existence, though we quickly PISS
through it and are as quickly forgotten, DO
span Of life is short which compasses within
its range devotion to any true and just prin-
ciple. The immortality of great truth
attaches to its vo'aries; and he has not
lived in vain, and cannot die unrecofdad,
who, during his career, however short, and
within his sphere OF action, however limited,
has striven to advance, if it be but a foots
pace, the cause and the interest of his
fellow man. g., ISl'D - y. - - |
TIE Lieut.. Goyernor having concluded
lgo The CHAIR put the motion upon the
resolutions by requesting the Senators lin
favor of their passage to rise. They we're
passed unanimously. "a "a .sallaalM |
l3r Mr.. REIN ERi lin the Jhsir) said;
The resolutions are adopted, and, our
heartfelt tribute of respect to the memory
oil the Hon. Stiles P. Jones has been ran.
dered, while realizing in our hearts the sen.
timents Of gifted poet: ,oos .ss8 AAA
100 AYE weep and sigh --tis manliness
TO be heart broken here, |
~ bas Is watered with tear" ..i.;..
BY the adoption OF the resolutions the