The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1867-03-21
Death-A funeral Discourse by Victor
Huro.

Dresden, capitol of Saxony, sends to the ed
itor of the Philadelphia Press, the following
Translation of an address delivered some
months ago by the French poet Victor HUI
go, at the jntermenS of Miss Emily De Pa
| iron:
Within a few weeks We have been occu-
pied with two sisters-the one we have
married, and now we are burying the other.
Such is the perpetual agitation Of life. Let
us bow, my bretheren, before iuhexible des-
tiny, and let us bow with hope, Our eyes
are made to weep, bat they are made to see.
Our heart is made to suffer, but it is also
made to believe. Faith in another exist
ence springs from the faculty Of loving -
Let us not forget that in this inquiet life,
which is controlled by love, it is the heart
that believes The sou hopes again to find
his father. The mother will not consent to
lose her child forever This revolt against
humiliation is the grandeur of man. The
| heart can never err. This trance, were it
the end of man, would take from our exist
ence every sanction. We content ourselves
with this vapor, which is mere matter; we
must have certainty. Whoever loves,
knows and feels that the prospects of man
are not upon this earth to love is to live
| after life Without this faith no deep gift
OF the heart were possible. To love- which
is the aim of man, would be his punish
ment; paradise wonld be hell. No; let
it be declared the lCtiAs creature demands
the immortal creature. The heart must
have a sun. There is heart in this cot
fin and that heart lives. At this very mo-
men: it listens to my words. Emily de Pu-
iron was the gentle pride of a respectable
family. Her friends and neighbors found
enchantment in her graces and pleasure in
her smile. She was like a full blown flow
er i'll the house. She is gone! Whittier is
she gone? Into darknessP No! 1t is we
who are in darkness she is in the dawning
light She is in the dawning light, in the
truth, lii the reality, in the recQmpense.
The early dead, who have done no ill., are
the blessed Of the grave, and their heads
| rise gently from the tomb towards a myste
rous crown Emily de Putron has gone to
seek on high everlasting security TIE com
piment OF innocent existence Youth has
| gone to eternity beauty towards the ideal
the pearl towards the ocean, spirit to its
God. The soul. the marvel of the great ce
lestial departure which we call death, is
here-those who thus depart still remain
near US. They are in a world Of light but
| they as tender witnesses hover about our
ord of darkness.
They are over and near u.s. Oh ! whoev
err it may be who have seen such beloved
being sinking into the tomb do not think
it has left you. The beauty of death is It's
presence. lnexpressibIe presence of a soul
which smiles upon our fearful eyes The
being that we mourn has disappeared, but
has not departed, We no longer see its
gentle face, but we feel that wave beneath
its wings. The dead are invisible but thew
are not absent. Let Us be just to death. =
1t Is not, as has been said, ruin, a snare
1t is al error to think that here in the dark
ness OF the open grave, all is lost t. US
There, every thing is. found again. The
grave is place of restitution the soul re-
sumes the infinite, there it RECEIVERS its
| pIenitude. There it renters on the posses
sion of all it's mysterious nature; it is set
free from the body, from want, from its
burdens, from fatality Death is the great
est OF liberties it is also the farthest pro
gress. Death is a higher step for all who
have lived upon it's height. Dazzling and
holy every one receives his increase every
thing is TRANSPORTED in the light and nv
the light. He who has been no more than
virtuous on earth becomes beauteous he
who has only been beauteous becomes sinh
LIME, and be who has been only sublime be-
comes good. And now |, who am sneak
ing, why am l here? VIVA; brings me to
this grave, and by what right do [ address
the dead P? and who am | I? Nothing. am
prcscript Yesterday exied by Violence
to-day voluntary exile. A proscript is
a vanquisbed, a illuminated, persecuted
man, wounded by fate A proscript. is an
innocent man, man weighed down by
malediction. His blessing ought to have
virtue III it bless this grave. | bless
the noble, gracious being that lies there =
In the desert we find the oasis; in exile we
meet with souls Emily de Putrou has
been one of the lovely we have met I |
come to pay her the debt owed bv a nro. |
script whom she has consoled. | bless her
in the dark profound. la the name of the |
SORROW, whereon she gently beanied: IN tb.
name of the trials of destiny, which for
her are ended, hat which continue for us
in the name of terrestrial things. which she
once hoped for and of celestial THINGS
which she now obtains; in the name Of ali
she loved, now bless this lifeless BEING
| bless her 10 her beauty, in her voutb ia /
her Innocence. in her death. bless her in
her white sepulchraI robes; in her horne
which she has left desolate in her coffin
which her mother has filled with flowers.
and which God Is about to fill with stars.