Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-08-13
your narrow bed, with the assurance

that
1.-The very gales your namesare sighing,"
and that though
"The silent pillar, lone and gray,
Claims kindred with your silent clay
Your spirits wrap the dusky mountain,
Your memory sparkles Ger the fountain,
The meanest riil, the mightiest river
Roll mingling with your names forever"
1t is a goodly custom established by
this society to pay at eachanniversary
meeting some tribute to the memories
of those who have died in the pre-
ceding year, Or who, having died at
some previous time, have not been
mentioned on account of some inad-
vertence.
Complying with this custom, as
your orator on this occasion, l men
ton the name of Col. John Pope, well
known to most of you. Col. Pope
was the highest type of the intelligent,
.public-spirted, country gentleman; a
man of thorough cultivation and en-
gaging manners, full of public spirit
and christian charity. He has passed
to the unseen world to which we are
all fastening.
George l.. Holmes, too, was well
known to most of you as one of our
most estimable and enterprising citi-
Zens; at one time a member of the
Legislature, q cultivated farmer, q
man of dignity and power, command
ing the respect of all around him. He,
too, has gone from among Us.
Col. William Strong was known to
many of you as one of the signers Of
the Constitution of Tennessee, adopted
in 1884. He il was who built the
famous military road on the opposite
hank of the river, and was or the
banks of the Mississippi, near New
Madrid, during the earthquake, and
actually saw the waters run up stream.
William p. Reaves was, perhaps, as
widely known as any man in the cOun-
try, living for many years within a
short distance of this spot. He filled
for several successive terms the Office
of Register of the country. He was a
genial. kind-hearted man, and one of
our hest citizens.
John Reaves, a brother of the last
mentioned, though not so we'll known,
was, perhaps, at the time of his death,
one of the oldest, if not the oldest,
male inhabitant of the country. 1t is
believed that there is not a man now
living who was here when Mr.. Reaves
came. He was a quiet, unobtF1siVe
man, beloved by all who knew him.
John w. Fuller is a name well
known on the records to the older citi-
zens of this country. He held the i'm
portant office of Clerk of the County
Court for many years, and was one of
our most esteemed citizens.
John Sweeney Is connected with the
earliest settlers of the city OfMemphis.
He built the first brick house eyer
erected in Memphis, and lived to see
a fiourishing city of the little village
he found it. He was an industrious,
thorough-going, active man, who had
the esteem and good will of his neigh
bOrs.
Within the past year George Phil
Ter, Robert !. Smith, Samuel B.
Williamson, Presley II. Peyton and
Jesse H. McMahOn have died.
OF George Philler, the quiet, upright
business man, long identified with the
growth of Memphis; of Robert l..
Smith, long clerk Of the Circuit Court,
and afterWard sheriff of the COUNTY
man whose honor and integrity no
man questioned; of Samuel q. Will
hanson, the upright, f~air-deallng,
thorough business man; Of Presley r.
Peyton, the energetic, active, kind
natured, good Reighbor-what can I
say that most of you do not already
know and feel in your hearts? They
have gone from among us, pioneers to
the spirit land where the good cold
Ofau ages have found a home
with the blessed. Two years ago.
standing as your orator on that Qcca-
sion, Jesse II. Mcmahon commenced
his beautiful address to you in these
w0Fdsi
. Time rolls his ceaseless course. The race
of yoTe,
who danced u infancy upon their
knee,
And told our ~nsryelling boyhood legends
store
OF their strange ventures hapg'd by
How they are faded from the things that
he;
How few, all weak and withered oftheir
force.
Wait on the verge of dark eternity
Like stranded wrecksi-the tide return
ing hQarse
70 sweep them for our sight. Time rolls
his ceaseless course
How little any Of that audience then
thought that he stood there as a
and that the returning tide
vas 50 soon to sweep him from our
light.
1t would be pleasant to dwell at
upon the virtues and character
# each of our dead friends, but the
! have allotted to myself will not
it.
We came here to-day, my friends,
clad in the habiliments of mys-
ic rites, nor as an army with banners,
'ut assembling together once a year
'eneath the genial glow of the vaulted
leayens, we meet to greet each other
S friends and neighbOrs, exchange
and good wishes, and en-
.eavOr to cement together still closer
he friendship long existing of inheri-
lnce and those which are born of adj
ersity, and to give earnest u~tterances
fthose feelings and friendship which,
nay we not fondly trust, are not only
D last with our present uncertain eX-
;tence, but to be again renewed and
Ontinued when we have passed the
ark river which all must pass, and
ave reached the haven of the unseen
GREATER. And after all, my friends, :
that is there in this life, either Of
lme, of honor, of glory or of riches,
is really worth the great strug-
lie and battle of life without the kind !
: and ri grasp of the hand, the !
leasant smile, the gentle words, and I
honest and frank expression of :
eighboriy kindness and friendships? l
fe have all read in the Book of
ooks of him who jourpeyed from !
erusalem to Jericho, and fell among |
lieYeS of how he was beaten, bruised :
I'd robbed, and left by the wayside to 1
Ie. We have read of the Levite who I
sssed on the other side, merely cast I
g a glance at his fellow mortal, but :
aving him to his fate. Even the =
riest, who protested to minister for :
e Most High God, passed by the poor '
Ounded man, but offered no succOr or
lip. But that same good Book bears
cord that a certain Good Samaritan
me where he was, and that when he
him he had compassion on him,
iund up his wounds, pouring in oil
ID wine, and brought him to an inn r
d took care of him. And this same r
marian is held out to us by the II
eat leader as the highest type of a %
and a man. l trust, my
ends, that all of us feel that the les ~