The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1869-11-16
GeOrEo Peabody and westminater

From the Providence Journal
To day the doors OF Westminster
Abbey will open TO receive the mortal
remains Of an untitled foreigner. For
eight hundred years, from Edward the
Confessor, the first, to Lord Palmer
stOn, the last, the funeral and the burI.
al Of the royal and the illustrious, Of
the good who became great, OF the great
who were not good, Of rank and genius
and virtue, have been going on In this
venerable church. It's useas church
has become second to its conservation
rs Il sepulchre, and It Is hRllowed for
ever HI the Inausoleum OF the great
dead OF England. At st. Vincent,
Nelson went into battle with the ex-
clamatiOn, Westminster Abbey or vic.
tory A grave there IL the top Of
English ambition.
George Peabody chose 10 die In Eng
land, where he had his home and his
fortune, but TO be buried where he was
born. Gratifying that Instinct born In
human nature, which through all ex.
altations holds man with ever.return4
ing memory and love to his native soil,
his dust is to be transferred 10 the acres
where his days begun. Nothing In his
foreign residence or his great success
has been able to ALLEVIATE his heart
from this choice. II shows the uncor>
rupted tastes and feelings OF a true
man. But his remains on their way
to their hnal home are to find tenn.
porary rest In this ancient burial. place.
They are TO take the honor OF funeral,
II not Of permanent sepulture, n:this
English VRlhRlla. Under those ancient
arches, Rmong the monuments and
tombs OF men who have made the his
tory OF England, amidst great and ven.
cradle memories, In noble and rev.
erend, It may be royal, presence, the
stately funeral service OF the English
Church, repeated over half score OF
departed generations, will be said for
the once poor American boy, who by
the benefioient use Of wealth acquired
by his own exertionB, has won a hom-
age which wealth without beneficence
can never have. Strange beyond his
dream, probably, have been the for
tunes OF his life, ending in this at last.
II begun In the bomely obscurlty OF q
New England village. To-day he lies
In Westminster Abbey, and two ma
tions bend In proud recollection over
his coffin.
And this comes, not by the getting OF
wealth, but by the using Of 1t. A name
comes by success In building u great
fortune. This Mr.. Peabody had, and
others hAye had II. he might have
been satisfied with that. He might
even have waited for his supreme hour,
and then by will have given his MILL
ions to charity. But he chose that his
should be living and not dead gifts.
Thus he has redeemed his life from
whatever shade o too commercial spirit
and a falterinR patriotism might have
cast upon 1t, by devoting his last years
to distributing what he had spent the
strength ofhls days In acquiring. This
is his true and lasting glory, that hav-
Ing grandly won, he Grandly gave
away. A funeral, even amidst the great
shades Of Westminster, iS no real hon
or. He might lie there to>day In idle
state, and be the object OF cold cere-
monlal. It Is the pride, the gratitude,
the homage of nations, the anticipated
benedictiou OF the ignorant and the
poor OF coming generations, the finer
and Invisible reverence which from
millions OF men near and far gathers
around hlm, Il is the eternal fragrance
which his charity exhRles, which gives
him q funeral honor beyond any he
can take from lying down among the
kings Of the world. He died chiIdless.
But such deeds reproduce themselves.
And his p0Hterlty will be, not only the
children OF his benefactions, but the
other benefactors who from his exam.
pie shall learn the highest honor and
the noblest use oI great wealth.