Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-08-02
in MEMORlAM.

The following exquisitely beautiful and
touching thoughts were penned by Gen.
ALBERT PIKE some hme since as intro
ductory to the accompanying poem by
JAMES Russell LOWELL. Thelate sad be-
reavement sustained by their author, IN
the death of his beloved daughter lsA-
poRE, give them a peculiar pathos and
depth of feeling, which cannot fail 70
u a sympathetic response in1he hearts
of all who read Them:
IsADoRE.
The aoo,,ds hat follow ieere 1critten tor
others arho sorrolced, tong before SHE Jeu
asleep.
As we grow older we live more with the
dead. and less with the living; for we
make few new friendships, and are more
impatient OF human iniirmities. we
miss those who have gone away from US
into the country beyond the river, more
and more, far from becoming used OF
reeoneiled to our loss; especially If, dying
at a distance, they lived for MS until we
heard the sad story long after the mourn
prS mad Wept over tHth SA"No
90 for the touch OF n vanished hand
and thesound of a voice that is stiilf
is a crv that comes often wailingly up
ont of the depths of every human heart.
How the dead preach unto us peace pa
tiauce and resignation!-and truly most
of ne can count our dead during the last
fey wears. and there are vacant seats IN
~ A.. ~ 49, ~
many of our households Fectt Deds'
saw the Scriptures, AOA1tteD1 StH''teHt
,gaby1 post soils oeeaslna;" God ~
,nodc nan like tato q ShddoV after The Set
6,,o of the spn." Life, as we look regreF-
| e,ilv hack over the Past, seems to ms too
| short. for dissensions and disputes; N ~
| the presence Of the thronging memories
Of the Dead. our hearts are sanctined, aEd
| softened towards the living.
As those who are dear to ms become
fewer and fewer, we the more love and
,,alna those whom God still leaves to ms;
| and although the loss of each, as II py
ono they vanish, leaves a blank vold lhaI
i never TO be filed. But their memories
ramain. and after a time u sorrow are
| claimed and solted by the ineXpreseible
] III N-
| tenderness of our fond affection. After
all they Only go away 10 Assistance trom
ms; and by and by we shall follow theill.
The stars set; but they rise again.
When, in the sad autumn OF oaf 't'e7'
we mediate upon the tolls and trials, the
! disappointments and reverses Of NE, the
faces of the Dead that were dear to us
look lovingly and pilyingly upon us from
the shadowy II of our room' ana we
live over and over again the happier hours
! of h DAYS that are no more, and feel now
true it is that our hopes and projects are
like a shadow upon the water, that heet-
eth away and presently is no more.
There are many, many hearts hat will
sadly respond to the following poem, for
| it is a cry Of that agony whiehis Wrenched
| from the heart that trembles and palpi-
tates when one dearly loved, idoiized,
vvorsbipped, has gone away from 1t into
the thick darkness, out of which, in res
nouse to all our prayers and longings,
there comes back no voice from the de
parted. II is a cry like that which a
| Lroken limb extracts from the body ut
/ terlv overcome by the pain too great to he
borne.
Ave. she is immortal, and therefore So
much the father beyond the reach Of the
souT of him TO whom sho was all the
world: "Immortal away from me!'-
most sad and despairing of all the cries OF
the human heart. OF more worth to the
buman heart "the thin, worn lOcket,
with its beauty Of deafness hair, the
little shoe in -the-earner, - the old letter
fuII as l,,v4- the least thing that her use or
touch had hallowed, than all the splen-
did coniectures 4" of the spirit. That
marrow ridge in the graveyard" what a
value if has to US. beyond that of all the
assurances of faith and the promises Of
Religion!
There can be no communion with the
spirits Of the dead. From hat unknown
realm into which they pass RheB they 60
away from rs, no voice nor even a whisper
! eyer come back To as. That fruitful
source Of insanity, modern Spiritualism,
iuggIes with Us, when it pretends to bring
us messages from the dead. If any reach
us from a world not c~ognlZable by Jhe SCH
SEES, they come from malicious demons
who personate the loved ones That we
have lost, in order to delude, deceive, and
madden us. If the spirit of beloved
| could return to us, what need of a medi-
um? It would come to our bedside in
| the still, solemn watches of the night,
when we pray and implore it, with tears,
and soIs, and in the agony of our grief, to
/ come to us, and to say that il fnrgives MS
for all that we may have done amiss, in
consideration Of what it now knows to
have aeep oHr g,aat loye. It is this life
| that is made dark by the setting Of the
Star VIC adored; and the rays OF that star
never shine upon US from the other world.
AFTER THE BURIAL.