New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1870-10-20
Communicated.
A PRECEPT ON OBSEOEUES.

1t is just possible 10 over do sympathy.
And the men who engage in this kind of
work may not be the sincerest mourners.
Funeral, have been made the occasion of
much wailing that was not genuine. True
grief Is not OstcntatiOus. 1t refuses TO drag
its Grape in public. 1t abhors publicity.
Its swollen eyes and palled cheek are
buried in quiet. Weeping in silence and
waiting in patience is the conduct of the
mother who has lost her darling. Men
upon whose hearts the bolt of affection has
fallen, withdraw into the solitude and dark
ness, because they abhor the unsympa-
thetic turmoil of tho world. and pick up
comfort in their loneliness. Friends who
come to testify their sense of sympathy,
tread softly and speak in whispers. There
Is touch of the hand and q glance of TIE
eye that tells more than set Grafton.
When General Lee died the people kept
time to the sorrow that they felt The
houses were closed. Business was sus-
pended. The funeral badge gave token, at
the door. of the grief that was within.
great and good man had fallen. He was
dear to the public heart. He had suffered
in a common cause. He had failed in COM
mon failure. His words had been dear to
us. His example was guiding star. His
sudden taking off left the people with an un
expected loss to bear. 1t was proper that
those who loved such a man, and who hoped
80 much from him, should testify their be-
reavement. But it was to be done properly.
Our demonstration to be made in SYM
pathy with his life. He had ever refused 30
be vain and ostentatious. He sought no
pageants. His great mind fell off from the
weak displays OF the groundlings. And
above all. he avoided contention. His life
was poised too surely and too even
ly to engage in acrimonious de-
bates. He fed from the noisy flood
of rhetoric that was ever ready to
battle his genius in forensic periods His
mind was too calm for disorder. His hope
and self-reliance were too grand 20 be
ruffled by opposing opinions The column
which ne chiselled was left without defense.
If it was correctly lined and curved. no
censure could make it otherwise; if it was
faulty and detormed, the marble was
wasted and the shaft must be left to its
fate
Some over-zealous friends. either of Gen
eral Lee or Of themselves, do not seem To
have comprehended the quiet side OF his
life. In the first place they do not recollect
one fact, that no earthly consideration
could have induced him to attend at or par
tlclpate In any such demonstration as that
which occurred at the st. Charles Theatre
on Tuesday night. His first objection
would have been that it was vanity and
display. The second would have been that
it was calculated to awaken that spirit of
criticism which It is proper the South should
restrain at present. Such meetings and
OratiOns can not occur without exciting pain
full discussions. Questions of fact and
theories that are always violently assailcd,
must necessarily arise from the discussion
of such matters as Messrs. Burwell, Semmes
and Palmer brought into the meeting at the
st. Charles Theatre. This is composite
community. There are thousands of men
in our midst who do not feel as these three
orators do. We are called upon to differ
with Mcssrs. Selnmes and Palmer every
day. Blen are so violently divided in sent-
ment about these matters of which thew
spoke So confidently that they refuse to
know each other. 1t is cause of quarrel
1t is daily guage of personal luminosity.
But it bad been accepted that General Lee
was a greater man than our local agitators
We felt that his genius and his personal
life were worthy of our admiration, and our
tribute of sympathy was paid to his ind-
vidual merits. Believing that his obseguies
would partake of the nature of his own
quiet and Christian life, all the people, not
excepting those who differed with him in
many things, consented to testify, in
simple and earnest way, that his death was
a great loss to the world and to the South
But if his grave is to be made the scene
for wrangling, and if his death is to be
caught up an occasion for debate over
issues that only borrowed a glow of recti-
tude from his integrity, then it is quite time
for us to say, these funeral orations will
have to pass through the regular course of
newspaper criticism, and the orators will he
dealt with as they deserve to be. We can
not afford to see even the body of General
Lee dragged about in professions by men
who do not appreciate the moral of his life.
They can not be allowed to make capital
for their narrow fame by perching them
selves upon the column which is consecrated
to Lee. Let us hope, then, that all this
otfciOus mourning, wherein cause of aggrn-
walton is planted will be suspended and
that the true and genuine lovers of the dead
hero will mourn parents do, in their |
homes, and in their conduct, and that they
will show their sense of appreciation for the
many virtues of the departed teacher, by
striving to be like him in all wherein he was
good. SOUTHERNER.
Five thousand eight hundred and ninety