The weekly Shasta courier., 1872-12-21
Last Words.

/
may question the importance of the
feeble utterances Of the dying, it is GER
tain that mankind in general find a
deep significance in the last words of
those who are vanishing into the un-
known life.
'sHe raves!' said the physician,
when Dr. Adams, rector of the High
School of Edinburgh, was passing
away; but as we catch the last words
of the raving, our own eyes are dim
med. cit grows dark, boys stretch
ing forth his hand; "you may go"
"All my possessions for moment of
time!" mourned Queen Elizabeth. Wes-
ley, calmer, said, as he died, "The best
of all is, God is with u.s. And deaf
Beethoven, whose soul had ever been
filled with harmony, exclaimed gladly
at the last, 81 shall hearl"
sis your mind at ease:' Goldsmith
was asked by his physicians. "No, it
is not" was the mournful reply, and
he spoke no more. How different the
parting words of DR.. William Hunter!
'If l had strength to hold pen, 1
would write how easy and pleasant a
thing it is to die" Or the assurance of
President Edwards, as his dying grasp
loosened on hard forms of dogma,
ssTrust in God, and you need not fear"
Byron said YEARLY, 81 must sleep
now,' and Goethe, turning to his wife,
called for "Light, more light"
DIR. johnson died in tumult of un-
easiness and dread. Cowper sank to
rest as peacefully as child. 81 am
taking fearful leap in the dark" cried
Hobbies, the deist, and, "Now, Lord,
Lord, receive my soul!' whispered
Herbert, on his last sweet day."
Politeness was no longer a ruling
passion, but a chrism, when Chester
field, in dying, said, "Give Dayrolles a
chair" and surely something was for
given of Charles the Second, when he
bade farewell to earth pomp and wick
edness in ''Don't let poor Nellie starve. ;"
Haller's last words were, feeling his
own pulse, "The artery ceases to beat"
Petrarch died suddenly and silently in
his library, his hand upon book; and
Sir Isaac Newton was winding his
watch when he was ushered into the
life that hath no end.
Talma, the great actor, exclaimed,
pitifully, as he went, "The worst of all
is, l can not see;" and John Locke
murmured, 80 the depths of the riches
of the goodness and knowledge of God!"
The dying admonition of the learned
Grotius to his race was, Be serious"
Scarron, the French wit, said, family,
to his weeping friends, "Ah, mes enfans,
you can not cry as much for me as l
have made you laugh in my time;" and
Lord Thurlow, in reckless wonder, ex-
Gained, ''I'm shot, if l don't believe
I'm dying"
When poor Robert Burns gasped
with his last breath, "Don't let the
awkward squad fire over mel" he did
not allude to his commentators and
critics, yet what significance should
the words have for them And how
little Anne Boleyn thought, when,
awaiting the executioner, she clasped
her fair throat, that 1t is but small,
very SMALL would link her forever to
the heart of Christendom!
Yes, we can not doubt that many of
the most eloquent sermons mankind has
ever listened to have fallen from dying
lips. Caesars grieved "And thou,
Brutus!" John Quincy Adams ''This
is the last of earth;' Mirabeau's frantic
cry for "Music," after his life of dis
cord; George Washington's at is well
do they not grow richer in meaning
every day: And is it not blessed to
remember the last moments Of Melanc-
thon, the friend of Luther? 'sDo you
want anythings" asked his loved one,
eagerly. Nothing but Heaven" he
answered gently, and went smiling on
his way.-Hearth and Home.