New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1874-03-26
s'.rihc Sew National Eral
CHARLES SuFss Err.
BY GEETECpE BLO0DE.

He died suddenly cut down and gaInered IN ;
Touched by the sickle Of the merciless Reaper,
Like full shear of grain, golden with ripeness
Heavy with substance, filed with precious meat,
Like to giant oak cleft TO the heart.
In the prond yig,r of unbroken manhood,
Ere the long shadows fell, and the gray eve,
Loaded with honorz, crowned with power and
glory
His armor On, his ia;ntiag hand sill grasping
The noble word, wherewiih he did perform
SO many shining deeds, he fell and perished
Ee was so firm a rock. SO staunca an author,
SO high tower Of strength to liberty,
We never thought, he too, could sometime
suffer
The Common weakr ess Of The sons OF earth,
VIII, seemed an atlas, without whose support
The heavens must fall when tina. his kingly
shoulders
No more upheld, no longer bore the burden =
And men, reused from the petty cares of life,
Struck dumb and speeches. by the Sudden blow.
Knelt down and wept in silent sgony!
II. died! with what orr human sense calls
death.
His busy hands grew Geld, his deep eyes closed /;
His busy heart stood still, the last sigh iled
His mortal form returned TO earth, from whence
Twas taken, vanished from our sight forever.
But his immortal part, released, made free
From the sore bonds that bound and fetiered it,
Stands all intact, godly, imperishable I!
And DER his new made grave his shining virtues
Flame like blazing north light in our sky,
And with the clarion notes ring out his fame,
Minsles no faintest breath Of Earring discord;
Aud his loved memory that shall swell and
spread
Fer higher, wider, deeper, grow and grow,
T. er close, desrer TO mems, pervading
Like fine incense indestructible,
All future eyes TO the end of time.
Even this hour is so sanctiied
We scarce can understand, bat yesterday
We were SO blessed, 50 saintel, knishtly hero,
Walked ye, among US rs a man 'mong men:
And surely his is bat a Life in Death
He died bat not as some Of those have cied,
Who yet ia outward state and dignity
Woud call themselves his masters and his
peers!
Who tread the earth sill living, clothed in flesh
And yet are dead they whose immortal parts
Have persisted, while the mortal form survives,
Who verify have but a Death in Life!
He never sold his Saviour for price
Betrayed Him with kiss, nor yet denied Him
Bartered not honor, nor yet compromised
With God and conscience, truth and right and
Justice!
Never by but hair breadth strayed or swerved
From the steep, narrow path Of righteousness
Never for but fleeting hour fell off
From his high purpose, his immortal aim
Stainless his heartwas, fiawless, without shadow
Pare as gold unalloyed, clearer than crystal
Fair as fragrant blossom in the sun,
= His spirit whittier than the drifted snow
lie, us, then, weep no more he suffered thus
The common weakness OF mortality;
Saccumbed unto the universal fate,
That somehow, sometime, comes to all OF us
Beggar and king alike rather rejoice
That he thus died, that he thus lives! our souls
Filled with the greatness Of his life and death
And rather weep, and rather mourn for those
About whose living graves: Ger whose deat
hearts
No bells are tolled, no songs of praise rise high
No grateful nation kneels with burning tears,
Whose memory no golden book shall keep,
Whose names shall fade as the swift fading
years!