The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1876-12-21
The BROOKLYN Disaster.

Nearly all the clergymen Of New
York and Brooklyn have preached SER
mons ON the theater disaster. Rev.
henry Ward Beecher's discourse ia thus
noted The speaker began by saying
that the subject of the memorial had al
ready been well illustrated, and he would
confine himself to the lessons suggested
by The occasion. He said: This is
changeful life and changeful world.
Every moment the sunlight breaks
afresh in some portion of the earth, and
it is morning there. Every moment the
il is night. And so the lines of light
and shade chase one another in constant
effort, but never come together. Men
are born TO die, and death is Just as
natural as life. 1t is just as much the
duty of the earth to rid itself of its pop
ulation as it is to add thereto. There
is place for grief over this great loss in
the household and in the hearts of all.
But this public place is for honor to the
dead, remembrance of their virtues and
lessons for the living. There is no good
for us to do them now. What to them
are these services of ours. they who
stand in the eternity of their existence
These are strange actors on this stage
to-day. 1t is n place for amusement
rather than tragedy. Such another was
filed few evenings ago with people
who sought to pass away an hour in
careless mirth. The actors strove to
win their pleasure, when suddenly the
gaunt form of fiery demon trod before
their affrighted gaze. We know what
followed, and we have grieved over the
terrible calamity.
But already The fountains of our tears
are dried or drying. Grief is for the
moment, JOY for the hour and the year.
We cannot by circumstance and demon
stration long maintain a public grief,
and while it is fresh and tender let us
embody it fittingly. My heart has no
blame for the proprietors or the build
ers of the theater that has been de-
stroyed. They erected it according to
the best knowledge they possessed at
the time, and put into It the best ma.
terial they could. They were not know.
ugly at fault, and it is for us to learn q
lesson from the disaster. My friends
speak of what facilities for egress might
have been and should have been. But
l tell you if you were to put 1000 nen
in the open prairie and create a panic
among them they will trample one an
other under foot. You might make
every window of theater door, loop
up the very walls themselves, tell the
people to fly from the scene of danger,
yet there will surely be destruction.
Men under such circumstances are ami
mails, and you can no more reason with
them than you can stop rushing herd
of buffaloes by reading them the ten
commandments. In such excitements
sill such excitements all human irhu-
ences are lost.
We can do much, but we cannot do
everything. There ought in this calamity
to be lesson to every proprietor and
every architect in the land. Whatever
improvements may be made to prevent
O recurrence of such disasters should
certainly be done. There is great
charity also here to be performed. I
know how lavishly men give under first
impulses, and L say to you whatever you
are going to do in the way of funds do it
quickly. These stricken mothers and
these groups of orphans have enough to
bear in their grief without suffering also
the pangs of want. Let us help them
liberally in thoir great corrow. Lot no
adopt them, not as paupers, but as our
brothers and our sisters. Of those
here who have lost relatives or friends
in this disaster let me ask: Is there
anything you would have corrected and
made right with them had you known
what was to befall them9 The dead we
cannot reach, but here are still the liv-
ing among us. Nothing in our life is
certain aud regular. We are living in q
great camp, and when the bugle sounds
every man must be ready to go out.