Carson daily appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1873-1877, 1877-01-28
SUNDAY READING.

SUNDA REAO1N".
We must confess that We have not
Q very exalted opinion OF the compost
lions or extemporizings which some
times supplement buriais and go oS
the name of Funeral Sermons. They
are oftentimes mere exhibitions OF
e.udy rhetoric or ill-considsIed Gu
lo1y; and while they are more ueco-
rous and vastly more pretentious than
the old fashioned wake, they are only
too apt to be an impertinence and an
offanse to the good taste OF their hear
ers. Now and then good man goes
his way to the Shadowy River, leaving
behind him q life in itself a lesson and
a sermon; and the preacher may, If he
be an appreciative man, find in the
lesson 20 taught, the text and theme
of a discourse whose delivering IS an
event worth no.ing and making an &C.
count of. But, after all, it is the man
who is dead, and not the relator or eu-
loeist. who furnishes the measure anu
scope of the lesson. We cannot make
words as eloquent as deeds; we cannot
mako the photograph instinct with
the life of the thing it pictures. We
deal with the feeting and evanescent
shadows of that which is unsubstan-
tial and intangible in reducing to
words that which was lived and acted
and made the aggregate of noble and
exalted career. When a good man
dies and leaves behind him name
whose mention suggests a thought OF
honor and usefulness and r''"fui toll
In the courses of this world, We, who
rightly admire him, are conscious OF
tho hopelessness of all efforts to TELL
in words, the lesson of such life. 1t
told itself and emphasized itself by its
own integrity and compactness OF
form and being. AS Laertes says OF
the dead Ophelia,
~ tell thee, churlish priest,
A minist'ring angel shall my sister De-
When thou lest bowling"
It is the good life, with its charities,
its industries, its courage, its self de-
mails, its acceptability and its wealth
of memories which we prize !; and We
vote it the eternal reward of the just,
and will brook no creed which denies
such deserving. The human heart
rebels against that Interpretation OF
the will and purpose OF God which
with indiscrlmiDate condemnation
consignes good men, "unregenerate
tho they be, to the damnation which
il melted out to the vile, the sinful and
the undeserying. That which is gen.
erous in our nature revolts against
such priestly dictum as pronounces
concerning those whom we love and
who have died without the formal
rites of the Church, that they
should in ground unsanctlhed
have lodged
Till the last trump"
The burial to-day Of the remains OF
the excellent man who has been taken
from among US is excuse enough Tor
these reflections, and gives them ap-
plication and relevancy. His life, not
illustrious, as fame finds lodgment III
this tickle world; not famous for its
polished elegancies; not anything bet
ter or more than that Of a man who
held himself level to constant sense
Of duty; not anything more to he ad-
mired than the homeliest Of the virile
virtues: this life is such lesson as
we have spoken of. When we look al
the schools of experience where he
was taught and tempted, and call to
mind how, through them all, the ma
tive integrity and hardy virtues of the
man asserted themselves and trium-
phantly survived, spite of all that
could mislead him, in camp and on
the rugged border and among the
rougher phases OF ;he imperfect civili-
cation we have all so largely particle
pated In, we know that human exist
ence is to be estimated by what it
shows and proves and peEfects, ana
not by its appearances and the pre-
fences of its seeming.
The Eclectic quotes from The Spec
tator, quite aptly for this chosen sun
day reading of ours. the following
pleasant and modest little poem;
A RHYaER's WISH.
When Death with no unwelcome touch
Shall free my weary sprite,
/ wou d not be lamented much,
Nor yet forgotten quite.
Let Art devise no sounding mask
Affections voice to aid;
The softest sigh is all ask
To soothe my wistful shade.
The tribute of a silent tear
Would satisfy the claim
Ofone who found few friendships here,
And never dreamt Of fame.
No marble mound to load my breast
Should I arise to sue,
Would Love his constancy attest
With fresh flower or two.
The same periodical, Eclectic for
- ~4ucaoSinva af