Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1877-01-26
Bliss.
DEAD INGER AND EVANGELIST WHO
DIED IN AN HEROI EFFORT TO SAVE
THE LIFE OF HIS WIFE.

THE DEAD SINGER AND EVANGELIST WHO
DIED IN AN HEROIC EFFORT TO SAVE
THE LIFE OF HIS WIFE.
Chicago Tribune.
P. z. Bliss, the evangelist and singer. as
our readers are well aware, was one of the
victims of the Ashtabula calamity. Ac-
cording to the statement of those who
were in a position to know, he made a he
roic effort to save his wife when he might
have saved himself, and failing in this, re-
manned and died with her, the two offer
ing their prayers together as the fatal
flames approached them like the old mar
tyrS at the stake; and thus, united in life
they were not divided in death. They died
the deaths OF christian herOeS-the faith
of the songs which she had written and he
had composed blossoming out at the last
into the full flower Of victory over death.
Those Who remain pursuing the work in
which he was engaged have already pros
vided the means for educating his
children and bringing them up in the
way their father walked, and for erecting
an appropriate monument to the memory
of this faithful pair. This is we'll; but the
most lasting monument-mlOnNmentuno Oere
perennius which Horace sang-to the mem
DRY Of the dead singer will be found his
W songs, which have already crowned
his name With undylng fame aud reached
around the world with, their simple melo.
dy-sung to-day in the Tabernacle in
Chicago, yesterday in the Zulu mission OF
South Africa, tomorrow i'll the temples Of
China There is probably no part of the
civilized world in which his lyric, Hold
the Fort" is not sung, and numerous
other of his songs, like 1.-The Armor Bear
err "Almost Persuaded" and 'What
Shall the Harvest Be?" are also winging
their way across the seas to distant lands.
He has been Mr.. Moody right arm, for
MI. Sankey has chiefly sung the songs
which the dead singer composed and used
to sing. He is dead, but he lives again /;
lives in the SuudaY-school F; in the church;
in the revival; in the foreign missions;
iii the heart OF every man and woman
striving forssomething higher and better;
wherever men preach Christ and sinners
| seek repentance, 1t takes much from the
sadness of the singers awful death that
his life was so rounded and complete. His
| work has been so well done that death
could not surprise him and find him with
his mission unaccomplislled. He had made
! his marx, and the mark Will remain. His
life was stopped, but his work goes on in
every church and in every home all over
the world, ana years from nOW, When even
his name may be lost, his songs will still
continue to inspire faltering men and wo-
men with courage, to bring consolation i'll
to the house of mourning, to arouse faith
i'll the human heart. For such a life, so
perfect, SO successful, SO far,reaching i'll
its influence, spent III the most beneticeut
OF labor and lost at the post of duty, there
should be no tears. Other voices will take
! up his strains, and the work will 60 OF
without stopping. Their simple beauty is
not marred, or is their wonderful influence
upon the popular heart lessened by his
death.
Noble and impressive in his physique,
affa bic and genial in his contact with ev-
cry one, earnest and untiring in his work,
he will long be missed as Il leader in the
evangelical movement which is now stir
ring the popular heart; but he has left his
impress upon the world, with results more
lasting than the WORK achieved by heroes
of the battle field Or masters Of statecraft.
His harp is forever silent his voice is for
ever hustled but the songs which he sang
can never die. Their melody, like the
brook, goes on forever.