Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1877-01-26
THE DEAD SINGER.

P. P. Bliss, the evangelist and singer
"a our readers are we'll aware, was one Of
the victims of the Ashtabula calamity.
According to the statement Of those who
were in position to know, he made he
roic effort TO save his wife, when he might
have saved himself, and, failing in this, re.
mained and died with her, the two offering
their prayers together as the fatal flares
approached them, like the old martyrs 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 h ad com.
posed ,blOs1oming out at last in the full flow
or OF victory over death. Those who remian
pursuing the work in which he was engaged,
have already provided the mears Tor edu.
eating his children, and bringing them UP
in the way their father walked, and for
erecting an appropriate monument 70 the
memory of this faithful pair.
This is well; bnt the most lasting monu-
ment -uoRamentum are perennius which
Horace sang--to the memory OF the dead
singer will be found in his own songs,
which havealreadv crowned his name with
undying fame. and reached around the
world with their simple melody-sung to.
day in the Tabernacle in Chicago, yester-
day in the Zulu Mission of South Africa,
to-morrow in the temples Of China. There
is probably no part II the civilized world
in which his lyric, Hold the Fort" is not
sung, and numerous other OF his songs, like
The Armor Bearer Almost Persuaded" 4"
and What Shall the Harvest Be?" are
also wlnSing their way across the seas to
distant lands. His was the trumpet note
that led the Christian crusaders against
the strongholds of Satan, juSt as Mr.. Root,
with his war songs, inspired our troOps
during the war OF the rebellion. lie has
been Mr.. Moody's right arm, for Mr. Sank
e.y has chiefly sung the songs which the
dead singer composed and used to sing lie
is dead, but he lives again; lives in the
Sunday School in the church in The re-
vlvai IN the foreign missions; in the
heart OF every man and woman striving
for Something higher and better; wherever
men preach Christ and sinners repentance.
1t takes much from the sadness OF the
singer's awful death that his life was so
rounded and complete. His work had
been so we'll done that death could not sur
prise him and find his mission unaccom-
plished. lie had his mark, and the mark
will remain. His life has stopped, but
his work goes on in every church and in
every home all over the world aud years
from now, when even his name may be lost,
his songs will still continue to inspire fal-
tering men and women with courage, to
bring consolation into the house of mourn
ing, to arouse faith in the human heart
For such lie, 81 parfcct. so succes~fnl, 20
ar-reaching in influences, spent in the most
bcnefcent of labor, and lost at the post of
duty, there should be no tears. O;her vol
ces will take up his strains, and the work
will go on without stop. Their simple
beauty is not marrei, nor ia their wonder
tul influence upon the popular heart less
ened by his death. Noble and impressive
in his physique, nffable and genial in his
contact with every one, earnest and untir.
ing in his work, he will long he missed as
II leader in the evangelical movement
which is now stirring the popular heart !;
but he has left his impress upon the worli,
with results more lasting than the work
achieved by heroes of the battlefield or
masters OF statecraft. His harp is forever
silent; his voice il forever hushed; but the
songs which he sang can never die. Their
melody, like the brook, goes ON forever.