Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1877-11-10

following funeral ode:
Brother, to thy grave we come
10 lay thee IN thy quiet home;
Hearts with silent grief OppreSt,
Bear thee to thy home of rest.
Voices from the signing breeze,
From the woods and leafy trees
And the fading Autumn leaf,
VIII remind us of our grief.
Though in the Grand Lodge above
We remember thee in love,
Yet our Lodge has lost thee here
'Tis for this we shed the tear.
/ In the earth we lay thee low,
Yet upon thy grave shall grow
Evergreens, like these we bring,
! As our last, sad Offering.
THE REST OF THE CEREMONIES,
by the Odd Fellows, were conducted
by Noble Grand Hogan and Rev.
DIR. Landrum, the latter being es-
| pecially invited to Officiate. They
were as follows:
Noble Grand HOgan-We are as
sembled, my brethren, to render the
last office which the living NAV
minister to the dead.
Rev. DIR. Landrufn-Man is born
to die. The coffin, the grave, the
sepulcher, speak to us in language
that cannot De misunderstood, how
ever unheeded it may be, of "man's
latter end" Youth, in its harm
lessness and comparative innocence,
and manhood, with its WOnted vigor
and pride of strength, are not more
exempt than decrepid and tOttering
age from the fixed law of being,
which dedicates all that is mortal to
decay and death. This truth is in
Scribed in the great volume of ma
ture upon its every page. The beau
tiful and the sublime, which the
handiWork of the Creator displays
on every side, fearfully associate the
unerring certainty of the end of all
things, amid the vividness of the
moral which they are ever suggest
ing to the cOntemplative mind.
Day after day we are called upon to
follow our fellOw-creatures to that
bourne from whence no traveller re-
turns but from the house of mourn
ing we go forth again to mingle in
the crowded world, needless, per-
haps, of the precariOus tenure Of life
and the certainty of that end to
which all flesh is rapidly tending.
He who gives the vig0r of body,
without warning paralyZeS the stout
heart, and strikes down the athletic
frame. The living of to-day become
the dead of tomorrow. Men appear
upon and disappear from the stage
of life, as wave meets wave and parts
upOn the troubled waters. "In the
midst of life we are in DEATH" He
whose lips now echo these tones of
solemn warning in turn will be
stilled in the cold and cherries house
of the dead, and in the providence
of God none may escape. Let us,
then, so far improve the lesson as to
be prepared for that change which
leads to life eternal.
Rev. DIR. Landrum then read the
following
PRAYER:
Our Father and our God, who art
the resurrection and the life, in
whom WhOsOeVer belieVeth shall
live though he die, and whosoever
liveth and believeth in Thee shall
not die, hear, we beSeech Thee, the
voice of Thy creatures here assem-
bled, and turn not away from our
suppiicatiOns. We humbly beseech
Thee so to imbue us with a cOnvic-
ton of our entire helplesSness and
dependence upon Thee that we may
be brought to mediate upon the un-
certainty of life and the certainty of
death. In the dispensatiOn of Thy
providence, Thou hast summoned
from among us our brother, and we,
the surviving monuments of Thy
mercy, are gathered together to COM
NIT his remains to the earth. Give,
O God, we beseech Thee, Thy holy
spirit to us, whom thou hast spared;
increase our knowledge and confirm
our faith in Thee forever. Bless
and comfort, we pray Thee, those
whom it has pleased Thee to add to
the number Of the discOnsOlate; buoy
them up under this heavy stroke
sustain them against dependency.
Oh, wilt Thou be their Father and
their God, and pour down from ON
high Thy blessings upon their heads?
Bless, o Heavenly Father, the breth-
ren here assembled; imbue them
with the wisdom of Thy laws, and
draw them unto Thee by the cords
of Thy inestimable love; impress
them with their duty to each other
as brethren, and their obligations in
the various relations of human life
and, finally, bless our beloved order
throughout the globe. Preserve its
principles and its purposes from in
novatiOn; sustain it from the shafts
of enmity; protect it from Self-im-
1l, nl nj
and unto Thee we shall render the
praise forever. Amen"
THE COFFIN WAS THEN LOWERED
to its last resting-place in the grave,
which the Odd Fellows proceeded to
fill up. At its conclusion the bat
talliOn fired salute of three rounds.
The grave was then covered with
floral embIems consisting of rare
and beautiful flowers, offered by the
sorrOwing friends and admirers Of
the dead hero. Among the floral
tributes was a handsome bouquet
sent all the way from Alabama by
the daughter of Gen. Joseph Wheel
er, the great cavalry officer who
served i'm the Confederate army.
Another floral gift was an anchor of
tube-rOses, viOlets, ro5e-geraniums,
heliotropes and bouvardias, donated
by the young ladies of the State Fe-
male College. Wreathes Of immor-
telles and any number of bouquets
were placed on the grave. After
the military salute the sad crowd re-
tired, each person filed with grief
and sorrow. His grave will ever be
green may he rest peacefully meath
the bright sky of the sunny land for
which he fought. The name Of this
hero will live through all ages to
come; and so long as the people adj
mire great genius and respect nobil-
ity of character will they cherish
with pride the great .chieftain who
was yesterday laid under the sod in
Elmwood.
AN Indiana editor says: "Coal