The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1878-01-17

Save these positions he refused all 9th.
ers. and devoted himself, with untiring
%assiduity, 10 the management Of his esI
tate. He was 10 be found at all hoursot
the day, and often far into the night, In
his Office, Aa an accountant and book
keeper he had no superior, and be often
boas,ed that the books OF the Gas Compa'
nv we're now kept on the same system
which lie inGugurated rs q director. De
was solitary in his habits and tastes, and
when driven to it, had more selt'sustain=
ing power than any man we have ever
known. -.
He had many peculiarities, eccentrici-
ties and idiosyncrasies. His true inward
meas was little understood by the outside
world. The truth is, he was in il, but
not OF it. No one had, when truthinlly
touched, a more open, generous, kinder,
or d more magnanlmous heart. His BEN
elections were a thousand.fold, while he
was as hard as a rock in what he thought
bis rights, while he would chatter on the
divide Of q hair in a settlement, yet that
same rock when rightly struck became
soft as water, as his charities silently and
unostentatiously flowed into poor, needy
or worthy hands. Among his largest
public contributions may DO mentioned
that to celebrate the openingo o. the bridge
and that for the relief OF the sufferers by
the Chicsgo fire. No appeal was ever
made to him in behalf Of any public
movement in this city where his means
were withheld. And yet, 10 many, he
appeared hard, calculating, avaricious,
and imperiously cold. Yes, it may have
seemed so, but It was only the harsh, for.
bidding outside OF an oriental mat covered
with Toughness and n%ettles, but when
opened full Of rich, ripe, red, luscious
fruit. His temper was impulslve, im-
perious and volcanic. It was the motive
power which gave energy, life and grit to
he man. He could be %pursuaded in the
right, by the pull Of a single hair, or the
magic OF a gentle, soothing word; he could
not be forced, or coerced, by any possible
power. And yet, in the inner nature oil
This apparently impaSsiye, calculating,
undemonstrative person, there was, TO use
the fine image Of Emerson, "a pool OF
honey about his heart, which fabricated
ia action, in fine jets Of sparkling mead"
Verify,
ala men, whom men condemn as III,
] Ind 10 much Of goodness IT'LL;
In rem, whom men pronounce divine,
Gnd NJ much Of sin and dot,
/ hesltAts to drhw the line
Where God has not"
Mr.. Clemens fayorite part Of The Bible
was Christ'a Sermon on the Mount. This
writer has often read to him, and 1t was
wonderful TO see the undated interest
which he took in il; and he never seemed
to tire in commenting on its divine philo.
sophy. lie considered that Christ's SUI
fering in the Garden OF Gethsemane was
but u type OF what unregenerate man IL
predestined to undergo in this world. He
was his ideal hero; he too, like all the
earth, "was a man Of SORROWS, and &C.
quainted with grief" Whatever his
troubles were, this thought gave him self
sustaining power and final consolation.
Even pagan mythology could not dispense
with soms such e~leyating power, for II
made AntHrus rise from the dust the
stronger from every fall. So the Chris
tian hero.in surveying the battle fields OF
life Is called upon to look only upon the
conquered passions at his feet. 1t il the
utter subsection Of all the sinful and re.
fracl0ry elements Of his own nature that
eIeyates, consecrates and puriGes him and
gives him the power TO peer calmly
through the ebon gates OF death to the
unknown and eternal hereafter beyond.
So having reached a period beyond that
allotted by the Psalmist: full OF years;
full Of honors; full Of earthly possessions
and experiences, and full OF precious
divine hope and consolation, his soul con.
lronted eternity. He stood at last upon
the very edge Of life, and the infinite fu-
lure came before him. Who shall say
that his spirit did not see more than any
OF Us can now see?
And yet he trembled moi; but with
calm heroism, like that which he evinced
from youth, took the last fatal step, and
with a blessing on those he left behind,
vanished forever.
Hail and farewell, spirit Of my earlier,
my better and my happier daysl
And in the language oil St. Augustine
"May the children Of the spirit, placed
each in their own armament, make their
light shine upon the earth; and mayest
thou still crown the years with thy bless.
ings as thou sendest forth thy laborers
into thy harvest sown by other hands
than theirs, as they in tnrn send forth
new laborers TO new seed times, whereof
the harvest shall be perennial"
So, to those who loved thee, thy appro.
pirate epitaph shall be:
"As'mid the ever rolling tea,
The eternal isles Established be,
Aud all the blIloWs Il the main
FWt, rage, and break themselves In valni
Asiu the heaTeIs lie uTns diVtn5
0f golden light forever shine;
Tho streams may dlrkeu, t0tnpests rage,
They still Shlne on from age to nEe.
80 mid the ocean tide OF years,
The imtG0oi the Just appears,
s.. from It's dtkleSs and IL gloom,
The good mans virtues light his tomb"