Vicksburg weekly herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1868-1883, 1878-02-01
IN

SPRINGER Died, in VIcksburg, on
Monday, January q, 1878, In the SD year
Of his age, Judge BENZ AMIN SPRINGER.
Death is 'as 4 safe inn, where weary
travellers, when they have %iOuIneyed
through q world Of cares, may put OF life
and be at rest forever"
Dear old friend, Time had long since
blossomed his gray hairs for eternity yet
he lived beyond the ''three score years
and t%en"-lived to see all his treasures
pass from earth, yet patiently walked his
lonely pathway to the end, uncOmplain.
log, even In the last, most bitter days,
when physical prOslratlon and suffering
rendered him helpless and dependent.
His only child died In lts infancy; and
once during an epidemic 10 Vicksburg, he
found a babe lying upon its dead mothers
breast. Like the benevolent man that he
was, he took the nameless little innocent
TO his heart aud bic home, but just as 1t
was old enough for It's childish prattle to
interest, aud Its little footsteps to patter
sweet musi1 TO its new fathers ear, God
called 1t, aud its unseen angel wings lut-
tered open and DO g the cherub soul above.
Again, one rainy and bitter Winters even
ing he heard the plaintlVe wall Of q suffer-
ing child. Leaving bis comfortable fire.
side, he went out 10 the street, and there
saw a servant on horseback, riding on In
the last gathering darkness, into the oOun.
try, and held before him was q small bum
die, from which ever and anon issued the
plaintive cry. He bado the servant bring
In the child, aud while he warmed and
soolhed 1t, learned the touching story Of
another orphaned life. Both parents dying,
1t had been brought to the city to lind rela-
tives, but no one wanting the helpless
charge, II had been sent b~ackagain into the
country. So once more he gathered a little
child ~ his heart, with none to dispute the
possession, gave It his name, and reared 1t
to wOmanhOod. Fondly she repaid his low
ing care, and filled bis home with the sun
shine OF her Own happy life, when sud-
denly, without q whisper, storm and dark
ness swept across his pathway, and his
idolized daughter fell, smitten with death
while hope aud life beamed in her eyes and
flushed her cheeks, and even for the few
hours longer that breath trembled upon
her lips the paralyzed tongue refused ut
%terance to the thoughts the el es tried so
hard to reveal.
A few more years, and his faithful SOM.
panion, the tenderly loved wife, who had
shared alike his Joys and sOTrows-hiS ldst
treasure LAY in Deaths casket, her hands
meekly folded, and the gray hairs softly
smOOthed back from the Gained brow.
"Ddst to dust, ashes to ashes," and the
metropolis Of the dead holds all that once
made life so dearly priced. All, now he
was indeed GlOnei-sO lOnelyi Yet, though
be oft might look with heart-longing at
'earth's green waves' Of silent rest, no
murmur was ever heard, and the remain.
der Of his life was devoted TO acts OF friend.
ship, and TO that twin.sister of religion
Masonry, His deeds OF generosity and Of
charity were many, but 1t vas not often
that others thar the recipients knew Of
them.
Time fails not to mark each year with
the sundGred lite.threads of some one Of
our oldest observation-disclosures, but ObllvIoA
does not soon engulph the names Of those
who have served, as did Judge SPRINGER,
long and well, both in public and private
life.
With slow and solemn step the Brother
, hood have at last enclrcled him with their
} mystic chain, and dropped the myrtle
. sprig with triune wave above his breast.
I NAV his crown be the halo of love and
very light Of life which shines with such
8 efrulgence from the near presence Of mis-
! God.
Unveil thy bosom, faithful tomb;
Take this new treasure tO thy trust,
And give these sacred relics room
To slumber In the dust.
n FOR pain, nor grief, nor anxious fear
lnVades tiny bounds; nor mortal woes
y Car reach the peaceful sleeper here,
While angels watch the soft rep0se.
V... m anaa HaaHA