The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1878-04-25
elf l Should Die Tonight

/ I.l-sr a <ls Hte4 4aft<ts
Ny friends would look upon my quiet face
Before they laid it in its resting place,
And deem that death had left it almost fair;
And, laying snow white flowers against my
Would smooth it down with fearful tenderness,
And fold my hands with lingering caress.'
1t has been said that /" the evil which
men do lives after them; the good is
oft inferred with their bones" We do
not believe that this is generally true.
1t may be, in some desperate cases;
but in most, it will be found to be just
the reverse. Some one dies who, dur
ing mature life was regarded as hard,
grasping and invariably uncharitable,
"grinding the faces of the poor" yet,
standing by his coffin or speaking of
his death, the very persons who most
openly recognized his unlovely traits
and unhesitatingly criticised them Sc
verely, are quick to recall many excel
lent acts that have hitherto passed un-
needed.
EYES," they say, "No doubt he
loved money and knew well how to
make and keep it; but we know he was
the kindest person in his family, the
most thoughtful of the interest and
comfort of those in his employ. 1t
was always supposed that he never
gave literally; probably he did not.
But no doubt he was harassed by con-
slant applications for aid, until he re-
fused every one without examination.
Who can wonderP And yet, in quiet,
unostentatious way, concealing from
his left hand the good his right hand
may have done, there is reason to be-
lieve that he was benefactor to many
who will yet rise up and call him
blessed" S
| Death often kindly throws veil over
imperfections or wrong-doing, and in
that solemn hour friends look upon the
quiet face and deem he has s.left it al
most fair
My friends would call to mind with tender
Some kindly deed the icy hand bad wrought,
/ Some gentle word the frozen lips had said,.
/ Errands on which the willing feet had sped.
The memory of my selfishness and pride,
My hasty words. would all be put aside,
And r 81 l might be loved and mourned to-
Looking thus upon the face of the
dead, friends and neighbors who were
quick TO take offense-in haste to put
false constructions on every careless
act-may now in all honesty be led to
examine their own hearts, and in the
examination perhaps feel that they
were in some degree responsible for
much of the wrong-doing of onesso
soon to be hidden from their sight.
| How many acts of the departed that
annoyed and provoked them, have these
friends met with impatience and rude.
nessP How sternly have they rebuked
even trivial offenses, and angrily 81
fenced every attempt at an apologyi
As they stand over that still form they
are compelled to ask, :. Had / been
kind and gentle, had listened patient
ly to the apology, accepting it as far as
it could be done honestly, and after.
ward used what influence / may have
had to point out the wrong OF show
how to avoid it in future, what Q
/ change in all the mature years, now
closed, might have been effectedp Had
j i been. more noble, more Christ-like
how many of the mistakes of my
friend g last years might never have
occurredP All! more kindness, more
open manifestations of my real afiec
tion for him might have changed hi.
whole life, but now too later' w
4 Yes, too late to remedy the wron6
! done those who have passed away, bu
not too late Tor parents, brothers, sis
ters and friends TO be warned and t.
| profit by their self -upbraidings in thos,
last moments.
Il Many high-spirited children are RI.
ined by the impatielce Of those win
ware nj n u1,ifa and u9,ayd thovn a,