The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1878-12-05
Death of Peter Paul.

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DROWNED.-We are sorry to learn. just
as we put our forms to press, that Peter
Pau, Esq, was drowned yesterday afternoon
in attempting to cross Dry River at Shick-
les Ford. He was coming to this place,
having been summoned here as witness in
a cause now being tried in the Circuit Court.
Mr.. Paul was well known throughout this
county, having held number of important
public trusts, and was held in high estima-
ton for his probity, fine sense and sterling
honesty. He was the father of Hon. John
Paul, of this town. May he rest in peace
-Harisonbury Old Commonwealth, 2Sth.
1t is customary when the wealthy and
the prominent, whether from impudence
or genius, die to exhaust the vocabulary
OF eulogy and strew their graves with the
richest garlands of eloquence and i'm
agery. 1t matters not whether the wealth
accumulated had beer gathered at the eX-
pense of the suffering and tears of human
ity, or the prominence achieved, the result
of deception practiced, false theories and
ideas inculcated, and pernicious examples
INDUCED. I. is not generally a constdera-
ton whether the gifts of nature have been
utilized to the amel;oration OF the condi-
ton of the unfortunate; assuaging the
griefs CT the disconsolate, sending sun
shine and gladness into saddened hearts,
elevating the tone Of public morals and
contributing to the advancement of good
has been dispensed-th genuine happiness
achieved for the human race that is made
the guage to judge the characters of those
who pass from this stage of action, leaving
behind them piles of sordid gold, or reputa-
tion attained in forum or in council. If their
glittering shokels reflected the scaldng tears
of..widows and orphans it mattered not-thc
shekels were there. Ii their prominence
was the result of talents prostituted to the
most mischievous selfshness and inflicting
wrongs upon the body poltic-it mattered
not, they led in society and moved in a
circle apart from their dupes and TOOLS
And being SO. the slavish tongue and pen
of mock sentimentalism frame sentences of
beauty to inscrbe upon their epitaphs and
wreaths of poesy to attract from the con-
temptation of the hell their sordid souls are
scorching in.
But when plain unpretending man dies
In honest man, that noblest work of God
who despised the pretences and phylac-
teries of modern society, made up as it gener
ally is of hypocrites and parvenues-a man
like Peter Paul, whose heart was perpet-
oe Ii,
was never soied by dishonest gain, but ever
open to the appeals OF melting charity-who
nurtured no malice, spoke TO evil, but
was touched and moved by generous sym
pathy for his fellow man-when such man
passes from the theatre of human action,-
it is, sold Peter Paul is dead'-apd there's
an end of it. We would rather possess the
soul of Peter Paul, with his humble DUST
mingling with the murky, turbulent waters of
Dry River, than to have the gnawing worm
which fastens upon the immortal of the
figure of Society, whose mortality rests I'M
der the marble shaft erected by the sordid
gold his cunning had garnered,
We knew Peter Paul well. His rule of
life was to do unto others as he would have
others to do unto him. He cultivated no
dark and gloomy suspicious OF his fellow
men, but recognized the good that was in
others, and threw the mantle of charity over
the evil. His vigorous and well balanced
mind could detect Others faults, yet he
would not magnify them into crimes, but
would rather temper them with the kind
ness and indulgence which his own imper-
fecLions might call for. He was just and
true in his dealiugs and associations with
men. and leaves a memory as fragrant of
good deeds as almost any one we have ever
known. Others have preceded him to that
mysterious realm,' whose names have
sounded louder, and whose pretensions have
been more imposing while living, but few
have wrapped the drapery'' of death about
then, whose neighborly Kindness were more
generous. and whose sympathies of friend
ship more uniform and genuine.