The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1879-06-25
TngersOn and the Hereafter.
Baltimore Gazette.

IngersOn and the Hereafter.
Baltimore Gazette.
Standing the other day by the cof-
fin of his deceased brother, Col
Robt. G. Ingersoll brought his views
of religion and philosophy to the
test He is an eloquent man; strong
se1Ereliant, warm in his friendships
aud affections, but what had be TO
saw, when they came to cast the
clods on the coffin of the brother
whom he loved, and when he came
to reflect that this was the end all
and that not a star-ray of hope came
to him from the vast outer void OF
darkness? What supported him.
what cheered him with the promise
of something sweet and restful to
come? How hollow and unsatisfy-
ing does pretty talk seem at mo-
ment like this? And yet this is all
that Mr.. Ingersoll had to offer:
life is a narrow vale between the
cold and barren peaks Of two eterni-
ties, We strive in vain to look be-
vond the heights. We cry aloud, and
the only answer is the echo of our
wailing cry. From the voiceless
lips of the unrelying dead. there
comes no word, but in the night OF
death hope sees a star and listening
love can hear the rustic of a wing.
He who sleeps here, when dying,
mistaking the approach of death Tor
the return of health, whispered with
his latest breath, i am better now.
Let us believe in spite Of doubts and
doqmas and tears and fears that
these dear words are true of all the
countless dead. And now to you
who have been chosen from among
the many men be loved to do the last
sad office for the dead we give his
sacred dust. Speech cannot contain
our love-
How inexpressibly sad are the
words-sadder far in their utter
hopelessness, because they are be-
dizened with flowers of rhetoric that
mock their vacuity and gloom as the
garlauds on the coffin Knocked the
rottiDg clay within. And yet, such
beauty as they possess is borrowed
from the vocabulary Of faith. Why
does he speak of sacred duty" of
"liatening love" beyond the grave
and of the ,'rustle of wing J! Is
it because q hope stronger than his
skepticism. yearning deeper than
his atheism, breaks through all the
sophisms and makes him again true
to himself, if only for a little while.
in bis heart of heartbreak, or is it In
the mere effort to dress up the
dreary blackness of his creed in the
livery of Christian hope and faith !!
The brother that he loved lay white
and still before him. Was it sweet
to Mr.. IDgersoll to remember that
those silent lips had uttered mock
ing blasphemies. and had laughed
scornfully at the thought of immor-
tally? Did the young girls who
chung passionately to the coffin and
who tainted when carried away suffer
more acutely because they also
we're hopeless of a meeting hereaf.
ter, and that all their wild love and |
bitter sorrow we're wasted upon
lump of clay? And did they, too.
the hooking blasphemies
that had scared away the listening
love- and the "rustle of the wings"
Oh how sad, how unutterable sad it
all seems, and how tawdry all Mr..
pretty talk appears when
compared with the words of Chris
Ian burial: ut is sown in dishonor,
: is raised in glory; it is sown IN
weakness, it is raised in power; it is
Iown a natural body. it is raised
spiritual body r. These words Mr..
-ngersoll in another mood might :
make merry ever, but they would |
lave been ineffably precious TO him
Gould he have chung 10 them while ]
le heard the earth scott at him as il
attled on the coffin. Let him re- G
nember this hereafter when he
aughs at the faith of those who still t
ling to the hope of life beyond a
be grave. i
The length of a lady's train a
l,,,,iJ $500 10 ,,a1ar foot