Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1879-02-06
Thoughts on the Death of Robert
Lumpkin.
BY A FRIEND.

"Father Lumpkin is dead . Such
IS the brief announcement Of the cad
of one whose life Is history aud
whose heightened days, miracle
The "Silver cord is loosened and the
golden bowl broken at the Fountain
of one whose morning Of life was GOV.
cred with the Nations blrth-whose
MONDAY, with the generation of man
almost forgotten, and whose evening
rs blended with the twilight OF a
brighter day to come. A life has
closed, embracing all the allotted
years of man aud stretching far into
llmitless realms of Eternity. He has
seen the companions of his childhood
in the bloom of youth, in the ripeness
of manhood, in the Oscar and yellow
leaf" OF old age, one by one, gathered
to the place appointed for all living,
and in his patriarchal youth and
strength, moved on IN The even tenor
of his way as il to him perennial life
was given He stood by the wayside,
the solitary oak of the forest, left by
the woodlands ak, venerable in years.
crowned with manly strength and
beauty, smiling alike at summers suns
and winters storms, awaiting in calm
repose, the slow, stealthy, reluctant
approach of the last enemy-whose
name is Death. The breeze and storm
played alike upon the gray locks OF
his brow-the winter frosts chilled
not "the genial current of his soul'-
the summer sun dried not the warm
fountain of his heart-the stream of
life flowed gently on, commingling
with the scenes of toll and strife, Of
gayety and pleasure, of joy and hope,
OF sin and sorrow, and on its placid
bosom bearing the sweet and bitter
memories that line tie shores of time.
In the plenitude of his powers, re-
posing in the sweet faith of his early
years, and Sustained and sootned ty
an unfaltering trust" he has gone out
upon the waveless, shoreless, trackless
ocean, whence no traveller returns.
Though stranger, well do | re-
member his manly bearing and pleas.
ant smile, as, bending under the
weight of years, he stood amid that
vast multitude which gathered around
the Court House in Lancaster to Gel.
citrate the Centennial birth of the ma
ton. That aged form was the cyno.
sure of all eyes. He stood Alone
the solitary representative of the age
of which the speaker told. In gar
land ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS EN-.
blemed the years of the nations life
and the years of him who still stood
in our presence. His alone of all that
vast assembly, spanned the abysmal
space between. He was to me, a mon
ument OF the dead--a DJric shaft
spared by the hand of time-all else
had persisted. It's strength, its comeli-
ness, its imperishable type, it's living
beauty of proportion and material
were indeed the wonder and admira.
ton of the beholder. AS | gazed up.
on the still perfect and matchless form
and beheld him intently listening to
the rapt story Of the Nations infant
struggles and manly victories, the
words of Americas proudest orator,
were ever upon my lips: "Venerable
man you have come down to US from
former generation! Heaven has
oounteously lenGthened out your life
that you might behold this JOYOUS
day" Yes! the hand was still warm
that had grasped the hand Of Wash
ington-the eye was undimmed that
had witnessed the flowers strewed in
the pathway of his triumphal march,
the voice was still heard that had sa-
luted him whom my young heart had
been taught to reverence and adore,
and | stood awed and humbled in his
presence He had come down 10 us
from "the time that tried mems souls'
and we saw him Ia the flesh he had
come out to us from the shadowy Wis.
ion of the past and we beheld him in
the realities of the living present. He
had come from the land of bondage
from his long wanderlngs in a weary
wilderness, where his comrades re-
posed and the partner of his bosom
slept-and now standing on the
farthest verge of human life, crowned
with honor and with years, commun-
ing with his Maker, with that privil
eye given him which was withheld
from lsrael's leader, he had come to
the promised land and dwelt amid the
richness and gloties thereof. AS he
listened to the fervid eloquence that
day, methought 1 heard him say, in
those subimest of inspired words:
aye heavens,
II ye do love OLD men. if your sweet sway,
Hallow obedience, If yourselves are old,
Make this your cause"
How noble such life How envi.
able such death
The chamber where the good man meets
his end
Is privileged beyond the common walks of
life.
! Quite in the verge of heaven"
| Potosi, Feb. 2, 1879.