Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-06-12

ohahBAns POstVHoe'
IngersOlI aud the Hereafter.
Baltimore Gazette.
Standing the other day BY the coffin
of his deceased brother, Colonel Robt.
G. lngersoll brought his views Of reli
gion and philosophy to the test. He
is an eloquent man strong, self
reliant, warm in his friendships and
affections, but what had he to say,
when they came TO cast the cl0ds 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 aud restful to come? How hol-
low and unsatisfying does pretty talk
seem at a moment like this? And
yet this is all that MIR. 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-
yOnd the heights. We cry aloud. and
the only answer is the echo of QUE.
wailing cry. From the yoiceless 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 an.
prOach of death for the return Of.
health, whispered with his latest
breath, / am better now Let us
believe in spite Of doubts and dogmas
aud tears and fears that these dear
words are true of all the countless
dead. Aud now to you who have been
chosen from among the many men he
loved to do the last sad office for the
dead we give his sacred dust, Speech
cannot contain our love" a
How inexpressibly sad are the words
-sadder far in their utter hopeless.
ness, because they are bedizened with
flowers of rhetoric that mock their
vacuity and gloom as the garlands on
the coffin Knocked the rotting clay
within. And yet, such beauty az they
possess is borrowed from the vocabu.
larry of faith. Why does he speak of
sacred duty Of listening love
beyond the grave, and of the rustic
of a wing!' Is it because a hope
stronger than his s~kepticism, a yearn.
ing deeper than his atheism. breaks
through all the sophisms and makes
him again true to himself, if only for a
little while, in his heart of heart.
break, or is it in the mere effort TO
dress up the dreary blackness of his
creed in the livery of Christian hone
aud faith? The brother that he loved
lay white and still before him. Was
1t sweet to Mr.. %lngersoll TO remember
that those silent lips had uttered
knocking blasphemies, and had laughed
s%corntully at the thought of immortal
ity2 Did the young girls who chung
passlonately to the coffin and who
tainted when carried suffer more
acutely because they also were hone.
less OF a meeting hereafter. and that
all their wild love and bitter sorrow
were wasted upon a lump of clay?
And did they, too, remember the
m)cking blasphemies that had scared
away the I" listening love and the
rustic of the wings ~? OH how
sad, how unutterable sad it all seems
and how tawdry all Mr. Ingersolls
pretty talk appears when compared
with the words of a Christian burial .
1t is sown in dishonor, it is raised in
glory 1t Is sown in weakness, it il
raised in power it is sown a natural
body, 1t is raised a spiritual body
These words Mr. lngersoll in another
mood might make merry over but
they would have been inefably pre-.
clous TO him could he have chung 10
them while he heard the earth seoff at
him as 1t ratified on the coffin. LET
him remember this hereafter when he
laughs at the faith of those who sill
cling to the hope Of a life beyond the
grave.
You remind me, shouted Mr.
Middlerib to his wife 5 cousin. who !.
deaf as a post, you remind me of Tom
Moore
"Why?" queried the listening n
Because, shrieked Mr.. Middle,
rib, you're de bard Of Erin
"EhY asked the astonished cousin
"Wha-at2' questioned Mrs. Mid
dlerib, with a prolonged rising infec
ton on the extreme right Of the re
mark.
Why, pa said Miss Middlcrib
reproachfully.
Aud the old gentleman went out i,
a sulky, muttering rage, climbed int
bis buggy and drove down TO ia,
Office, grumbling all the way abou
stupid people and unappreciated bril-
lance LHawkeye.