, 1880-12-19

Dykes, the Checker-Player, Reads
PanesyrIc Over the Grave Of His
Wife, and IB Stopped.

| Dykes, the Checker-Player, Reads 8
| Panesyrfc Over the Grave Of Hi
Wife, and In stopped.
] Detroit FIRE. Prtss.
James Dykes is perhaps the most cele
! brated checker-player in Canada. His wife
died recently, and he attempted to sup2lant
! the Clergyman and conduct the services
| himself. Then followed all unseemiy scene
| at the grave, the bystanders forcing Dykes to
stop reading. The case attracted considera-
Bile attention in Canada, and Dykes himself
sends the following account Of the scene to
the London Free Press:
He claims that it was his wife's request
that any remarks made at the grave should
be made by himself, and accordingly he spent
q great amount Of time in preparing the fol-
lowing panegyrlc:
NE FRIENDS: We have assembled to-day to
perform the last sad rites to the Dead suy
ny friends, for verify believe there are none
by the tears he shall shed the anguish that
wrlngs the heart Of an afflicted husband and fa-
ther.
Tho kind and anecdonate wife. the tender
mother! at au age when the. "shadows were
still falling towards the West" death touched
her tired heurt, and she fell into thnt drea1nless
sleep that - kisses down the eyelids still.''
She has embarked On the dark. misty ocean of
eternity, whence no breeze ever blows hi1her-
ward. But it there be Heaven and II there be
Il righteous God, His breath must swell the sail
and direct its course to that beautiful shore
where sorrow Is known no more, and where hap
piuess reigneth forever.
o sorrow! bow close thou treadest on tho
heels OF enjoyment The rose has its thorn, tho
peach its worm, and decay lies conccn1ed IN the
chnitce OF the Hover AL earthly things are
doomed to pass away. Death Is Il debt of nature
we ali rich and poor alike sooner or luter must
pay When that grim messenger on the pale
horse shall call for us VIC must ~ We see tho
grave open to-day to receive Its tenant, and the
wthercd tart and the cold clay fold her in its
bosom to sleep the sleep that knows no waking.
Bora Of poor but respectable parents. her
heart wus none the less pure, her mind none the
less noblD In the language OF the poet, sho
"gave to 1nsery all sue mud, II tear. Possessed
OF superior education, an Unsuitable thirst for
knowledge, and u firm determination to examine
into all matters for herself, she eagerly devonred
tho standard works OF science and philoso-
ply. and formed for herself the basis Of relig-
ion purely her oWn. No, not purely her OWL
She venerated the name OF Him who said, 1.-The |
world Is nly country, and to do good is my re- |
ligion. Although rocked In the Calvfnistic |
that infamous doctrine of forcordinaton. She /
could not believe that the mother could be |
happy in Heaven and look down upon her little !
fatr.haired buy writing In the red-hot agonies |
Of He'll.
At this point he complains that the mur-
murs Of dissent which had followed the
reading so far broke out violently. Some Of t
the bystanders, veSed ut the turn of his re-
marks, went up to him and snatched the |
paper out Of his hand and tore it in pieces,
rowing that such sentiments were utterly in
in 4 Christian community. After |
his rude interruption the burial was quietly
with. Dykes claims that there was i
nothing Objectionable in the paper.