The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1881-09-25
Globe-Democrat.

There is something inexpressloly affecting
in the record OF the presidents observations
while passing through the Valley of tho
Shadow, in sound of the lonesome river that
must be crossed without guide or company.
His most eloquent speeches never touched
the popular heart like these casual
and simple words Of great man
waiting for death. In all history there
has been nothing more pathetic than his
patient, unselfsh and lrusttul endurance of
pain and the slow, creeping menace of
dissolution. His thoughtful messages to
his poor old mother, his tender regard for
his overwsaried and Watching wife, his long.
ing after home snd the skies of his boyhoOd
are things that eclipse all the grandeur OF the
plaza and power and send thrill
of sympathy and tears through all
human nature. Every death bed has in
il the fifth act of a tragedy, Gays Carlyle. but
not every ruler Of men has met the last deci.
sive summons with so much of that untheat-
ricsl and authentic forgetfulness Of rank
which makes the scene personal grief in
every household.
The most touching point of all in this
sad record is the sufferers worn and
broken talk about the old farm at Mentor.
1t is impossible to resist the pathos of his
plesdings to be sent back home His ex-
alted position and surroundings are but as
playthings and mockeries when no thiRks of
the peace and sweet content which lay about
him in the still Ohio meadow, and under the
cool, bird,hsunted treas, and on the porch
where the hcneysuckles clsmbered and the
morning Tories told their o Id -fas Aioned sto>
ny. And n babbed of green fields is the Sty-
glan echo that Shakespesr puts in the mouth
of Dame Quickly. saw him tumble with
the sheets and play with flowers and smile
upon his fingers ends, and knew there was
but one way. Alas when such signs come
the physicians may 6e dismissed, the grim
terryman is ut the shore. So he babe me
lay more clothes on his feet; | put my hand
into tae bed and felt them aud they wore rs
cold as any stone; then felt to the knees and
30 upward IN oil VS. cold as any stone.
And so our stricken president lspses out into
the undiscovered count y-not like Caesar,
wrapping his face In mantle that no one
may see MIN die, but as q plain brother of
his kind, yearning for the sunlight and
bsbbling of green fields
1t is mostly thus. The approach Of death,
like the coming Of age makes US
children again; and life is rounded with n
little sleep, which is asked to give OBJ
livion, and throws in dream. II has
been wisely ordained that the things which
have most vexei and fatigued US in this
world shall plauge us no longer when the
end draws nigh. The whips and scorns of
fortune, the empty distinctions of office,
even the triumphs that bring universal fame,
are of no further concern when the
time comes to sweep our toys into
the box-blRck box with silver nails.
and the heart, thrown back upon
ITSELF takes refuge in memories OF scenes and
periods that gave delight because the earth
was young to us and care stranger. There
is that within us which doth feelingly 70.
mind US what We are when we are coon 10
be no more. The shadow of death turns
time backward across tho intervening years
OF doubt and struggle and shows US the
dsisied banks, the dove of peace. Our Toys
atty to nature and our affinity for her tranquil
and sincere influences may be put in allegiance
while the stern battle of life Is being fought,
but when the order comes for final muster
out, truth asserts itself and the soul leans
upon home and mother and The old familiar
expression. SO we leave the world thinking
of it as best, which is but saying the side of
1t lies nesres. to heaven. Shall we not also
believe that this presages another chance
for us beyond the grave? 1t
seems an abuse of reason and of
feeling TO think that life like that of
President Gsraeld-so rich in worth and
honor, and yet 80 baked of its true frution
shall have no opportunity TO redeem
itself from this cruel failure in some other
and kinder sphere The unfinished win
dow in A|sd1ins tower unfinished must
remain in this world; bu. surely in the
land of the hereafter there are provisions
for making the work complete. God certainly
means something when He sends such men
to earth Il cannot be that He takes them
away so untimey unless thoy are to live
again for some great and compromising pur-
pose. And Of such as ne, so of other and
lesser men, so of the whole mysterious
scheme Of our existence. There must be
somewhere second chance for all
the frustrated lives. Over on the other
side there must DO resurrection, not of
souls, simply, but also of hopes and dreams
that here come short OF fulAllment. Ii not,
why do we bable of groom fields when wo lie
down to dieS II must b. that there |, method
and promise in this soothing and beautiful
dispnesatiou. There are other green Gelds
where the flowers never wither and Il ia AL.
WAYS spring-where fate Is on the side of
aspiration, and tho failures Of this life are
rectlied and made triumphant May the
poor son OF Mentor find there crown of
glory.