Arizona weekly citizen., 1881-11-06
\ Western Obituary.
Apparently by Mark Twuin in the Atianti'
 Monthly.

Apparently by Mark Twain in the Atlantic Monthly.I He IS gone. Yes, he Is gone, but we have his obituary. He lived out towards the rear of a western State, and there also he died. That IS enough about hm let us wave him aside: our fight IS with the obituary. I think 1t contains rhetorical blemishes. Thus it begirs: While yet on the threshold of ani- mated strife, and no unklni visitors con frOnted him on ifes journey, overtaken by the still voice of the tomb, ke re- sponded by enlisting in the great army of the unreturning past. do not think these ingredients are mixed properly. IT there was a tight, and the fight was in the house, Cd tiresh- old goes passably with animated strife" but not otherwise. But I Go not think there was @ fight at that ume, he did not "enlist until later. when he was on journey and was Oyertakeu by the still voice of the tomb. The mistake lay in respOnding;' he could have on that he did not hear, since it vas still voice.
 While yet the spring tune oi youth blossOmed on locks, the cold touch 0t an untimely frost fell upon and nIpred life which was yet in blOOm.&, Now, you see, there was uo tighfraifS1- all; he troze tO death. ~-
 But thus t is; when the lamp of shines brightest its exiting gulshment prs duees thickest darkness" \
 He had his lantern with him: there fore he could not have been a scout, sent ont to hunt up the enemy. l think it possible that there was u0 fight.
 Life, at best, k but an eyi.ej wander ing pilgrim on Q desert island surrouBd- cd by the boundless and mertEess sea of eternity, on whose barren coaM '"evi- table death awaits on every sijaits Vil- tim unawares.'
 Starved to death on an island, and probably drowned, into the bargain "unswares." Life Is full of troubles
 Ere vet the fruits of mauho0Gs iau- rel had ripened on his brow, he laii himself to rest in communion with ths dead"
 There Is no reasonable fiuit to be found with his not waiting for the crop; for even if the laurel yielded a berry which 1t does not-it would not upen on persons brow.
 Ere yet the shadows oi disappointed hope darkened the horizon Cl a dawn
  couch to mingle with the cold and -1r- gotten dust"
 I do not like th,s X person does not travel with a couch and a lant1r. t-r. in such a place as that And why "c1.d' dust2 Is tine warm kind pr5.-rauI12 And did this man lie down and cover I'D and peter out the natural way, after au2 There are many perpleXiag difficulties about this history.
 During many loL- y-1r5, with ta filial affection which makes clIl loved by its parents, aDd resp6Ctrrs--''-, its neighbOrs, he has proven husban, father, son and brother.
 Filial affection does not -lrova' any thing. The official records of the couu ty will show whether he was a father mother, brother and sister OF not. bat filal affection is no sufficient evidence of mere abstract pretentions like these
 "For his folks he lived
 That Is all right-let that pass tine object of this inquiry Is what Inc died for that, and which thing il w0s that killed him the most.
 But now that the thuuderbolt of heaven has fallen upon the hearthstous of their family circle
 Why, good land, he was struck by lightning Take It all around this is one of the most checkered death-beds that has ever come under my observation. Destroyed in fight, fr0st-bitteu, starved, drowned. saBe,l"bsit u,-r. ,', nd -Jii given him to climb the dizzy heights of st stasesmanship, where Bacon and Burke were SO often heard, or tathem deeply the bosom of science, where Huxley and Tyndall stroll with familiar step
 The nautical phrase Is misplaced there', one does not fathOm a bosom. " do any but the most reckless peopi, go tramping around in such place.
 But he K gone. He sleeps his long, last sIeep. unconscious of the night winds that chant the requiem OCT hls grave, or the vesper breezes that play among the lonesome pine, making music as though each bough played the strmEs or ApOlio's golden harp. ,. And all to his advantage too, bur h' missed his obituary.