Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-10-29
A WESrERN OBITUARY.

apparently by Mark Twain in the Atlantic Monthlyl
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 him-let US waive him aside; our
fight is with the obituary. / think it contains
| rhetorical blemishes. Thus it begins:
while yet the threshold Of animal ed strife and
by ys e s S sp 15 s
ny .ennhstng in the great army Of the unreturning
do not think these ingredients are mixed
properly Ii there was a fight, and the fight
was in the house, threshold" goes passably
wei with animated strife" but not otherwise.
But do not think there was a fight at that
time; he did not ''enlst' until later when he
was on journey and was oyertaken by the
still voice of the tomb. His mistake lay in
Responding" he could have let on that he did
not hear, since it was still voice
S1 R Ss the Of ysg sessG%ea on
and nipped life which Was yet in bloom"
Now, you see, there was no fight, after all:
he froze to death.
But thus il is; when the lamp Of life shines bright
est its extingulshment produces thickest darkness"
He had his lantern with him; therefore he
could have been nothing but a scout, sent out
TO hunt up the enemy. l think it possible that
there was no fight.
IL at best is but an e1iled wandering pilgrim
desert island surrounded by the boundless aud rel
OF eternity, whose inevitable
oeatn awaits on every side its victim unawares."
Starved to death on an island, and prob
aoly drowned. into the bargain-''unawares"
Life is full of troubles
On bs yet the fruits of manhoods laurel had rpened
the dead" N N 'A''e'i " iee' ILL o'ainiuioh Win
There is no reasonable fault to be found with
MS not waiting for the crop; for even IL the
| laurel yielded a berry-which it does MOTT
would not Hpen on persons brow
Ere yet the shadows of disappointed hone darkened
couch to minse with the eod ana for SS as
do not like this. A person does not travel
as that. And why 'cOld" dust? lis the warm
kind preferable? And did this man lie down
and cover up and peter out in the natural way
after all? There are many perplexing diff
cuIties about this history.
During many long years. with that filia affection
by its neighbors, he has proven husband. father
and brother"
Filial affection does not ''prove" anything
The official records of the county will show
whether he was a father. mother, brother and
sister or not but fiial affection is no sufficient
evidence of mere abstract pretensions like
these.
''For his folks he lived"
That is all right-let that pass; the object of
this inquiry is what he died for-that, and which
thing it was that killed him the most.
but that the thunderbolt Of heaven has fallen
upon the hearthstone Of their family c1rcle"-
Why. good land he was struck by lightning
Take it all around, this is one of the most check
cred death-beds that has ever come under my
observation. Destroyed i'm fight frost-bitten.
| starved, drowned, squelched in the tranquil
couch, splintered by the bolts of heaven!-it is
little wonder that he faded from our view.
TT may not, perchance, have been given him to climb
the dizzy heights Of where Bacon and
Burke were SO often heard, fathom deeply the
bosom of science where Huxley and Tynda stroll with
familiar step."
The nautical phrase is misplaced there; one
does not fathOm bosom. Neither do any but
the most reckless people go tramping aroundsin
such place.
''But he is gone He sleeps his long, last Sleep I'M
conscious of the night winds that chant the requiem
his the yesper breezes that play among the
lonesome pine making music though each bough
played the strings Of Appolloe golden harp"
Very well, that is all square and right. And
all to his advantage, too, but he missed his
obituary.