Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1882-01-19
HIS TRIALS" HERE ARE OVER.
Presentation to Judge 0key
and BANQUET.

On Thursday evening of last week on
of the most pleasant and generous al
fairs which has ever occurred In 81
Clairsville, took place at the st. Clai
Hotel, it being the occasion of meeting
of the Belmont County Bar, in honor o
the retiring Common Pleas Judge, Hon
VIM. Okey. The company was composed
of over thirty members OF the bar from
this and other towns of the county, thu
officers of the court and a few invited
guests. An hour previous to the ban
quet the company assembled in the par
lors of the ST. Clair hotel and were en-
tertained with some good music by the
st. Clairsville Orchestra. Judge Okey
not being apprised of what was going
on, was brought from his private apart
ment by the Sheriff and ushered into
the presence of the company in the par
lors, when Judge Chambers greeted
him and in most happy style presented
him with an elegant gold-headed cane
inscribed, "a mark of esteem from the
Belmont County Bar to Judge Okey.'
The following is the presentation ad-
dress which was warmly applauded at
the close:
GENTLEMEN:-Ther is no eternity
of human relations. They are evanes-
cent as the fieeting shadow. AS the sun
and the rains bring down the sterile
rock to enrich the plain-as the stream
bears the sands to the ocean, by the
majesty of whose waves continents are
reared in other climes, so may We
speak of the relations of man in this eS-
tate-change is stamped upon every
thing human. The vigorous of the day
are the stricken of the night-the hon
ored of to-day are the lowly of to-mor-
row. To-day we are bound in silken
bands, tomorrow they are burst asun-
der. To-day, in hope, we revel in the
delights of our own vine-tO-morrow,
the tear of friendship, unbidden starts
for the golden bowl is broken; and
the citizen of earth, to-day, tomorrow IS
the citizen of the unseen land. A retro
spect of the past, with its delightful
eompanionships, its sad disappOiRt-
ments, and feeble triumphs, is mirror
in which we behold the future. We
start with our cheerful companions in
the morning of life-but like ships,
sailing together out of the placid bay,
soon to part on the great ocean of life,
never all to be gathered again, until, in
the haven of the great hereafter. In the
past, hopefully we together cast our
r., h.,r l,ao
with manly arm struck the oar; others
timidly and fearfully-some have gone
down in the battle struggling nobly-
others went silently to their mooring in
the haven of peace, whilst others, like
heroes fought, and wear the victors
crown. This, in brief, is the history of
life, its struggles, its disappointments,
and its triumphs. The monuments of
human greatness, enduring or perisha-
BILE as they may be, are all circum-
scribed 10y that period We call life. Here
is the limit Of human activity, the limit
of effort, the measure of mans ambition.
Life itself is a miracle. The first mo-
ment of conscious existence here is a
miracle so astounding as to exhaust
wonder, and the closing of life's journey
is no less mystery. The end comes,
why we know not, and, that it comes to
all is proof that there exists not an
eternity of human relations. Let US
realize this, and let us remember also
that the house we baild, we build for
that the monuments We
are erecting in the present will. in the
future, stand witnesses to our wisdom,
or to our shame and folly, more endur-
ing than granite or marble. In the ages |
past, generations have been swept into
the dark chambers of the dead. They |
survive not in. the forms of earth-yet |
they have left behind monuments at
testing their superior greatness -assur- |
ing US of their immortality. In this
sense human relations are eternal. That |
which constitutes the grand element Of
mans active usefulness-his influence,
never dies-it ceases not His words,
his deeds, are reflected through the ever
changing years. This Immortality rep
resents him in all relations. and in all
times. 1t is transmitted through the
The events. the actions,
the thoughts. garnered in history, mould
and shape the ages yet to come. The
ruins of former ages speak eloquently
through history, shaping the life of man
in the succeeding centuries. The mon
uments of departed greatness are the
eternal witnesses of their deeds. The
musty manuscripts of the centuries past
give testimony of the influence of the
lead, and that their deeds and thoughts
are everlasting. Every man has an un-
written haracter-whateyer it may be,
capable of influencing others-fOr good
Or for evil-as ineffaceable rs the deci-
phered inscriptions on the monuments
IF the ages past, and as interminable as
The ages yet to come. 1t is high and
solemn thought that mans influence,
begun on earth, will never through the
coming ages have an end. What is writ
ten is written, what is said is said, what
is done is done, and is blended in the
boundless, everything, ever-mOving uni
verse of influence; and will move on,
live on, for good or evil,openly or secret
", for all time.
How important thing then, is life
what great responsibilities are resting
On us who live. We are in world /
where unseen elements are giving shape
to human character and human destiny
where we are continually giving and re-
ceiving impressions that will-stili endure
when the chiseled lines upon the granite
shall have crumbled and the head stones
Of our graves shall have claimed kindred
with the dust they once commemorated.
1t is our privilege to live in an age of
wonders. The fabled Gods and heroes of
seem but pigmies, by COM
parison, with the living, moving, acting,
indomitable spirits of the nineteenth
century. In this day, the ever-recurring
and facile mutations of things earthly
confuse the wise and confound the un-
learned. The relations of man are
changed in day; antipodes become
old and imperfect systems
are brushed away; the march is on
onward. Every day we find
ourselves in new and unfamiliar situa-
tions. Surprising wonder, are the clear