The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1882-06-22

r.. :. HARDY.


lively stop to think, ere the rush OF
active duties, the clamor of pmbl-
tious thoughts, the cloud of anxious
cares again drive us forward To oul
several dcstinics.
While it may not he true that.
man is Deliberately ayersc to the
contemplation at death, it will not be.
denied that very few soberly reflect.
upon the inevitable end, or Sc rioua
~ consider the formation Of
permanent character as the iudivid-
uaI thought and act crystalize into
it.
The youth, feeling the bouyan
pulse Of new and vigorous lie,
rushcs past the dead and the d, ing,
filed only with the thought OF
what lie 'ojH be, when man.
The middle-agcd. crowded with tho
practical, striving to accomplish his
earthly purposes, struggling to bear
up under his cares, anxietics and re
sponsibilities, has no time in the
din and glare of huIrying business, to
stop and consider how many of his
youthful hopes have been realized,
nor look beyond meridian aud see
that darkness and shadows are there.
The old man, weary with the bur-
lon he is hardly able to bear, sits
down upon this roadside of life, filled
With bitter thoughts, soured with a
world he can no longer control, fret
full, peevish and weak. His only
pleasure, the memories of youth; dis
appointed, sad and dying, he sinks
into oblivion, generally with a groan.
sometimes, thank Eeavcn, with
smile, as he seems again a
child, wrapt in his mothers arms and
dreamily listening to the sweet lullaby
0f a mothers love.
But neither the one nor the other
takes time to think how he will appear
when the light of eternity shines
upon him, when he stands forth,
stripped Of all dis guises, character,
fixed in all its lineaments, unchange-
able, eternal.
And yet it is not more certain that
a coarse, vulgar, Vicious habit will, in
time, 80 mark the physical person UNI
til he shall carry in his face the coarse
ness Of dcbau chc,l visage; than that
il will mark and mar the permancn;
character, the real self.
And so, in a life Of goodness, as each
sweet sympathy, each good deed,
each noble impulse lie lres its impress,
it will body itself forth. not only in the
inward character, but in the placid
beamings, Of gentle manhood ia
the cOuntenance itself
Of this latter class was our friend
whose name heads this article. lie was
not great, as this world measures great
ness, he never led an army to victo
~ and rushed red-handei into earthly
power and glory. Yet he was a true
patriot. He was no scheming politi-
clan, no imprisoned orator, no
logical ell, bOrate thinker; and yet lis
political views as an old Wing were
lie was no partizan or zealot in re-
igion, and yet his ''heart was fixed"
his influence for good was constant.
He was not rich in this worlds goods
though hc was Giligcnt in business,
aithful, earnest.
But one thing he was, a true man;
-eal Christian
You never left his presence With a
ioubt of his sincerity, or suspicion
IF his integrity. l.
We have often, in long and in
innate acquaintance with him. won
1ered how man so intensely nervous
as he was, could naintain so uniform
l life of gentleross.
That he bed trials or no ordinary
lind, r>nc who knew him will de-
~, that he MAS to the last degree
sensitive, quick spoken, and nervous is
equally certain, and yet, through a
7ng lie in our midst lie was univer
sally known as q mild hammered gen
leman. II eek Christian. 81
His affections were chaste; his loves
Without Discrimination; his integrity
So that in spite OF
ais natural nervoI sness the grace of
hat God, whom he loved, enabled
Tim through all his trials, Affections,
,erea ea;eats, aud in his daily walk,
q subject hot temper to the precious
Influences of CHRISTIAN life.
Its written He that is slow to
niger Is better than the mighty, and
&C That ruleth his spirit than he that
aLcth city
10 sum up the life ofsth deceased,
re would say that ''his heart 1Oas
i,eo5s ,iJit.'
Whocv, heard cf his encourage
rent by word or example of any
lirg vulgar, mean or wrong,
Whoever saw him when his heart with