Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1882-01-23
INGERSOLL.
A Common Sense Dissection Of
the GiIded Word Painters
style.
EDrroR LEDGER:

he has appeared in that role on onl!
two ocoasions-frst about year ago
at the grave of his brother, and verl
/, tlately at that Of the little son of I
friend. Both Of these illusions are
! perhaps, almost perfect specimens O
word painting, and for flow Of fancy
and beauty Of imagery, are models 0.
excellence in their way. They have
been almost universally read, have
attracted uniform attention every.
where; and by their UNREASONABLE
beauties have in degree made that
seemingly attractive which is to most
| of us abhorrent.
/ | had heard and read Tin the public
Prints much Of Colonel Ingersoll
before reading his lectures, and was
prepared to expect great ingenuity Of
argument and force of eloquence in
them; and while | had no sympathy
with the doctrines he endeavOrs Ia
promnlgate, was determined ESQ to
speak to give him an impartial hear
ing. To the best Of my ability / did
so, and to the best of my belief was
never more wholly disappointed with
any literary production. Possibly they
may have convinced some one, Of
Colonel IngersOll's intellectual ability,
il nothing more; but while | am will
ling to concede that he possesses such
ability, my judgment is that his lee
lures, considered alone, entirely fail to
justify any such conclusion. Now
these funeral orations are the very
essence of music and poetry, and ire
sistibly appeal to our love Of the
beautiful; but il is entirely the beauty
Of words, not Of meaning; Of fancy
and not true feeling; Of glittering
falsehood in the guse Of truth.
His late grafton (the only one
before mel, is fascinating, but
when dissected, is illogical, unreason-
able. unsatisfactory and delusive, and
and yet it has beauty of its own, as
rare as beautiful. To say, Il know
how vain it is to gid grief with
words, and yet / wish to take from
every grave its fear, is full Of melody
and seems to promise consolation to
the stricken parents, who will in a
few moments. watch the cold earth
cover their darling boy-but what
does he mean when he proceeds to say,
here in this life, where life and death
are equal kings, all should be brave
enough to meet what all the dead have
nett? We know that life is as uucer-
tain as the changing Of the clouds
death as sure as the coming of the
night We know that in life, human
kind Is unequal in almost everything,
In gifts and powers, possessions, OpDor-
tunities and teEperements, and death
alone, is the great equalizer. 1t is no
consolation, and seems Irrelevant, if not
heartless, 70 say to the agonizsd mother
Who bends above the yawniug grave of
her child, all should be brave enough.
70 meet, what al have met" for the
mother would probably be brave
enough to die that her child might
live, and if 50. how can that thought
lessen her grief at her impotence to
save him? We know that a man, who
for himself, may be brave to rashness,
may Jet bewsl with unrestrsined woe,
the death Of loved one. Sorrow for
the dead is a tender and holy senti-
ment aud wholly distinct from fear.
The future has been filed with
fear, stained and polluted By the
heartless past, as he continues, may
have had its meaning to him, but 20 the
ordinary reader. 1t is not very appar-
ent. He then asks, why should we
fear that which will come TO ALP
answer, because reason or believe
as we may, even for "the yeriest
wretch who eTaWls 'twixt earth and
heaven" this earth, this life has its
claims, aud the pang Of separation
must strike low to every heart that
feels. This is true even OF those who
believe, and hope TO meet their loved
ones in happier sphere, how then can
be ask why those should meet death
with dread who have 70 such hope
who are bouyed up on their passage
over their stygianriver by no such con
sollng taith-who behold the darkness
closing in around them, with no ray O
| light beyond. If the grave and tn,
worm are the end; ifwhen our glazint
eyes cast their last fond lingering gaz,
on earth, upon our dear ones, we ar,
forced TO fear, TO feel, to believe. tha
we can never behold or be aueht 1,
them again through all eternity, will
what show Of reason or comfort, cal
he say why shodld we fear that whicl
must come to all that ISL" His bes
answer lies in his own doubt OF unbe
lief, which ever it may be.
When he says the fearful igno
rance of tho barbarian weeping abov
his dead is just as consoling as tn
learned and unmeaning words of tn
Q robed priest of the most authenti
1 creed" he can only speak for himself
Q To countless thousands that faith s.
g meaningless to him, is an ever presen
8 consider, an uniailing comforter i
y every grief-and is Of those spiritua
i blessings not subject to natural ar
o alysis or logical deduction, becaus
y like the heaven, we all hope for, on
!, lngersoll probably included) it is b,
: yond and above any mere mental {
!. intellectual process, and whence {
?. how 1t comes we cannot now full
n know Yet we do know. that
r. exists in thousands Of human hear
'f at once a mystery and mercy. I
l. continue, what does he mean by this.
N the large and the noble faith in a
l. that is, and is to be, tells us that deaf
le at its worst is orly perfect rest?"
s, what does this noble faith consist
9, what is it, and upon what foundatic
g does it rest, TO him who, over Il
tt grave Of little child, offers to Il
le stricken parents his. belief that II
y, grave probably means Iannihilatit
lie and nothingness; and how does it rel