The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1883-06-01
lNGERsoL ON DEATH.

HemaTRdp1S OTdGlCH dl bAe fuAS1d4 VI q
Free Thinker.
The remains of John Mills, local
agitator, latterly private secretary to
ex-Represen,a,ive Murch Of Maine,
and who died at Washington D. G..
recently Of pneumonia, were forward
ed to his home at Port Jarvis, N. Y,
lately. Mills was free thinker.
At the funeral service. which was
held at the latter place in the parlors
of a residence on Franklin park, in
the presence of large company, in
cluding Senator Van Wyck, Regis
ter Bruce, ex-senator Dorsey and ex-
Representative Murch, Robt. G.. In
gersoll'delivered the Grafton. After
q dirge had been sung; Col. Ingersoll
said: "Again we are face to face
with the great mystery that shrouds
the world. We question, but there
is no reply. Out ON the wide waste
of sea there drifts no spar. Over the
desert of death the Sphinx gazes for
ever, but fever speaks. In the very
May of life another heart has fallen
upon noon. But he lived, lie loved
and was loved. Wife and child
pressed their kisses on his lips. This
is enough. The longest life contains
no more. This fills the vase of joy.
He who lies here, clothed with the
perfect peace of death, was kind
and loving husband and a good ia
ther, a generous neighbor, an honest
man. And these words build a mon
ument of glory above the humhlest
grave. He was always, child; sin
cere and frank, as full of hope as
spring. He divided all time into to-
day and to morrow. Tomorrow
was wilhout a cloud, and of to-mor-
row he borrowed sunshine for to-
day. He was my friend! He will
remain SO. The living oft become
estranged. file dead are true. He
was not a Christian. In the Eden of
his hope there did not crawl and coil
the serpent. ofeternal pain: In many
languages he sought the thoughts of
men, and for himself. lie, solved the
problems of the World: He accepted
the philosophy Of .Auguste Comte.
Humanity was, and is, God-the hu
man race The Supreme Being. In
that Supreme Being he rested. We
believe that we are indebted for what
we enjoy to the labor, the self-denial
the heroism of the human race, and
that, as we have plucked the fruit of
what others planted, we in thankful-
ness should plant for others yet to be.
With him immortality was the eter-
nal consequences of his own good
acts. He believed Chat every good
thought, every disinterested deed
hastens the harvest of Universal
good. This is a religion that enrich
es poverty; that enables US. to bear
the sorrow of the saddest life; reli-
gion born not of selfishness and fear,
but of love and hope; that gladly
bears the burdens OF the unborn: :, In
the, presence of death, how beliefs
and dogmas wither ard decayt How
loving words and deeds burst and
blossom! Pluck from the tree Of any
life these flowers, and there remains
but the barren thorns of bigotry and
creed. All wish for happiness be
yond this life; and all hope to meet
again the loved and lost. In every
heart there grows this sacred flower
Of eternal hope: Immortality is a
word that hope, through all ages, has
been whispering to love. The mira
Gle of thought we cannot understand;
the mystery of death and hope we
cannot comprehend; this chaos called
the world has never been explained;
the golden bridge Of life fron gloom
energies, and onr shadow rests, Be-
yond this we do not know. Fate is
speechless, destiny-is dumb-and
the secret Of the future has never
yet been told. We love, we wait,
we hope. The more we love, the
more we fear; upon the tenderest
heart the deepest shadows fall. All
maths lwhether filed w.iihi thnrna q,