The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1883-10-31

the child-like in the larger mind. She as
acquired business tact which enables her to
manage large interests; but, with money IN
her hand, she does not rise above the cN O.
tions of her heart Her wealth pays tribute
to her affections, as 1t has in this instance,
for Mrs. Stafford is type of the exalted wo-
manhood of modern days. In life this man
and this woman walked together mated as
we'll as wedded-she the perfect music and
he the noble words. And now that he has
gone hence, this worthy widow of a worthy
husband would perpetuate, in the recol-c-
ton of this community, her husbands noble
traits of character by the erection of an an
propriate monument to his memory.
1t has been said that the erection Of a
monument is useless; that the remembrance
of us will last il we have deserved 1t by orr
lives; and another writer has reminded us
that death comes equally to US all, and
makes us all equal when it comes. THE
ashes of an oak in chimney are" he says,
mo epitaph of that to tell me how high or
how large that was; it tells me not what
tlocks il sheltered while it stood, nor what
men it hurt when it fell. The dust of great
persons graves is speeches. too; it says
nothing, il distinguishes nothing. As soon
the dust OF a wretch that thou wouldst not,
as of the prince whom thou couldst not,
look upon, will trouble thine eyes, II the
wind blow it thither; and when the whlrl-
wind hath blown the dust of the church
yard into the church. and the man sweeps
out the dust Of the church into the church
yard, who will undertake to sift their dust
again, and to pronounce: This is the
pstrician, this is the noble flour; and this
the yoeman, this is the plebeian bran Z ~
True. as Horatius says
Pale Death enters with impeliIl step the cottages
of the poor and tie palaces of The rich
But while death knows IT. social dlstinc-
tons, and levels all ranks, it cannot triumph
over the good or bad works Of the victim,
whether he is found in, the cottage OF the
poor or the palace of the rich, The good as
well as the evil that men do lives after
them, and it is therefore altogether becom-
ing in us to erect monuments in cOmmemor-
alton of the goodness Of the humble IN life
as well as of the great-'a COMMUNICATION
of the goodness of a Saff I'D as we'll as of
the greatness of Napoleon.
And this the widow of Alfred b. Stafford
proposes to do in The erection OF the
A. B. Stafford Memorial Library
Building which she will dedicate to the
people, and in which your public library
will find an appropriate permanent home.
Thus from this building, sacred to the men,
DRY of Alfred B. Stafford, the great authors
Of antiquity and of modern times
will constantly speak to the
youth of your city invoking them to noble
action and pure lives. From the shelves
OF the library hall of the Stafford Memorial
Building, the Old Testament will
be constantly saying: Great is
truth and mighty above all
things" And the New Testament: Men
shall not live by bread alone" And Shake
speare:
--"Our doubts are traitors,
And make us lose the good we oft might win
BY fearing to attempt"
And Milton:
TO be weak is miserable
Doing or suffering"
And Addison
TITS the divinity that strs within us;
'Tis heaven itself that points out on an here
after,
And intimate, eternity to men"
Aud Pope;
Know then myself; presume not God to scan;
The proper study of mankind is man."
And Thompson of the Seasons:
These, as they change, Almighty Father!
these
Are but the varied God. The rolling year
IL fall Of Thee -
And Tennyson:
"Howe'e' it be, 1t seems to me
lis only noble to be good,
Kind hearts are more than coronets,
And simple faith than Norman blood |
And Bacon: knowledge is Power"
And all others of the innumerable host of
the great men OF the past, and of the present,
and Of the to be, Will speak words of wis.
dom and admoniton from beneath the
roof Of this building to the generations
that will come after US.
And Alfred B. Stafford, dead, deserves
Of this kind, because in life he
was one Of natures noblemeu. The anvil
of his kindly nature endured all the blows
of hatred, and did not yield. Often, nearly |
in every instance, the hammers that batter
ed him broke themselves; his kindness de-
stroyed the anger or prejudice that attacked |