Northern tribune. [volume] (Cheboygan, Mich.) 1875-1885, 1883-04-21
NORTHERN TRIBUNE.
SATURDAY. APRIL 81, 1888.
sNGERSOLs. ON DEATH.
Grafton Delivered over the Grave of
John q. Mills.

From the Chicago Inter-Ocean.
Colonel Robert G. IngersOll delivered
another funeral address over the
remains of John G. Mills, who has been
known for some years as labor reform
er and Greenbacker. The Grafton was
listened to by about $50 persons, and
was as follows:
Again we are face to face with the
great mystery that shrOuds this world.
We question, but there is no reply. Out
on the wide waste of seas there drifts no
spar. Over the desert of death the sphinx
gazes forever, but never speaks. In the
very May of life another heart has ceased
DO beat. Night has fallen upon noon,
but he lived, he loved, he was loved. Wife
and children pressed their kisses on his
hips. 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 good father, a gen
srOus neighbOr and an honest man, and
these words build a monument OF glory
above the humblest grave. He was al
ways child, sincere and frank, as full
Of hope as spring. He divided all time
into to-day and tomorrow. Tomorrow
was without cloud, and Of tomorrow
was my friend. He will remain 50. The
living often become estranged. the dead
are true. He was not Christian. In
the Eden Of his hope there did not crawl
and coil the serpent of eternal pain. In
many languages he sought the thoughts
of men, and for himself he solved the
problems Of the world. He accepted the
philosophy of Aguste COmte. Humanity
was his god, and the human race the
supreme being. In that supreme being
he rested. He believed men are indebted
for what we enjoy to the labor, the self
denial, the herOism of the human race,
and as we have plucked the fruit of
what others have planted, we, in thank
fulness, should plant for others yet TO
come. With him Immortality was the
consequence of his own good acts. He
believed that every good thought, every
disinterested deed, hastens the harvest
of universal good. This is the religion
that enriches poverty, that enables us to
bear the SORROWS Of the saddest life, that
peoples even solitude with the happy
millions yet to be; religion born not
of fear and sellishness, but of love and
hope; the religion that digs well to Stake
the thirst Of others; that gladly bears
the burdens Of the unborn. III the pres
ence of death how beliefs and dOgmas
yith9r and decay. How loving words
and deeds burst into blossom. Pluck
from the tree of any life these flowers
and there remain but the barren thOrns
of bigotry add creed. All wish for hap
piness beyond this life. All hope to meet
again the loved and lost. In every heart
there grows this sacred flower of eternal
hope. Immortality is word that hope
through all the ages has been whisper
ing to love. The miracle OF death 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 from gloom energies and on shadow
rests. Beyond this we do not know.
Fate is speechless, ana destiny is dumb,
and the secret of the future has never
vet 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 paths, whether filled
with thOrns or flowers, end here. Here
success and failure are the same. The
rag of Indebtedness and the purple robe
of power lose difference and distinction
in this democracy of death. Character
alone survives. Goodness alone lives.
Love alone is immortal.
But to all there comes time when
the fevered lips of life long for the cool,
delicious kiss of death. Tired of the
dust and glare Of day, they hear with
Joy the rustling of the garments of night.
What can we say of death? What can
we say of the dead? Where they have
gone reason cannot 60, and from thence
revelation has not come. But let us be-
lieve that over the cradle nature bends
and smiles, and lovingly abO'e the dead
in benedictiOn holds her Outstretched
hands,"
Beautiful words, well spoken by the
greatly gifted orator, but the sweet
assurances. rich promises and Divine
doctrines of the Gospel are infinitely
more attractive, reasonable and cOnsOl-
ing, although experienced and uttered
by the most humble.
The Phoenix park assassins are making
IL l-.. e