Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-12-01

son to his parents-he was their COM
Panlon. He was as an angel in his
mothers sick-room, wherein he would sit
for hours and talk of all that he had seen
and would cheer her hope of returning
health by the assurance that he had prayed
tor her recovery on each step of the Scala
Sancta in Rome. And it was his pride and
delight to be with his father, to converse
to learn, to enjoy.
Nor was his tender love limited to his
parents. Philanthropy filled his whole
being. He thought of others, he cared for
others, he gave to Others. He
had the rare power to make
Others feel that he belonged to them
This endeared himself 10 those who knew
him. and those who met him and admired
and loved. UnseltiSh in his pleasures and
in his plans, he was in no danger of envy
and violence from the laboring classes. as
are some rich and brilliant young men
whose seliishness provokes the poor to
wrath and the son of toll to communistic
desperation. Nor was he content 10 dole
out private charities to the suffering poor
he devised liberal things, inspired by true
public spirit His young imagination
dreamed of u museum of art and of anti
quities to illustrate the progress of man
kind. 1t was more than dream. Hehad
commenced the collection, and the youth
ful antiquarian had planned fer a museum
which should rank with those of the
metropolitan cities of the old world
And what q museum his genius
and wealth would have created
for San Francisco, wherein he would bring
the sculptured marbles from Athens and
Rome; the obelisks and mummy sarco-
phagi from Egypt; the human-headed
lions and cuniform- tablets from Babylon
and Nincveh; and whatever was Illus
tTative of the social, political and religious
life of Jerusalem, of Continental Europe
and our own national history. What an
educational force of immense value that
would have been to the oncoming genera
tiOns, made familiar with antiquity by the
works of God and man, brought together
by his careful hand and public spirit.
DO WE LIVE AND ACT BEYOND?
markable youth, which is another proof
that life is worth living and that humanity
is worth redeeming. What Il whitening
rebuke to the sordid and the selfish, and
what an inspiration to the youth of our
land to live fer the welfare of others
Alas ! that his young life was interrupted.
What were bis possibilities had his life
been prolonged? Q, for a vision of his
three score years and ten With his manly
presence, his splendid intellect, his noble
character, his generous impulses, his COM
manding wealth? What position of trust
and honor would not have been his TO fill
and adorn? How honorable his place
among the capitalists of this great country,
to open it for the untold millions destined
by Providence 10 live between the Missouri
and the Pacific. How influential his sta
ton among good and philanthropic citizens
to rear schools of learning, houses of mercy
and temples of piety. What father does
not envy for his son such prospect
covet for him such future desire for him
such renown?
But are these possibilities never to be
realized? Shall death cheat mankind out
of so much promised good? Shall mex
orabe fate laugh to disappointment the
beneficent purposes of such a life? Does
death end all? Is the good that a man
would do inferred with his bones? Is the
grave the charnel-house of all that is kindly
and wise and noble in our natures? Life
is web time is a shuttle; man is a
weaver; the future is born of the present.
Nothing is lost. Ideas are imperishable.
The coin Of the past is reminted. All our
principles, all our purposes, all our actions,
are like so many threads, the spinning of
which is continued from one generation to
another 1t is the high mission of those
who survive him to gather up the golden
threads of his life and weave them into a
beautiful garment of love to cover there
with the wants Of humanity.
Let his museum be built, and over its
portals let there be inscribed Leland"
That name will be read by future ages, and
shall inspire coming generations with sen
timentS and purposes of the nOblest philan
thropy This will be his worthest memo
rial, more expressive of your love for him
than splendid mausoleum or colossal mon
ument. When the marble shall crumble,
when the bronze shall melt, when the can
vas shall fade, this shall live in the hearts
and lives of many, q" a thing of beauty and
Joy forever"
With what unceasing delight will he look
down upon this realization of the dream of
his young manhood What a new tri-
umph this shall be to his happy spirit over
death that sought to rob him of the pleas
ure, and mankind of the benefit of such
benefaction Shall he triumph, or shall
death? Shall his life be sixteen years long,
or sixteen times sixteen? Oh how grand
the privilege God has given us to lengthen
out the years of usefulness of those we love.
whose honorable and benevolent purposes
have been interrupted by death.
CONVERSATIONS.
But why was such life. so beautiful in
spirit, so rich in possibilities, so salutarv III
influence, terminated so abruptly The
lease of life is one OF the deepest mysteries
of Divine Providence The elephant lives
a hundred and fifty years the eagle con
tinues his flight through a whole century
the yew tree hourishes through half mil
lenium; mans allotted time ON earth is
seventy years. But are three score and ten
necessary to vast usefulness? May not
life of sixteen years be as valuable to man
kind as one Of sixty? Many man. emf
nent i'll all the elements of usefulness, has
lived a misspent life of a century. Itis not
all of life to live, but rather how to fill up
the measure of our days Christ died at the
age of thirty-three Who of all our race
did more for mankind than he?
The death of this beautiful youth is not
without greater compensation to the living
He now belongs to the youth OF America
Had years been added to his life he would
have outlived his glorious mission. He died
to be a savior of the Young. They shall
claim him as their own. His temperance
shall chide their passions; his humility
shall rebuke their PRIDE his generosity
shall reprove their SelfiShneSS his love of
learning and taste for art shall allure them
from the frivoities of fashion: his delight
in the pleasures of home, and his bliss in
the companionship of father and mother,
shall charm them from the society of
strangers; his devotion TO God and his
charity to man, shall win them to the
Savior of sinners.
a lady wrote to his bereaved mother
these memorable words; My children
shall be taught TO love his memory, follow
his example, and initiate his lovely char
acter." No higher mission could be created
for his son By any father living Our
youth should read his biography, which
will be more fascinating than romance
and more edifying than the creations of
the Imagination. Mothers would select
that biography as a birthday gift and
fathers would present it as a Christmas
offering. That biography would be the
oft chosen volume from the library of our
Sabbath-schoois The public-school scholar
and the college student would be entranced
by the epic of his life; and the . Life of
Leland Stanford. Jr would become as
familiar as Fenelon's "Telemachus,n or
Richmond's Dairyman's Daughter
His tomb will be the shrine to which our
youth will go as on a sacred pilgrimage,
and from it they will gather grasses and
flowers as momentoes of what he was to
them. They will visit his museum and re-
call his public spirit; they will attend his
university and qualify themselves for hon
orable and useful positions; they will
worship God in His church and learn
therein that THE fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom" Surely for such an