The Portland daily press., 1885-01-08

| @4Ae W bAo uusum OI mObn6r EarJQ, TO DUR
out OF our sight the familiar form of orr ven
cradle friend Abner Coburn; to bury this bod,
| OF MS, now pulseless, bTeatheless, senseless
silent, motionless, cold, dead,-dead, and ye
even In death lovely and beloved. We shal
| see it no more. None on earth shall see it til
tne morning OF the resurrection. And nov
thus together in this last tender, solemn
| hour, here where it was his wont and his 10Y
to worship Sabbath by Sabbath, we would fair
| give to our thought of him some expression,
however inadequate, would at least make tn,
| endeavor however unsuceessfully. 1t is no
| to praise him. He is beyond our praise o.
blame. 1t is to speak ont the word which the
| heart prompts.
That of him which is here with as TODAY Il
| be seen aud touched is his body. OF some mer
the body is the major part. or any man il il
In this life an important, an essential part
! Abner Coburn inherited sound, well-wrou j ht
and well compacted body, and fol
this inheritance he wisely cared. He
| neither neglected nor abused it. He never
| by dissipation sowed in il the seeds OF corrup-
tion. Some OF you, whose heads are white
| doubtless saw him Ia his boyhood and youth
and can recall the vigor OF his physical life 81
school, on the farm, in society. More of you
| know him in mature manhood when thai
same body served as the sure, steady, solid
framework for the unresting, unhasting DO ~
| ful, efficient, mental machinery within, organ
and instrument most fit for such a soul
And even when with stealthy step old age
| OauIo uH ulodCnlug ana Dla0ch1Dg the hair,
tracing wrinkles on face and forehead, inse nsi--
| oily a0stracting vigor and elasticity; even when
| In addition Que attack after another OF disease
| which foresight could not avert nor care pre-
vent mad done its worst, through it all, even to
| the end, as we all have seen him and known
| him, how still did that manly form serve its
master within right loyalty, right royalty; the
| eye scarcely dimmed, the ear as quick and
ready to hear even to the last minute as in
mes morning. Oil what blessing is such a
q aQn nafA 81. H.
session. What shame, what pity, the misuse,
tne neiaouse, the causeless manning aud mar
ring Of the bodyl So, today, we are glad and
grateinl as we have these these thoughts and
lake tols packward view. We take home
anew an ever needed lesson for ourselves.
We recall also the iatellipence that dwalt
| within, making the body luminous. and
streaming out into the lives q others His
| was an alert, attentive, watehful, active mind.
| always awake, quick to see, to hear-ta see
and hear everything. He not only looked az
| and on things and persons, but around them,
and into them and through them. He was ex-
act in his observation. He saw that very
thing which he did see; knew that very thing
which he did know; and knew that he saw
and knew that very thing which he did see
and did know. There was no blur before his
eyes; no smoke in his eyes; no fog in or
! around his head. There was that in him
which scattered fog banks as he neared them,
and made the air as clear as crystal pure
transparency. His words were few, but al
ways to the point. He hit the mark every
| time. There was not grain of wasted pow
DER. He used rife, never shotgun. Scat
tering was to him an abomination. Whether
IN pleasantly or in earnestness, he was equally
pert and apt. He could see the exact point at
which to prick conceit, and one touch of his
bodkin was enough The experiment never
needed to be repeated, at least by him. AS for
| hattery, did 1t even venture into his presence2
/ know not, but of this am sure if it did the
Vantrra a failurA tn Itealf q diaostar
His mind, though thus alert, exact, clear,
had an equable, easy action. However swift
the current, it scarcely seemed a current so
smooth was its surface, SO even its flow, 50
without noise of rush and tumble; also so
very clear and almost invisible like the air.
You knew the movement afterward by effects;
| by finding what it had moved, or at least what
movements of execution, his Eown or others, it
had guided or attended. Accustomed, as we
have been, to see bis placid features, restful
| eye, perpetual poise, constant calm, every
where, always, as though every year and every
day of every year were Sabbath, genuine
New England Puritan Sabbath, such as he
loved; 1t requires effort to believe that he was
ever watching the gathering and swift coming
OF storms listening to the in-rushing, from
every point of the compass, of turgid, mig hty,
mad streams, threatening him and his with
wreck and ruin. That he was, with the swift
ness and power Of lightning, sending thought
always to search out all possibilities OF good or
win 1t. To believe this requires effort, is in
credible, and yet is simple fact. This, we all
know, was done again and egain in his own
business, SO immense and yet 80
quietly mastered and ged,-manag-
ed with mastery-as noiseIessy as
worlds-was done in the States business in
the whirlwind and whirlpool Of our civil war,
when by the will of the people it became his
1sa datz R maEs sHs1 his the
bluster or fiuster? For what minute of what
day did he lose his head? Where was the
place? What the cause2 News has been
broken to himlsnddenly of the loss of tens aud
hundreds of thousands of dollars at one stroke.
l have been assured that the bearer OF the
news could not detect in the tone of the voice,
| the look of the eye CT the expression of the
face perplexity of mind or ruffi5 of sansibiity.
This calm and even movement in a mind so
active and exact implies extraordinary COM
| prehensiveness of view, and the clear con-
| sciousness of such comprehensiveness. Not
indeed as though temperament had nothing
| had not much to do with it, 1t surely had.
With him it was an important part, but not
the main part. His was not so much the quiet
| of inertia as of intelligent assurance 1t was
| not indifference. He could not be Indifferent.
| 1t was not blindness. Blind he was not. His
| intellect relied upon itself and he relied upon
| his intellect, because the intellect had been
found by itself and by him to be reliable; had
been, in all affairs falling to it's care, compelled
| so to act as to be worthy of trust-to leave
| nothing out Of the account that should be
| taken into the account, to clear the fog and
| dust away from the whole horizon SO as to have
| fair view all around Besides we have abun-
| dant evidence of another sort, and more direct
| to this comprehensiveness He did not account
| himself and is not by others accounted as hav-
| ing been "lberally' educated. He never
went to college; never fitted for college, even
| had no professional or technical training OF
| any Sort grew up largely in the woods, wholly
| in the country; was not book man, had no
| time to be, with business like his own to care
| for. And yet he was keen-syed, clear-eyed,
broad eyed, far-eyed enough to see the worth
| of all kinds and degrees OF genuine education
| the lower, the higher, technical, professional,
| all. He saw clearly and recognized with the
| emphasis of ample gifts-gifts of time, of
| thought, of counsel and of money-the value
| of all kinds and grades of educational institu-
| tions. He was not by profession a
| politician, or through special training q
| statesman. And yet he gave ample evidence
| that the underlying principles of government,
| state end national, han engaged his attention.
| His convictions we're clear and positive. Ana
| when placed in the halls of legislation, the
seat of councillors or the governors chair he
| was not at sea, but very much at home,
perhaps, as governor, little too much the
master OF the situation to salt the nation of
| such as would fain have done the business OF
/ the government in their own interest, He was
| united with church. But he was the owner
| of Bible, had laid his mind, SO clear and
| calm to the mind of God as there revealed, had
raken up into himself so much of that books
| truth, had looked into society near and far
| away, into individual life and marked how the
| book fitted life and what it had done and will
| do for life. And 80 few men were better
listeners at church, few had sympsthies with
| religious work more profound and intelligent.
| His open hand has a thousand times been
| proof of this-his testimony to those with
| whom at times he spoke in confidence on such
! themes is to the same effect. WHAT cause has
| not been brought to his attention for material
| aid? What good cause ever failed to gain his
aid which with him was the infallible sign
that it had won first his approval-for he could
| no more give at random than talk at random.
Citizens Of Skowhegan, you know full well
and love to testify, that along with all the vast
interests. private and public, that engaged his
| thought there was not an interest, great or
small, of his town and yours which did not
command his intelligent consideration and his
generous support All this and so m uch more
of the same sort. gives evidence, is evidence Of
Intelligence of high order, of wide compass.
What kind OF heart was in him? Was
| there any2 This man whom we saw and
knew, without wife and children so much
alone and apart, SO marble and statue like
| when in view, no flush of emotion on his
cheek, no fash Of passion in his eye, no gush
of song ever escaping his lips, or gleeful laugh