The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1885-01-14

|
NERAL IN THE BAPTIST CHURCH, JAN
| UARY 7th 1885.
My Friends:
am speaking for you rather than Il
| you. One event has drawn us togeth er
A. common sentiment binds Us toget heI
| We have to-day one mind and one heart
| one thought and one feeling. We are
about to bear away, to commit to the
Dos IN OF Mother Earth, to bury out of our
sight the familiar form OF our venerable
friend Abner Coburn; to bury this body ol
his, now pulseless, breathless, senseless
silent, motionless, cold, dead, dead, yet
even 10 death lovely and beloved. We
shall see 1t no more. None on earth shall
| see it till the morning of the resurrection
And now thus together 10 this last tender
solemn hour, here where IL WAS his won't
and his JOY to worship Sabbath by Sabbath,
we would fain give to our thought of him
| some expression, however inadequate,
would at least make the endeavor, however
| unsuccessfully. 1t Is not to praise him.
He Is beyond our praise or blame. II il to
| speak out the word which the heart
prompts
That of him which Ia here with US to-day
| to he seen and touched Is his body. Or
| some men the body is the major part. Vi
any man 1t is 10 this life an empor,aut, an
essential part. Abner Cuburn Inherited u
sound, well-wrought aud well Compacted
body, and for this inheritance he wisely
cared He neither neglected nor abused it.
lie never by dissipation sowed in it the
seeds Of corruption. Some OF you, whose
heads are white, doubtless saw him in his
hoyhood and youth aud can recall the Wig
or of his physical life al school, on th
farm, in society. Mole Of you know him
In mature manhood when that same body
served AS the sure, steady, solid frame
work Tor the uuresting, unhasting, power
full, efficient, meuLal machinery within, F.
gan and instrument most Il; for such n sou I.
And even when with stealthy step old are
Came on bleaching aud blanching the hair,
tracing wrinkles GU face aud forehead, in-
seusibiy abstracting vigor aud elasticity E;
even when In addition one attack after an
other Of disease which foresight could not
avert nor care prevent had done It's worst,
through 1t all, even to tim end, as We all
have seen him and know him, how still that
manly form serve its master within right
Loyalty, right royalty; the eye scarcely
dilnmed, the esr as quick aud ready to hear
even to the last minute AS In life's morn
ing. Oh! what blessing Is such body
What cause of thankfulness is its posses
sion! What shame, what pity, the misuse,
the abuse, the causless manning and mar
ring Of the body So, today, we are glad
and grateful MS we have these thoughts and
take this backward view. We take home
q new an ever needed lesson for ourselves
We recall also the Intelligence that dwelt
Within, making he body luminous, aud
streaming out into the lives Of others.
His was an alert, attentive, watchful, &C
tive mind, always awake, quick to see, to
hear-to see and hear everything. He not
Only looked at and on things and persons,
but around them, and into them and
through them. He was exact in his obser-
vaiion. He saw that every thing which he
did see knew that every thing which he
did know and knew that he saw and knew
that every thing which he did see and did
know. There was no blur before his eyes /;
no smoke in his eyes no log In or around
his head. There WAS that in him which
sc. tered fog banks as he neared them, and
made the air as clear as crystal, pure trans
parency. His words were few, but always
to he point. He hit the mark every time.
There WAS not grain OF wasted powder.
He used a rifle, never shotgun. Scatter
ing WAS to him au ahomnatiOn. Whether
IN pleasantly or In earnestDess, he was
equally pert and apt. He could see the ex-
act 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 flttery, did it even
venture into his presenceg l know not, but
OF this am sure, II it did the venture WIZ
a failure, to itself a disaster.
= His mind, though thus alert, exact, clea q,
had an equally, easy action. However
swift the current, 1t scare, ly SCENE cur
rent so smooth was its surface, so even its
flow, so without noise OF rush or tumble !;
also so very clear and almost invisi BILE like
tn. air. You knew the movement after
ward by effects; by finding what 1t had
moved, or at least what movements Of tx
,cutiou, his own or others, 1t had guided
or attended. Accus ned, rs We havr
been, To SEE his placid features, restful eye,
perpetual puise, Constant, calm, every
where, always, ~ though every Year aid
every day f the year were Sabbath, y
genuine New England Puritan Sabbath,
sucn as he loved; IT requires effort to be-
lieve that he was ever watching the gather
z and swift coming of storms, listening
to the in-iushing, from every point of the
compass, OF turgid, mighty, mad streams,
threatening him and his with wreck and
ruin. That he was, with the swlttnes>
and power of lightning, sending Thought
always to search Out all possibilities OF
good or III and to decide where was veal
and how to win it. To believe this re
quires effort, is incr. dible, and yet is sim
rle fact. This, we all know, was done
again aud again in his own business, SO
immense aud yet so quietly mastered and
managed, managed with mastry-as
noiseiessly a. gravititiou manages the mo-
tiops Of wOrltr-was done in the States
bushes. in the whirlwind and whirlpool OF
our civil war, when by the will OF the PEG
pie It became his official duty to make his
own business Of the State. Who ever saw
Abner CobuIn 10 blus' Or or flus F'r
what minute Of what day did he ,ose las
head? Where was the place? What the
cause? News has been broken to him sud-
denly Of the loss OF tens and hundreds of
thousands Of dollars At one stroke. | have
been assured that the bearer Of the news
could not detect 10 the tone Of the voice,
tho look Of eye or the expression OF the
face perplexily Of miad or roffle Of sensi-
bility.
THIS calm and even movement 10 mind
80 active and exact implies extraordinary
comprehensivepess Of view, and the clear
Consciousness Of such comprehensiveness.
Not indeed - though temperament had
nothing, had not much TO do with Il. It.
eurely hsd. With him It was Az important
part, but not the main part His wss not
10 much The quiet Of inertia - OF lntelli-