The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1885-08-06
DEATH AIMS HIGH.
DR.. JAS. A. SUMPTER ANSWERS
THE LAST CALL.
An Inexpicable Providence Removes the
Most Useful Citizen of Giles.

Verify, the ways of God are mys
FERROUS. Died in his prime and il
the zenith of unmeasured useful
ness, DR.. JAMES ASHER SUMPTER
last Tuesday evening at 7:1'
o o'clock, aged 81 years, s month!
and 10 days, after lingering fghr
with the dreadest of all diseases
consumption, contracted during
the winter of 1881 = in his heroic
search for the body cf his unforta-
nate brother law, Capt. David
Rhea, in the bitterest weather OF
that bitter cold winter. 1t has been
known for months that he was go
ing and the universal heart bled in
50. e contemplation of the sad end
ing OF. man whom every body loved.
DR.. Sumpter came to Pulaski
from kentucky in 1851, young
physician just from college, with no
money in his wallet, a good horse,
well-filled medicine case, and q
brave heart being his only stock.
The first week after he displayed
his shingle he was sent for some
twenty miles to perform a very
delicate surgical operation for
which he received his first fee-a
twenty dollar bill-and from that
day to the end he was never penni-
less again. He at once took high
rank in his profession, which he
practiced greatly tor the love of hui
manity, never neglecting, however,
to provide for himself and family.
His energy was uneXampled and
only equaled by the noble and gen
erOus tenderness which he always
bestowed upon patient. He took
his heart into the sick room and
his presence was like a bright
CLEAN of hope to the distressed ones
of the household. His was the ten
deres5 heart the writer ever knew
and this tribute to the great and
generous man now lying beneath
the sod is written in unaffected sor-
row, for we loved him as a father.
While he did not neglect his own
he did more genuine
charity practice than any man we
ever knew, perhaps, and always re
sponded to a call whether the per-
son was poor or wealthy. Indeed,
so strong was the charity element
within him, and so often had he
been called upon to administer aud
prescribe without any charge that it
manifested itself even in the hour of
death, when in a half-conscious mo-
ment he would waive an imagined
patient aside and feebly exclaim IN
the old familiar way, "No charge,
no charge" These were fit
words to end such a life. They
round up in fitting expression and
give final emphasis to a life of sub
FINEST deeds of charity. We feel
that we could write praises to the
lonored dead without limit and
never exhaust his merit nor our es-
-eem, but it is useless to recount |
his virtues when they shone so re-
splendently upon this community
for a third of a century.
The heart of Pulaski lay bleeding
n his coffin yesterday. Men ap-
Dalled were asking themselves, why |
vas he taken who above all others
vas serving his God and his peo-
Die so well? Why should the man
Who has alleviated so many pains
mi poured balm upon so many
Wounds himself beIso sorely tried by
he lingering pains of protracted
disease? 1t is no reflection upon
he balance of US to say that the
most useful man in Giles was bur
ed yesterday, and if this. appears
ul6ome to strangers it is because
hey did not know him and were
lever drawn into the great warm
,oils of his tender heart.
Yesterday evening at 8 80 o'clock
DR.. d. L. Wilson preached his flu
neral at the Presbyterian church |
md sthe remains were followed to
he grave by multitudes whose sor-
'ow was genuine, and the cold clay
covers the late habitation Of one of
he richest spirits in the everlasting
zingdom of God.
We know not how to console those
1pon whom the weight of this un-
,peakable sorrow falls most heavily. |
God knows for what he required |
his great sacrifice of them, and be-
;ause it is great sacrifice is evil
lence of the supremest reason for it
ind that it will work far more ex-
.eeding and eternal weight of glory
or those whose hearts are torn
We cannot,,alleviate their sorrow but
We can share it with them.