The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1886-08-03
Continued from first Page)

y. u SllSlc uutf '" tIlC LILO PhlioSoplll-
cal endurance without a murmur was
4 the highest exercise Of his tort,tude and
courage, and patience. Those high
material qualities Of the soul which
inuy not be Inaptly styled the couple
sment Of the christians Faith, Hope and
Loye-and AS the greatest Of them is
Love, even SO the greatest Of the former
is Patience.
OF Mr.. Burt,s early life | know but
little. Notwithstanding our free social
intercourse daily for nearly thirty years,
.he was strangely reticcnt in regard to
it.
That his early advantages we're few,
we all know. He had only an academic
education that he obtained at Pendleton.
.He went to school tho as long as he
lived-not in academies or colleges
and the stores OF knowledge which he
had acquired, attested the fact that he
was. to the last q diligent student.
Attractive as is the subject, Tor it
bristles with salient and mtrrcStin.
points, l shall not undertake to linn
it.
At the annual meeting in July 1881,
AK the successor Of the lantrntel Judge
Thomson, he became the President Of
this Society. We do all remember the
great pleasure, the delight with which
he received this compliment at your
hands Some there were who wondered
how it could be, that he who had sounded
all the shoals and depths Of high official
position, no had commanded the APP
plause of listening Senates, and who
had strobe like a giant upon the the very
mountain tops Of his noble profession.
reaping ut the same time its c~moiumcutS
and fame, could be so elated with this
position, SO inferior in the worlds
estimation, to others hat he had 50
:worthily and completely filled. The
observation of such had not gone below
the surface. 1t marked indeed. the at
tainment in some degree of that profoLnA
wisdom which enables its poSscsser 70
sum up all the tleeting, vanishing. empty
.honors Of this world, las vanity Of yani
rtics-7all is vanity"
AS the great and good John Tayler
was at the time of his death, an oyer
seer of the public roads Of his native
county IN Virginia and as the no less
good and great Horatio Seymour died as
Chairman Of the Board of County Com
lnissioners, in Utica; SO our venerable
and distinguished friend, esteemed it
no mean honor, but rather as the crown
ing glory of his useful public life, to be
President of this Society. And was
this claim without reas on for its support:
Washc not indeed right?
Look back to July 9Th, 1928 and on
ward even down to this day, your 63rd
anniversaries Noble, a Wardlaw, n Per-
rim, a Thompson, q Burt. This is the
roll Of your distinguished Presidents.
How our hearts do burn within US at
the bare mention Of their name. and the
remembrance of their virtues. Surely
Mr.. President, this was a goodly fellow
ship for him. 1t is q goodly fellowship
for you.
| cannot close this brief sketch of Mr..
Burt's life without abiding to the won
.der(ul manner Of his death.
1t was indeed a wonderful Providence
that ordered this event just as he mag
.ined it should be-. 1t was perhaps his
long and familiar association with, and
care of, Mr.. McDutfie. during the year,
OF the lattcr's imbecility, that gave him
peculiar dread Of that condition Of drive
bling infrmity. He coveted a death
like that Of Bertram, and often referring
to the inevitable event, which awaits US
all. have heard him repeat from Roke-
by, these lines.of "the Great Wizard Of
The North:
"Mine be the eve Of tropic sun,
No pale gradations quench his ray,
No twilight dews his wrath allay
With disk like battle target red,
He PUSHES 10 his burning bed,
Dyes the wide wave with bloody light,
Then sinks ut once-and all is night.'
l have already said hat he RENTED
none Of the duties Of life, This was ex-
.emplified in a most striking manner at
it's close-in the very article Of death.
Upon the table in his back office, Law
unfinished tie Brief of a case for the Su-
,preme Court, on which he had been dill
igently at work all day. A messenger
from the Press and Banner office came
in the middle Of the afternoon with some
proof sheets of the Brief to be corrected,
and foundh him reclining upon a couch
apparently asleep. With that tender
.considerateness which all were accus-
TONED to show to him, the boy retired
without disturbing the sleeper. Return
ing afterwards, he was instinctively a.
Harmed, for in the presence Of death
there is a stiffness that moves us-a ST
l1ence that is audible. Captain Perrin.
whose Office was hard by, was called to.
come and see what was the matter with
Mr.. Burt. It was soon discovered that
the silver cord had been looscd-the
broken wheel at the cistern had ceased
to turn and life was extinct. What a
mystery! There in the presence Of no
one but God. his soul, like that of Moses
Of old. from Pisgah's top. had taken is
solitary flight forever.
The place OF his sepulcrc. unlike that