Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1886-11-06
Ehc EEcrcnfici.

The busy man with his mind we'll bent on
money-making, and bis mark made hirn up
in the millions. and even the poorer neigh
Dor who looks forward anxiously TO q o bare
subsistence for the winter, are alike at times
rejecting on the theme Of happy here.
after.
Aside from the teachings Of The Bible, and
the training of childhood, there crceps into
our intellect an undelinable vision of q life
eternal that peases while it cheers Us and
raises our VISION 10 home somewhere be.
yond the sun, and above the stars, that in
thoughtful hours is consoing.
Cicero, the peerless Roman orator. be-
Iieved it and breathed it out beautifully in
his oratlons: Webster most nobly expressed
1t in his Girafd will argument; Bryant has
taught 1t in his Thanatopsis; CrittenGen pro-
claimed it IN his eloquence, and even Irrar-
soils helEhidden faith flashes into being I'm.
der the pain Of bereavement while he ey.
claims: "I'm better nown In spite ofdoubts
let US believe that such is true of all our
dead
The answer from the poets like Long
fellow, from the deeper students like Mil
ton, the heroes like Napoleon, the painters
like Angelo, and the inspired teachers of en-.
llghtened Greece, confirm the words of
Hugo that life is eternal and death is hut 4
change of place.
learned and eminent doctor lately said:
The theme is beyond my ken, but even so
Is the growth o! grain and plants and trees
and every living thing" An able historian.
John ;. G. Abbott, said "Frona the power
tui glass at Greenwich We can measure ia
the worlds above us-quite space enough for
all the millions TO exist
Eternity is vast Our littla world is but
a speck compared to other worlds above lC.
Abbott saw it in the room 10 live il hcrcaf
ter. The growing seeds explain their own
eternity. The hope within--.the soul's great
prompter-neVer dreams OF ending with so
brief Il life as seems cur three score and
ten.
The fact that space to tie mind is limit
less, that thought vii! cross the country,
pass TO Europe, mount tue tall heights be,
yond The sun, or be with those we love so
suddenly IS but a glimpse at It's rapid Highs.
its power to change, aud We; liz grandcr
power 10 span all worlds alike Mys: elious
mind, chained IN dungeon for awhile
then out TO light again . Skipping from SEA
TO sea and ever ready for another flight
Mystery of childhood playihug OF youth ::
enjoyment Of manhood sDiace Of aus
glimpse of hereafter Is il shadow chased
ike IL butteriy at school? Is it a cheat
luring Us to dream Of the good and go
TO oblivion? Is it an unseen vision that takes
one half our race al seven, Two thirds at
thirty-three, and deals with partial hand
great happiness and longer life to some,
and less 10 all the others? Do great lives
fa! down before their prime and end for.
ever as the dead leaves fall? Or does the
mind keep brilliant like ths end of Stevens
in the Senate, and Of Garfield at Long
Branch; Tilden writing like a statesman and
Grant making his monument after he was
given up rs dead, to show us that the body
and the mind are not destroyed as one?
What shall hereafter be? What should
1t be? With savage tribes death in dark
ness brings but darkness. The Indians al
most always so believe, for as they die they
expect TO be beyond, in darkness or in
light; with or without their guns, and game,
their happy hunting ground is just as clear
to them rs ours to us. PaYements of streets.
manslons of homes, and silver brooks need
not all be realized to make the happy glad.
Most OF the happiest we will ever know in
life are happy in their minds and souls; aud
when they are about TO say Sood-by TO
earth there comes broader CLEAN Of char.
ity that seems to open wider doors to newer
life of hope and love and happiness And
all through life there is no nober hope or
2rander thought than Of eternity. Selfish
ness alone could prompt it; and 10 leave out
every plan but nature, pass by every theory
or promise of the scripture, and only TO
think as the great and good have thought
will lead us to evidence intelligent convic-
tlon that life is immortal.-J. W. DOnOran.