The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1889-04-25

cram after another has passed over tnt
river to the eternal shore. Let their de
fects and imperfections be buried, for
given and forgotten, ever remembering
"That defects through natures best production
The saints have spots, and spots are on the sun
All that was pure and good and noble
let it bud and blossom in loving re-
membrance as the acacia over the sleep
ing dust of our mortal spirits that have
goneup to the Paradise of God.
In view of the final hour and the sud
denness of its coming, Isreal, poet and
prophet, hero and king, in a perilous
hour, when hunted by blood-thirsty foes,
exclaimed 'there is but a step between
me and DEATH" How true to life to day.
Step between me and fixed and ever
lasting destiny. Let Us ponder and ap-
ply the thought with heart searching ap-
plication, and step, breath, moment,
throb of the pulse, heart beat, an inch
of time, and the spirit, imm ortal, breaks
from its tenement of clay and it's doom
is fixed forever. Our depicting numbers,
the pains and infirmities of advancing
years, these silvered locks and furrowed
brows, speak to US, as voice from the
eternal throne, there is but step be-
tween us and the eternal world. How frai
and short and uncertain life is in all ita
vigor and beauty and promise of coming
years. See it illustrated in every walk OF
life! One in the loneliness
and beauty of youth lies
down to pleasant dreams, and will wake
no more until the last trump shall cal
the sleeping millions from sea and land
. Another sits in his cosy chair. He looks
B out over beautiful valley, girded in by
4 mountains; he reads the morning news
witch of his nerves is seen, gasp, and
the vital spark is gone, and the sightless
balls glare on the open page. In the
braoing air and brightness of the morn.
ing, business man walks the street, with
smile he greets and grasps the hand OF
friend, he sinks aud falls on the pave
ment lIfeless corpse. A loving and an
gelic mother and wife looks into the face
of her companion in life, and exclaims
~ am dying, am going home," and hel
immortal spirit went up tojoin the re-
deemed in the heavenly land. Two loving
hearts make their VOWS at the marriage
altar, and in one short hour the bride
looks on the lifeless form of the partner
and Joy of her life. AS Gods ambassador
to men, moves, charms and enhances the
crowd that hang on his tongue, the
appraised arm and the half spoken
sentence is paraiyzed in death
II is echoed back to us from earth ant
sea 6and skies, from the sleeping dead
from the walls of the lost and the joys O.
the heavenly hosts
"That time ls ehort and life ia ieeting,
And our hearts, though strong anu brave,
Still like mutlled drums are beating
Funeral marches to the grave"
As message from the Sovereign of tn,
universe it comes to us to-day, 'prepar'
to meet thy God" "Strive to enter in at
the straight gate" lay hold of eternal life
through Him that lived and died to re-
deem and save US.
The services of this occasion, in mem
DRY of the illustrious dead, have time
honored, sacred presidents. David ut
tered touching tribute to the merit anG
noble deeds of Saul and Jonathan, SLAIN il
battle. The worlds Saviour wept at thu
grave of loved friend, and devout me1
carried tht martyr Stephen to his buria
and made great lamentation over him
Antony's praise of the character ant
noble deeds of Caesar, as he pointed
the spell. bound multitude to his pierced
bleeding and lifeless form, ha;
echoed down through the ages
thrilled the hearts of millions
and to-day the lives and heroic deeds O.
our illustrious dead, our comrades in arms
speak to US from the gallant struggles a
Anahuac City, the storming and retakine
of San Antonio, from the plains of Goliad
from the walls of the Alamo, the victory
of San Jacinto and the bloody struggles
at Plumb creek, the battle with the Cnero
KEGS, the fight and triumph against over
whelming numbers at Salado, the Dawson
massacre, the charge at the Hondo, thu
death grapple of the surveyors with thu
Indians and the repeated battles with Co
manches, and other bloody struggles. Blu
for these struggles and this defense O.
our lives and homes and country, the place
where we now assemble, this beautiful CITY
of hills, with it's groves and fountains ant
manifold attractions, with this broad lane
teeming with life and enterprise, ant
crowned with the smiles of heaven
from the Sabine to the Rio Grande
from the mountains to tie Gulf
would have been the hunting ground o.
the Indian or the pasturage land of the
buffalo. That Almighty power that up
holds, governs and directs the destiny o.
men and of nations, that delivered Israe
from oppression, led them through thu
painless desert and planted them in the
promised land, and in after ages sowet
the germs of these sixty millions.of people
from the Mayfower on Plymouth rock
also led and planted that colony and thei
associates on Texas soil, that established
the Lone Star republic and that made this
the mammoth state of the union. Their
are men and principles and noble deeds
that humanity, patriotism and religion
n will not permit to die. Amid the decay
g and wreck and ruin of nature around us
while the rise and fall of nations in thu
onward sweep of the centuries and the
pleasures and sordid gains of life withel
and die in our grasp, these live on in thu
freshness and vigor of immortal youth
Truly it has been said, "they will ever live
who die in great cause; the block MAJ
soak their gore, their heads sodden in the
sun, their limbs be strung
to city gates and castle walls; still thei
spirit walks abroad" thrilling, nervipg ant
firing the ages as they roll on to strike TO
liberty and crush the tyrant and the op
pressor. This spirit moved the Magyar