The Opelousas courier., 1890-05-03

want a new south, a new north, a new east or
a new west. They have some old war
speeches that they prepared in 1861, that In
all ourEautumnal elections they feel called
upon tdinfict upon the country. They growl
louder And louder in proportion as they are
pushed back further and further and the
Henry w. Gradys come to the front. But
the mandate, | think, has gone forth from
the throne Of God that a new American ma
ton shall a k the place of the old, and the
new aaGs been baptized for God and liberty
and justice and peace and morality and re-
lgion.
And now our much iamented friend has
gone to give account. Suddenly the facile
and potent pen is laid down anG the eloquent
tongue is silent. What? Is there no safe
guard against fatal disease2 The impersona-
ton Of stout health was Mr.. Grady. What
plexion: What flashing eyel Standing with
him in a groupo of twenty or thirty persons at
Piedmont, he looked the healthiest as his
spirits were the blithest. Shall we never feel
again the hearty grasp of his hand or be
magnetized with his eloquence? Men of the
great roll, men Of the pen, men of wit, men
of power, if our friend had to go when the
call came. so must you when your call
comes. When God asks you what have you
done With your pen or your %eloquence or your
wealth or your social position, will you be able
to give satisfactory answer? What nave we
been writing all these years? Il mirth, has
it been innocent mirth, or that which tears
and stings and lacerates? From our pen
have there come forth productions healthy
or poisonous? In the last great Gay Wusn
the warrior must give account of what he
has done with his sword, and the merchant
what he has lone with his yard stick.
and the mason what be has done with
his trowel, and the artist what he has
done with his pencil, we shall nav to give
account of what we nave done with our pen.
There are gold pens and diamond pens and
pens of exquisite manufacture, and every few
weeks | see some new kind of pen, each said
to be better than the other; but in the great
day Of our ~arraignnent before the Judge OF
quick and dead that will be the most beauti-
full pen, whether gold or steel or quill, which
never wrote q profane or unclean or cruel
word, or which from the day it was carved,
or split at the nib, dropped from its point
kindness and encouragement and help and
gratitude to God and benediction for man.
May God comfort that torn up Southern
home and all the homes of this country and
of all the world which have been swept
by this plague of influenza, which has
deepened sometimes into pneumonia. and
sometimes into typhus, and the victims of
which are counted by the ten thousand Sa-
tan, who is the prince of the Power Of the
Air" has been poisoning the atmosphere in all
nations. Though it is thef first time in our re-
m~embrance, he has done the same thing be-
fore. In 1896 the unwholesome air of Cairo,
Egypt, destroyed the life of ten thou
sand in one day, and in Constantinople in
1714 three hundred thousand people died of it.
I am glad that by the better sanitation of our
cities and wider understanding of hygienic
laws and the greater skill of physicians these
Apollyonic assaults upon the human race are
being resisted, but ~pestilential atmosphere is
still abroad. Hardly a family here but has
felt its lighter or heavier touch. Some of
the best of my flock fell under its
power, and many homes here repre-
sented have been crushed. The fact is
the biggest failure in the universe is this
world If there be no heaven beyond. But
there is, and the friends who have gone there
look up to the hills ~crirnsoning with eternal
morn! That reunion kiss will more than
make up for the parting kiss, and the well
com will obliterate the goodbye. "The
Lamb which is in the midst of the throne
shall lead them to living fountains Of water
and God shall wipe away all tears from
their eyes" Till then, o departed
loved ones, promise US that you viii
remember us, as we promise to remember
city by the sea and others from under
southern skies, and others from the homes of
the more rigorous north and some from the
cabins on the great western farms, we shall
meet again when our pen has written its last
word and our arm has done its last days
work and our lips have spoken the last adieu.
And now, thou great and magnificent soul
of editor and orator! under brighter skies
we shall meet again. From God thou earnest,
and to God thou hast returned. Not broken
down. but assembled. Not collapsed, but IRA
diated. Enthroned onel Coroneted onel
Sceptered onel Emparadised one! Hal
and faraweTi