Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-12-13
LAID TO REST.
All That Is Mortal of W. +. SCmmer-
vile EntOmbed.
pr. IInnon' Address Il Gem OF Sympathetic
Oratory-De monstratiOns OF Sorrow
on all sides.

The mortal remains of W. T. Som
merville were laid in the earth yesterday
| amid demonstrations OF sorrow that in
| dicated more than words the esteem ip
which the man was held by his fellow
citizens and co-laborers.
The day was bleak, as beftted such
sad happenings.
At 3 O'Clock the remains were con-
veyed by t.le undertakers from the resi-
| deuce on Penn street to the Cumberland
Presby terrain church and there deposited
in front Of the pulpit. and flowers ar
ranged in emblematic designs were de-
posted so thickly on the casket that it
was almost hidden from view.
The church was filed with the erst-
| while friends and acquaintances of the
deceased, come to pay a last obligation to
the noble character that was encased
within the coffin. Occupying front seats
were the members of the chamber of
commerce, who too had marched in a
body from their rooms in the board of
trGde building to join in the services in
memory of their dead fellow member.
Softly the vibrating tones of the
church organ filled the room with dirge-
like melody, OF the close of which DR..
Tinnou arose and read from the fifteenth
chapter of the First Corinthians, begin
ming with the twentieth verse: 'Now
is Christ Risen From the Dead, eto.''
:Nearer, My God to Thee,'' was
sung by the choir and congregation, uf-
ter which Dr.. Tiuuon offered up an ear
nest invocation to the Almighty. An
other hymn was sung, and DR.. Tinnon
entered upon his address, while his
hearers scarcely moved, so deeply inter-
esting were his words and SO sympa-
thetlc their utterance.
DR.. Tinnou said he would not speak of
the deceased as a man OF affairs, for of
his business life the people with whom
he had had dealings for many years
could best speak. He would merely say
that the deceased was that noblest work
OF God, an honest man. But he would
speak of his life as Christian and of his
Christian faith. The speaker had prob
ably known the deceased better in this
regard than anyone else present, for he
had had many heart communions with
him around his own freside and in the
home that he loved dearer than anything
else on earth. We had no parting mes
sage from the brother; yet the life de-
termines tine liver, and we know this
man died Christian because he lived
Christian life.
There is proclivity in the human
mind toward unbelief, the speaker pro-
ceeded. That which ls incomprehensible
to the human mind is set aside as I'M
worthy Of credence. Yet faith is as
legitimate as reason and as noble. 1t is
a part of the mind. The two should
work together. They are as the right
wing and the left wing to the soul that
aspires. Without either the mind fiu;ters
aud falls TO the ground. To die is terri
BILE, but to die with faith is glorious.
Your reason asks to-day, where is
your friend? Where are the martyrs
and the apostles? That question must
be answered. Upon ordinary occasions
the thought of the hereafter Is not pres
ent in the human mind; but in the pres
ence of death 1t forces itself forward
with awful, crushing pressure, and de-
nands an answer. This brother died In
the belief in the living God-the faith
that finds a soul at the doors of hell and
lifts It up to heaven. II is the faith that
makes Christ the center of our hopes.
Every man feels the pressure of the
questions, "where am 1 going? What
will be the character of my feelings after
death?'' These questions cannot be
solved by reasoning. But nothing in
nature coutradicts the revelations OF the
Bible. The spirit shall return unto the
Lord who gave it. We shall meet again.
Thanks be to God for the immortal seed
planted in the human mind by the finger
divine.
The speaker closed with O pathetic al
fusion to tho heartbroken wife and Or
phan children near the highlands OF
Scotland. saying that while cable mes
sage passing under the ocean might con-
'vey to her the knowledge of her sad be-
reavement, yet q message to heaven
from the friends in Fort Worth passing
to the throne OF God would as quickly
convey to her tidings Of sympathy, con-
dolence and hope.
DR.. Tinnon's address was q brilliant
effort, grand tribute to a deceased
friend, and Q rich offering of sympa-
thetio eloquence. His reasoning was
clothed in choice language, and forceful
metaphors served to carry home the
beautiful argument which the orator