The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1890-03-06

and the eloquent tongue is silen
What? Is there no safeguard again
fatal disease? The impersonation
stout health was Mr.. Grady. VIII
compactness of muscle! What rudd
complexion ! What flashing eye
Standing with him in a group
twenty or thirty persons at Piedmon
he looked the healthiest, as his spiri
were the blithest. Shall we never fe.
again the hearty grasp Of his hand c
be magnetized with his eloquence
Men of the great roll, men of the per
men of wit, men of power, if ou
friend had to go when the call came
so must you when your call come:
When God asks you what have yo
done with your pen or your eloquenc
or your social position, will you b.
able to give satisfactory answer
What have we been writing all thes'
years? If mirth, has it been innocen
mirth, or that which tears and sting
and lacerates3 From our pen have
there come forth productions healthy
or poisonous2 In the last great day
when the warrior must give account o.
what he has done with his sword, and
the merchant what he has done with
his yard stick, and the mason what he
has done with his trowel, and the artist
what he has done with his pencil, we
shall have to give account of what we
have done with our pen. There are
gold pens and diamond pens and pens
of exquisite manufacture, and every
few weeks l see some new kind fpen,
each said to be better than the other;
but in the great day of our arraign-
ment before the Judge of quick and
dead that will be the most beautiful
pen, whether gold or steel or quill,
which never wrote profane or un-
clean 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 benediction for man.
THE SORROWS OF THE NATIONS.
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 some
times into typhus and the victims OF
which are counted by the ten thous-
and! Satan, who is the "Prince OF
the Power of the Air." has been
poisoning the atmosphere in all ma
tions. Though it is the first time
in our remembrance, he has done the
same thing before. In 1906 the un-
wholesome air of Cairo, Egypt, des-
troyed the life of ten thousand in one
day, and in Constantinople in 1914
three hundred thousand people died of
it. l am glad that by the better san
itation of our cities and wider under
standing of hygienic laws and the
greater skill of physicians these Apoll-
yonic assaults upon the human race
are being resisted, but pestilential at
mosphere 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 represented 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 are many and very dear. o
fearful eyes look up to the hills GRIM
soning with eternal morn! That re-
union kiss will more than make up for
the parting kiss, and the welcome will
obliterate the good-by. "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 loves ones, promise lis, as we
promise to remember you. And some
of you gone up from this city by the
sea and others from under southern
skies and others from the homes of the
more rigorous north and some from
cabins on 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 magnifi-
cent soul Of editor and orator! under
brighter skies we shall meet again.
From God, thou contest and to God
thou has returned. Not broken down,
but assembled. Not collapsed, but
irridated. Enthrone1 one! Coro-
neted one! Sceptered one! Empara-
dised one Hail and farewell!