Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1890-11-06
MANS LAST WORDS.
Pathetic Utterances Upon the
Verge of the Grave.
An Occasion Upon Which Most Men VIII
Speak the Truth - Last Thoughts OF
Goethe, Walter Scott, wash
ington ard Others.

A last dying speech and confession is
often pathetic and always impressive,
says the London Standard. Most men
may be credited with speaking the
truth at least on this occasion. We are
not aware that cut of fiction there is
any authenticated instance Of any one
dying with q lie. on his lips. The
dying, too, are credited in common be-
lief with a clearer insight and fur
Their knowledge into the past and pres
ent, If not the future, than is vouch-
safed to hale humanity. Last words
may, therefore, be said to possess
many-sided interest; and it is not lit
lie curious that now that we have
literature which dissects the faults and
foibles and habits of great men, there
should exist no collection OF the
| last words of celebrities. Scattered
throughout biography are to be
found an immense number OF OK
amples, many of them curiously strik-
ing, which only await the industry of
the book-maker of these thoughts
that breathe and words that burn
| From shelf of ones bookcase indeed,
one can find illustrations and to spare
Perhaps one of the noblest of death
bed utterances was that of j. r. Green,
whose last words were: II die learn
ing" 1t is almost worthy of ranking
with the famous words of General
Wolfe, who, while in the agonies of
death, was aroused with the cries Of
''They rum" and eagerly asked: "Who
run?" On being told "Fhe French, " he
exclaimed: II thank God and die con-
tented" Il thank God" said the great
Nelson, shat have done my duty" as
the guns Numbered overhead proclaim
ing the victory of Trafalgar. The
scholar and the warrior thus alike look
back upon their life's work. 1t is not
seldom that we find soldiers proud of
having done their duty, but Green's
utterance reflects the eternal character
of the students labors, which only end
as they began. The dying Goethe ex-
claimed: more light" and the words
had possibly double sense, although
their first meaning undoubtedly applied
to the waning twilight of his earthly
day. 1t is not seldom that we have an
instance of the ruling passion strong
in death.
God bless YOU was the dying ex-
preston of Dr.. Johnson, who addressed
it to Miss Morris, the sister of the beau
tiful girl who sat to Reynolds for his
picture of slope Nursing Love" These
were also the last words of Wordsworth,
and of Edmund Burke, while Sir Walter
Scott, in his last moments OF conscious
ness, invoked the blessings of Heaven
upon his sons and daughters. joy
was the utterance of Mrs. Hannah
More; Happy" that. of Sir James
Macintosh, the historian. Charles
Matthews, the great actor, died with
the words II am ready" on his lips,
which remind us irresistibly of Colonel
Newcomers death, more real to most
people than many in real life and of the
noble expression Thackeray puts into
his mouth. "Adsum." 1t is difficult
and perhaps needless to institute com
parsons, but it would be impossible,
we imagine. to find any nobler words
than those of General Washington: 81
am about to die, and | am not afraid Il
die" There is calm heroism in
them which seems to show US that the
great soldier had conquered the king
OF terrors "Wonderful, wo nderful, thi:
death" that seems to indicate philo
sophical calm-they were the words o.
Etty, the painter. Dying, dying,
said Thomas Hood just before the end
and his biographer tells us that he thus
, expressed gratitude. for coming rest
: Who shall say what was the meaning
of Charles LIS Remember" and wa
there not grim irony as we'll as per
. haps an unconscious pathos in the ex
. preston of the merry monarch, VIII,
trouble he had caused them: Il hav,
, been an unconscionable time in dying
! and / hope you will excuse it." A
. Lord Macaulay remarks: This was tn
last glimpse Of that exquisite urbanit,
! so often found potent to charm ava
the resentment of a justly incensed ma
: ton" This hand hath offended,
was the last and noblest utterance o
Cranmer. as extending his right han,
he watched it consume away in tn
flames. And Latimer, addressing
Ridley at the stake. exelaime
in tones of triumph: This da
We light candle in England which vii
/, never be extinguished." Is there nc
something irresistibly touching i
Douglas Jerrold's last words: Il fee