Morning journal and courier., 1891-07-27
AN ImpREssIvE OCCASION

AN IMPRESSIVE OCCASION.
Service In Memory of the Late DR..
HI. b. Smith in Westville Congrega-
t1onal Church.
The service at Westville Congregational
church yesterday in memory of the late
DR.. Heman B. Smith was of very i'm
pressive character, and very large con-
gregation was present, attesting by their
presence and deep sympathetic interest the
genuine regard and esteem felt for the de-
ceased. The memorial address by the be-
loved and scholarly pastor, Rev. DR.. Will
lard, is given in full as follows:
Collossians Aid: "Luke, the beloved
| physician"
Our good doctors name was not Luke,
this case an unusual man. One week ago,
| and in another place, we considered the
| leading elements in his character. Init
nations have come to me by letter, and in
other ways, that to reproduce the thoughts
| there uttered and put the same on paper
| would be pleasing to those who loved him
| best, and also to his many friends; and 30
far as memory will serve, SO far I cheer
\ fully comply.
Dr.. Heman B. Smith is dead. The
heart that beat and thrilled and pulsed
| is still. We shall see his face no more,
| hear his voice no more. We bow submits
| sive, but we feel his loss-a great loss to
our village, greater than we shall ever
know. Whether the primary cause of
| his death may have been in cigarette
smoking, or in jumping from locomo-
tive while in motion, do not undertake
to say, but sure am that many die in
| middle age.who neither smoke nor jump,
and one to be over positive needs to be
over WISE, AS already remarked he is
dead, and we miss him, oh, how much!
have read that one standing by the new
made grave of Webster exclaimed: "Dan-
iel Webster, the world will be lonesome
without you" Our friend was not Web
ster, and Westville is not the world, but
the people might we'll have said at the
grave of the "Beloved Physician" 'West-
vile will be lonesome without you" Gone!
gone! But what he was to us and others
that remains.
as physician?" Well, as the rose is full
of beauty and fragrance, so his heart was
full of sympathy, and this appeared when
visiting the sick. In him they recognized
a friend; one who cared for them; one
who was touched with a feeling of their
infrmities; one whose tender eye had in
it the sweetest pity for the weak and worn
and weary. This element SO precious is
doubly SO in a physician. He was
uniformly cheerful. I have read of
little company, who for five successive
days walked under deep, dark shadows
caused by high hills shutting them in on
every side. The gloom was getting down
into their very souls and the hue of the
atmosphere was beginning to be the hue
of their minds. Suddenly they emerge
into an open plain. 1t is sweet with the
breath of flowers, and has much to please
the eye and charm the imagination. The
difference between that dark and gloomy
pass and the bright and sunny plain was
marked and significant. Yet, not more
SO than that between cheerful and
cheerless man. Our friend was ga man
cheerful yesterday and confident to-mor-
row." His coming into ones presence
was like "the clear shining after rain"
Sunshine was he
In the winter day,
And in the midsummer
Goodness and shade.''
remember to have called on cloudy
afternoon at one of our homes where a
lady lay sick; moreover it had been long
sickness I inquired, HAS the doctor
been here to dayg' ooh, yes!" she an
swe-ed land was SO glad. He is such
cheerful MANI
Another memory that comes to me is
this: lie was keen observer.
| ga primrose by the rivers brim,
yellow primrose was to him.
And it was something more"
He was man who found sermons in
stones, books in the running brooks, and
good in everything. I can say of him as l
did of the late John w. Storrs. I remem-
| Der to have walked with him on summer
day, long ago. AS we strolled through
the pastures clothed with flocks, and the
| valleys covered with corn, he kept calling
my attention now to this object, now to
| that; not sound, not color escaped his
notice, and he seemed to me like wonder
| full boy in a wonderful world, chanting
| the praises of wonderful God. It was
| good to walk, and talk with such a man.
| It filed the day with joy that put its
| roots down into the heart, and blossomed
sweetly in the life.
''Not all regret; the face will shine
Upon me when muse alone;
The dear, dear voice that had known
| Will speak to me of me and mine.
Sand less of sorrow lives in me
Less Les yearning for the friendship fed,
Than some strong hand which is to be-
Sympathetic he was, cheerful he was,
| but these did not fill up the measure of
| the man. He had other qualities; sweet
| as June monday, rich as an October af-
| ternoon, more to be desired than silver or
gold, and among these will name next in
order without Partially" Asa physician
| he knew no one as high or low, rich or poor,
| learned or unlearned, and with late gov
| ernor of Massachusetts, could say: 81 never
turned my back on a man because he was
1o
| he was ignorant" When summoned to
| bed of sickness no piercing cold, no smit-
ing heat, no midnight darkness could delay
him for moment. And if ever one proved
the impartiality of a common humanity,
by being eyes to the blind, and ears to the
deaf, and feet to the lame, and food to the
hungry, and joy to the Borrowing, that one
was DR.. Heman B. Smith. In the way of
professional duty he was no respecter of
persons, and in critical cases he did not
assume to possess all knowledge, but gladly
Some of us, who have read the story of
David and Jonathan, have also seen the
working together of Barker and Smith. No
words of dispraise from one of the other,
but each rejoicing in the others success;
and so far it may be said, not in irony, but
in truth, "Par mobile fratrum"-a pair of
noble Notwithstanding and not degrad-
ing profession which has in it so many
gentle and cultured men.
''Nothing," said Voltaire, sis more
estimable than a physician, who having
studied nature from his youth, knows the
properties of the human body, the diseases
| which assail it, the remedies which will
benefit it, exercises his art with caution,
and pays equal attention to the rich and
poor" Passing now to other thoughts
touching the moral and religious side of
| things, shall remember him as one who
had hearty hatred for all pretence. He
was realist in the best sense of the word.
With cant and hypocricy he had no pa
tience. 1t was his belief that "Red roses
need not tell us that they are surely red.
Red roses he'd not tell us
That they were surely red,
Nor even that the perfume
Is fragrant that they shed"
"we also ought to know
II they are really Christians
Without their saying so.''
What he was as friend, some OF us will
never forget. What he was as a citizen
those who survive and dwell in these
homes are the best witnesses.
Under his former roof there is one who
shared in all his joys, and was touched
| with every sorrow which came to him as
though coming to her. She will never
cease to thank God that he gave her such
companion, and the heart of her
husband did safely trust in her.