Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1891-10-23

| IL % "hu Vic tongue speaks. All
.he good words or bad words we speak
aie spread out into one layer for pyra-
s'u; All the kind deeds or maevolent
neeus we 40 are spread out into another
'ayel. All the Christian or un-Christan
Example we set is spread out in another
i M:s All the indirect influences of our
N.Y. rHes are spread out in another layer.
lheh tne time soon comes when we put
down the implement of toll and mass
away put the pyramid stands
The Twentieth century will not rock it
down, nor the Thirtieth century. The
earthquake that rocks this world to
pieces VIII not stop our influence for good
or evil o'oo
M hearers, that is the autobiography
OF one block of the pyramid. Cheops
oldn't build the pyramid. Some boss
mason in the worlds twilight didn't
pulld the pyramid. One hundred thous-
ana men built it, and perhaps from first
10 last 100000 men. So with the pyra-
mas now rising, pyramids of evil or
pyramids OF good. The pyramid of drunk
e'heSs rising ever since the time Noah
sou drunk on wine, although there was
aC ms time such superabundance of
water. All the saloonists of the ages
aod'hg their layers of ale casks and wine
piIchefs and rum jugs until the pyramid
oVershaoows the great Sahara desert of
uesolatcd homes and broken hearts and
uestroyed eternites. And as the pyra-
! hiiu stlll rises, layers of human skulls
plled on top OF human skulls and other
i mountains OF human bones to whiten the
peaks reaching unto the heavens, hum
| dreds OF thousands of people are building
that pyramid.
80 with the pyramid of righteousness.
Multltudes OF hands are toiling on the
Sleeps, hands infantile, hands octoge-
marian, masculine hands, female hands.
strong hands, weak hands. Some clang-
ing trowel, some pulling rope, some
measuring the sides. Layers of Psalm
books on top of layers of sermons.
Layers of prayers on top of layers of
| holy sacrifice. And hundreds of thou
sands coming down to sleep their last
sleep, but other hundreds of thousands
going up to take their places, and the
pyramids will continue to rise until the
mllennial morning gilds the completed
work, and the tolcrs on these heights
shall take off their aprons and throw
down their trowels, crying, SIT is fin
| ishcd.'
Whlle there seems to be no practical
use for post mOrtem consideration later
than the time of ones great-grandchil-
dren, yetno one wants to be forgotten as
soon as the obsequies are over. This
/ pyramid which Isaiah says is sign and
witness demonstrates that neither
limestone nor red granite is competent to
keep one affecticnately remembered.
Neither can bronze, neither can Parian
marble, neither can Aberdeen granite do
n nrf l>,,, SC, a<l.:
OF which to build an everlasting monu-
mcnt, and that will keep one freshly re-
mcmbered four thousand years-yea.
forever. 1t does not stand in marble
yards. 1t is not to be purchased at
| mourning stores. Yet it is to be found
| in every neighborhood, plenty of it, in
exhaustible quantities of it. 1t is the
greatest stuff III the universe to build
monuments out of. refer to the mem
cries of those to whom we can do a kind
ness, the memories of those whose strug-
giles we may alleviate, the memories o.
those whose souls we may save.
! All around Cairo and Memphis there
are the remains of pyramids that have
gone down under the wearing away CT
time, and this great pyramid of which
Isaiah in the text speaks will vanish if
the world lasts long enough; and if the
world does not last, then with the earth's
dissolution the pyramid will also dis
solve. But the memories of those with
whom we associate are indestructible.
They will be more vivid the other side
OF the grave than this side. 1t is posi-
bic for me to do you a good and for you
to do me a good that will be vivid in
! memory as many years after the world
is burned up as all the sands of the sea-
shore, and all the leaves of the forest,
and all the grass blades of the field, and
all the stars of Heaven added together,
and that aggregate multiplied by all the
figures that all the bookkcepers Of all
time ever wrote.
AS in Egypt that December afternoon,
in 1889, exhausted in body, mind and
soul, we mounted to return to Cairo, we
took our last look at the pyramid OF Gil
Zeh. And you know there is something in
the air toward evening that seems pro-
ductive of solemn and tender emotion,
and that great pyramid seemed to be hui
manized and with lips OF stone it seemed
to speak and cry out:
"Hcar me, man, mortal and immortal!
My voice is the voice of God. He de-
signed me. Isaiah said l would be a sign
and witness. | saw Moses when he was
lad. Witnessed the long PROCESSION VI
Israelites as they started to cross the
Red Sea and Pharaoh's hosts in pursuit
of them. The falcons and the eagles of
many centuries have br.. he'd my brow. l
stood here when Clcopatra's barge landed
with her soceries, and Hypatia for her
virtues was slain in yonder Streets
Alexander the Great, Scsostris and
Ptolemy admired my proportions. Her
odotus and Pliny sounded my praise. l
am old, l am very old. For thousands
of years have watched the coming and
going of generations. They larry only
a little while, but they make lasting
impression. l bear on my side the mark
of the trowcl and chisel of those who
more than four thousand years ago cX-
PRED Beware what you do, oh, man,
for what you do will last long after you
are dead If you would be affec-
tlonately remembered after You are
gone, trust not to any earthly COM
memoration. l have not one word to say
| about any astronomer who studied the
Heavens from my heights, or any king
who has sepulchred in my bosom. ! am
slowly passing away. l am dying
pyramid. l shall yet lie down in the
dust of the plain and the sands OF the
desert shall cover me, or when the earth
| r,oe T will ro Rnt Won are immOrt AZ