The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-04-02
INGERsoLL's RLoQUENcs

at the Grave of His Friend, Walt
Whitman.
The following "a the grafton of Robert @.
Ingersoll at the funeral Of the poet Walt
Whitman at Camden. N. j., Wednesday,
March 80:
The ceremonies were concluded by an adj
dress from Robert G.. Ingersoll, who was an
intimate friend of Whitman, and who was
requested by the poet to speak at his grave.
Mr.. Ingerson said: again We, IN the
mystery of life, are brought face to face
with the mystery of death. A great man a
great Americana most eminent citizen of
this republic-i dead before us, and we have
met to pay tribute to his greatness and to
his worth. know that be needs no words
OF mine. His fame is secure. He laid the
foundation of it deep in the human heart.
He was above all that have known the
poet of humanity, Of sympathy. Great he
was; so great that he ro9e above the greatest
that he met without arrogance, and so great
that he stopped to the lowest without con-
scious condescension. He never claimed to
be lower or greater than any other of the
sons OF men. He came into our generation
q free, untrammeled spirit, with sympathy
for all. His arm was beneath the form Of
the sick. He sympathized with the i'm
prisoned and the despised, and even on the
brow of crime he was great enough to place
the kiss of human sympathy. One of the
greatest lines in our literature is his. Speak
ing of an Outcast he said: Not until the
sun excludes you will | exclude YOU A
charity as wide as the sky was his, and
wherever there was human suffering or
human misfortune, the sympathy of Whit
man bent above il as the armament bends
above this earth.
HE was built on q broad and splendid
plan-ample, without appearing to have
llnttations-passing easily for a brother of
mountains and seas and consultations
caring nothing for the little maps and
charts that timtd pilots hug the shore with,
and giving himself freely, with the reckless
ness OF genius, to winds and waves and tides
caring for nothing as long as the stars
were above him. And he walked among
men, among writers. among verbal vRrnish-
ers and veneerers among literary milliners
and tallorS, with the unconscious dignity of
an antique god. He was a poet, also, of
that divine democracy that gives equal
rights to all the sons and daughters of men.
He uttered the great American voice, ut
tered song worthy OF the great republic.
No man has ever said more for the rights
OF humanity-more in favor of real democ-
racy or real justice. He neither scorned
nor cringed-was peither tyrant nor slave.
He asked only to stand beneath the great
flag of nature, the blue aud the stars.
He was the poet of life. 1t was joy to
him simply to breathe He loved the clouds
He enjoyed the breath of morning, the twi-
light, the wind, the winding streams. He
loved TO look at the sea when the wind and
the waves burst into the whitecsps of Joy.
He loved the fields, the hills. He was ac-
quainted with trees, with birds, with all the
beautiful objects on the earth. And he saw
not only those objects, but understood their
meaning. He used them that he might ex-
htbit his heart to his fellowmen. He was
also the poet of love- He was not ashamed
Of the divine passion that has built every
homo in the world-that divine passion that
has painted every picture and given us every
real great work OF art-that divine passion
that has made the world worth living in aud
gives some value to human life. He was the
poet Of the natural and taught men not to be
ashamed Of that which is natural. He was
not only the poet Of love-not onlY the poet
of democracy-not only the poet of the great
republic-he was the poet of the human race
everywhere. He was not confined to the
limits Of this country, but his sympathy
went out over the seas to all the nations of
the earth. He stretched his hands and he
felt himself the equal of all kings and of all
princes and the brother of all men, no mat
ter how high, no matter how low.
"He has uttered more supreme words
than any writer of century-day. He was
above all things man. And above genius
aDOV6 dll Tue bnOW~Cdp peaks Oh lubelll-
9ence, above all of art rises the true man
greater than all. He was a true man. and
he walked among his fellowmen as such.
He was also, as has been said, the poet of
death. He accepted all-life and death.
And he justified all. He had the courage to
meet all, and was great enough and splendid
enough to harmonic all and to accept all
there is Of lie as a divine melody.
You know better than l what his life
has been. But let me say one thing Know
ing, as he did, what others can know and
what they cannot, he accepted and abb
sorbed all theories, all creeds, all religions
and believed in none. His philosophy was a
sky that embraced all clouds and accounted
for all clouds He had q philosophy and a
religion OF bis own, broader, as he believed
and as believe-than Others. He was
above eli. He was true absolutely to him
self. He had frankness, courage. And he
was as candid ss light. lie was willing that