The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1892-04-07

N ~. day of last week,
( Az &g\2 when eulogies
4 ZYlL T e were pronounced
Y AIT = : by a number of
as i /. = his friends and
J { admirers; ao;r1'ne There
and the ceremonies were plain
and simple. The principal address
was delivered by Col. Robert q. In
gersoll, and is as follows:
Again, we, in the mystery of Life,
are brought face to face with the mys-
terry of Death. A great mana great
AmeriCan-the most eminent citizen
of the republic-is dead before US.
And we have met to pay tribute to
his greatness and to his worth. know
that he needs no words of mine. His
fame is secure. He laid the founda-
ton of it deep in human hearts. He
was above all that have known, the
poet of humanity, of sympathy. He
came into our generation a tree, un-
trammelled spirit, with sympathy for
all. His arm was beneath the form Of
the sick. He sympatlzed with the I'M
prisoned and despised. And even on
the brow in crime he was great enough
to place the kiss of human sympathy.
One of the greatest lines in our lltera-
ture is his. Speaking of the outcust-
and the line is great enough to do
honor to the greatest genius that ever
lived-he said:
"Not until the sun excludes you,
will exclude you.
A charity as wide as the sky. And
wherever there was human suffering,
human misfortune, the sympathy OF
Whitman bent above it as the trma-
ment bends above the earth.
He was built on broad and splen-
did plan-ample. without appearing
to have limitations passing easily tor
brother of mountains and seas and
consultations; caring nothing for the
little maps and charts that tlmld pilots
hug the shore with and giving himself
freely, with the recklessness OF genus,
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
varnishers and veneerers, among liter
: arv milIiners and tailors, with the un
conscious dignity of an antique god.
He was the poet Of life. /! was
ioy to him simply to breathe. He love'
the clouds. He enjoyed the breath o
morning, of twilight, the WIND, tn
winding streams He loved to lool
at the sea when the wind and wave
l. burst into white caps of JOY. tie loveo
l the fields, the hills He was acqualnt
:, ed with trees, with birds, with all tn
, beautiful objects on the earth. An'
y he saw not only those objects, but un
q derstood their meaning. AND ne uSe'
them that he might exhibit his hear
v to his fellowmen.
Y He was also the poet Of love. II
/, was not ashamed of that divine paSslo
- that has built every home in the worl
s that has painted every picture an
Y given us every real great work OF art
:, that divine passion that has made II
. world worth living in and gives som
IL value to human life.
He was the poet of the natural an
taught men not to be ashamed OF Ina
which is natural.
- He was not only the poet OF love-
! not onlv the poet of demOCraCy-nt
- only the poet of the great republic
,e he was the poet of the race everywher
He was not confined to the limits
d this country, but his sympathy We
out over the seas to all the nations
! the earth. He stretched his hand ar
t. he felt himself the equal OF all KIN
and of all princes and the brother
all men. no matter how high, no ma
=. ter how low.
, He has uttered more supreme wor
- than anv writer of our century, al
my my possibly of almost any other. He "
Ist pe above all things a man. And abo
rs genius. above all the snow capp
Id. idu peaks of intelligence, above all OF a
rs, rises the true man-greater than
33 He was true man. And he Walk
33 among his fellowmen as such.
33 You know better than | what
33 life has been. But let me say o
33 thing. Knowing, as he did, what OF
rs ers can know and what they can n
* he accepted and absorbed all theorl
.23 all creeds, all religions and believed
.33 none.
80 Frank, candid, pure, serene, not
:3$ And We, for years and years he
::S$ maligned and slandered, simply
.oo cause he had the candor OF nature.
cloth will be understood yet, and that
yo,, which he was condemned-that IS,
. frankness, his candor-wlll add 10
glory and the greatness OF his tame
. He was not afraid to live,
afraid to speak his thoughts. Nett
was he afraid to die. For many ye
II he and death lived near nelgho'
He was always willing and ready
~ meet and greet this thing called DE;
i 'HiaG fog And for many months he sat IN