The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1893-11-15


ton OF the fact that we ever lived or
died at all. Our earth is struck with
death. The axletree of the constella-
tions will break and let down the popu-
lations of other worlds Stellar, lunar,
solar mortality. Oblivion! 1t can swal-
low whole galaxies of worlds as easily
as a crocodile takes down a frog.
The Fatal Epidemic of Books.
Yet oblivion does not remove or swaI-
low anything that had better not be
removed or swallowed. The old mon
ster is welcome to his meal. This world
would long ago have been overcrowded
If 1t had not been for the merclful re-
moval Of nations and generations. What
if all the books had lived that were
ever written and printed and published?
The libraries would by their immensi-
ty have obstructed intelligence and
made all research impossible. The fatal
epidemic of books was a merciful cpl
demic
Many of the state and national IL
braries today are only morgues in
which dead books are waiting for some
one to come and recognize them. What
if all the people that had been born
We're still alive? We would have been
elbowed by our ancestors of ten centu-
RES ago, ana people VINO ought 10 nave
said their last word 5000 years ago
would snarl at us, saying, What are
you doing here?" There would have
been no room to turn around. Some of
the past generations of mankind were
not worth remembering. The first use
full thing that many people did was to
die, their cradle a misfortune and their
grave a boon.
This world was hardly a comfortable
place to live in before the middle of the
last century. So many things have come
into the world that were not fit to stay
in, we ought to be glad they were put
out The waters of Lethe, the fountain
Of forgetfulness, are a healthful draft.
| The history we have of the world in
ages past is always one-sided and can
not be depended on. History is fiction
illustrated by a few struggling facts.
In all the Pantheon the weakest god
dess is Clio, the goddess of history,
and instead of being represented by
sculptors as holding a scroll might bet
! ter be represented as limping on
/ crutches.
| Faithful history is the saving of a few
/ things out Of more things lost. The i'm
mortality that comes from pOmp of OBJ
sequies, or granite shaft, or building
named after it's founder, or page of rec
/ ognitiOn in some encyclopedia is an i'm
mortality unworthy of ones ambition.
! for it will cease and is no Immortality
/ at all. Oblivioni A hundred years. But
/ while / recognize this universal sub
mergence of things earthly who wants
/ to be forgotten? Not one of us.
How To BE Remembered Centuries.
Absent for a few weeks or months
/ from home, it cheers us to know that we
are remembered there. 1t is a phrase
we have all pronounced. II hope you
missed me-" Meeing some friends from
whom we have been parted many years.
we inquire Did you ever see me be-
fore?" and they say, YES" and call us
+ by name and we feel a delightful SEN
sation thrilling through their hand into
/ our hand. and running up from elbow
/ to shoulder. and then parting, the one
current Of delight ascending to the brow
and the other descending to the foot,
+ moving round and round in concentric
/ circles until every nerve and muscle and
/ capacity Of body and soul is permeated
/ with delight.
a few days ago, visiting the place Of
my boyhood, l met one whom 1 had not
f seen since We played together at ten
years of age, and / had peculiar pleasure
in puzzling him a little as TO who 1 was,
and l can hardly describe the sensation
as after awhile he mumbled out: Let
me see. Yes, you are De Witt We
+ all like to be remembered.
Now, have TO tell you that this obliv-
1 ion Of which l have spoken has its de-
/ feats. and that there is no more reason
/ why we should not be distinctly and WV
idly and gloriously remembered five hun
dred million billion trillion quadrillion
quintillion years from now than that we
should be remembered six weeks. / am
going to tell you how the thing can be
done and will be done.
/ We may build this everlasting re-
| membrance,' as my text styles it, into
! the supernal existence of those to
! whom we do kindness in this world.
| You must remember that this infirm
and treacherous faculty which we now
| call memory is in the future state TO
| be complete and perfect. Everlasting
| remembrance" Nothing will slip the
! stout grip of that celestial faculty. Did
you help a widow pay her rent? Did
| You find for that man released from
! prison a place to get honest work? Did
] you pick up child fallen on the curb
! stone, and by a stick of cany put in
his hand stop the hurt on his scratched
| knee? Did you assure business man,
swamped by the stringency of the
| money market that times would after
! awhile be better?
Did you lead a Magdalen of the street
| into midnight mission, where the Lord
/ said to her: Neither did I condemn
| thee; go and sin no more?' Did you
] tell a. man, EltdI ulSCDuTdBtu III his
| waywardness and hopeless and plotting
| suicide that for him was near by a
laver In which he might wash, and a
coronet of eternal blessedness he might
| wear?
ImperishnbIe Records.
What are eptaphs in graveyards, wha
are eulogiums in presence of those
whose breath is in their nostrils, what
are unread biographies in the alcoves
of a city library. compared with the i'm
perishable records you have made il
the illumined memories of those t.
whom you did such kindnesses. Forge
them? They cannot forget them. Not
withstanding all their might and SPLEEN
dor. there are some things the glorileC
of heaven cannot do, and this is one Of
them. They cannot forget an earthly
kindness done. They have no cutlas.
TO part that cable. They have n,
strength to hurl into oblivion that bene
faction.
Has Paul forgotten the inhabitants o.
Malta, who extended the island hospi
tally when he and others with him haC
felt added to a shipwreck, the drench
ing rain and the sharp cold? Has thu
victim of the highwayman on the rOaC
to Jericho forgotten the good Samaritan
with a medicament of oil and wine an,
a free ride to the hostelry? Have tn,
English soldiers who went up TO Coo
from the Crimean battlehelds forgotten
Florence Nightingale?
Through all eternity will the northern