New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-05-14
TWO NOBLE LIVES.

Two better sermons than will be heard from
any pulpt to-day were preached by two lives
which were brought to peaceful end last
week. One was the career of Joseph Francis,
tho inventor, who died at the ripe age OF
ninetv-three. Thoughtful men differ in their
own estimates OF what success in life is in the
concrete but abstractly they agree upon com
mon measure for dfrerentiatng it under d.
verse human conditions. 1t is the fullilment OF
the hopes and ideals of early manhood that
constitutes success, whatever the object AIMED
at NAV be. whether professional distinction,
political advancement or the making OF fort
me. Bv this measure Mr. Francis was one OF
fbe mot successful Of men. When he was
how of eleven he invented a lfeboat and be-
fore he was twenty he had devoted his life to
tho improvement of appliances Tor rescue az
sea. When two hundred emgrants from the
AYRSHIRE were brought safely to land by his
metallic lfecar the world rang with his praises.
Europcan sovereigns and associations hailed him
as a benefactor of humanity and when he was
ninety and had earned the title OF Father OF
the Life-Saving Service in America Congress
bestowed upon him gold medal in commcmo-
ration of an unexampled career. Content with
moderate fortune, he passed his declining years
in peace. conscious Of being honored at home
and abroad and of having fulfilled his youth
ful hopes
An equally noble and useful life was that
Of General Armstrong, who won unique dis
tinction as an educator and phllanthroplst.
Born in the Sandwich Islands, the son OF
missionary and Minister of Education he
aspircd in his youth To devote himself as his
father had done to some humane work. The
American Civil War diverted him temporarily
from his purpose although he agreed with John
Bright in declaring the battle for the emancpa-
ton of a race the most righteous warfare IN
history At the close Of hOstities, after he had
distinguished himself by his gallantry in the
field and his prvatiOns in prison. his real work
in life began at Hampton, where the school for
negroes and Indians remains as his monument.
No missionary in foreign service ever labored
with greater devotion than General Armstrong
for this educational foundation. Year after
wear its resources were dependent upon his sue
cess in enlsting the support of the Virginia
Legislature, the United States Congress, and
humane men who respected his earnestncss and
had not the heart to refuse their aid. His
arluous work in the end wore him out, but not
until nc ndu inc sdllSldCtIOIi vi hHo"lhS 'id' "
had been crowned with success, and that the
Hampton School had UNNECESSARILY improved
the social and religious condition OF two neg
lected races.
Such lives rs these are sources OF inspiration
and hope to men who believe that the world
is ever growing better rather than worse. The
newspapers from day to day bear record of
30 much evil that men do and of many
wrongs that need to be set right that many
persons grow almost cynical as Captain Gull
liver became in moralizing over the strange,
unnatural races which fell under his eyes. This
nineteenth century with all its advances in
civilization sometimes seems little better than
slough of dcspond, in which every earnest
man must cling desperately {, his ideal as to
life-prcservcr in order to keep his head above
water But that is because the surface of life
as revealed in the newspapers and in daily con
vcrsation is strewn with wrcckagc of careers
which have gone wrong.
How large a space has been filed in public
| thought these many weeks by Carlyle Harris
and the ruin and degradation he brought upon
| himself! Yet during all that time noble and
| humane men like Joseph Francis and General
| Armstrong were rounding out their well-spent
| lives without Observations Little comparatively
| was said about them until they died, and then
appeared perhaps only brief, pelfunctory
sketch of public life, while hundreds of col
| umns had been filed with the last days of
| wife poisoncr and the wreck he had made of a
promising life. But their ships frcghted with
| unselfsh aboS for men were nearing and cross
| ing the bar; and each knew that his work had
| not been in vain that the lifesaving bands on
every civilized coast were moro efncient and