The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1895-12-13

wards any one who in life labored to
dispel it's gloom and warm it with the
radiance of true fraternity. The
clarion blast, "On earth peace, to
man good WILL" drowned the ancient
roar OF savagery that made God a
| hideous monster, and man his tremb-
ling victim. The new philosophy
lighted to the earth by the star of
Bethlehem made the one our father
and the other his dependant children.
From this philosophy of Infinite love,
our departed brother drew his creed
and neither the DEGREES of all the
Councils, or the Anathemas of an i'm
perial theology could Danish it
from his heart or rob his life of its
benign and hallowed influence Our
brother was a firm believer in the
true spirit of Christianity, rejecting
many of the hurtful dogmas that the
selfish interests of a dOmineering the
Ology has woven around it, with no
purpose but to exalt the offices of
man in fixing the ultimate destiny of
the human race.
Our brother was not a. blind be-
lever; he never CROPPED bewildered in
the realms OF mystery, but he held
high the torch of reason and followed
its blazing light. He rejected moth
ing simply because it was mysterious
and beyond the power of finite mind
to trace. He applied his reason to
learn the fact, and if trackless mys-
terry hid the cause, that he could not
hold. He knew of no such thing as
spontaneous faith, that was not born
of evidence. He recognized the image
of God in man only by the effulgence
OF the intellectual gift Of reason, but
he never made the shallow mistake of
cOnfounding reason with petulant.
Scepticism, that would not know be-
cause it could not understand. He
never allowed his reason to destroy
harmony of moral law.
Our brother was a firm believer in
Jesus of Nazareth, and he further be-
lieved that his sermon on the mount
contained the constituent elements
Of the only creed registered in the
Chancery of Heaven and transmitted
to the human race; with him all else
was commentary.
Since our brother believed as he did
we were not surprised at the amiabil-
ity Of his disposition or the Difference
he alwaS showed for the opinions of
others. Purely unselfish, he was
never forced to any offensive assertion
of his rights, for he never demanded
anything that even avarice
would not readily yield. No one ever
saw him provoked to that anger that
replies with biting sarcasm or a
poisoned arrow. His bearing towards
his fellows was always gentle, con-
siderate and kind. | do not believe
q iS cir 10 rt h
to day who can point to any wound in
fiicted by the hand of our departed
friend. His hand was always out
stretched to shield and not to strike.
| There was no cry OF distress so
faint that it did not reach his ear
and open the generous hand of an I'm.
grudging sympathy. He did not
vaunt, but his charity in every depart
ment of life was as constant, silent
and prOpitiOus as the evening dew.
Let others say what they may of
mans duty on earth, but if it is not
to cultivate a broad fraternity and
promote the reign of Universal har-
mony, if it is not to make one golden
chain of human life by linking all
hearts together in one common broth
erhood, a brotherhood of peace and
happiness, then man may as well be
elsewhere as here, and the world is
nothing but cruel cage.
AS a lawyer, our friend carried into
the forensic arena all the urbanity
that graced his social life. He never
shivered a lance with an opponent
simply to see the sparks but only in
an honest effort to make plain and en-
| force his views.
He knew no such word as chicane in
the practice of the law. He would
scorn to suppress the slightest evil
dence that could cast ray of light on
any fact involved. nor would he seek
to blind by the delusive glare of false
but plausible assertion. Always fair,
always honest: his opponent need have
no fear of night attack or of surprise
from some willy fabrication.
Our brother looked upon the profes.
sion of the law as means for Secur-
ing right and establishing truth and
justice, and not as system of cum
ningly devised bubbles conducting
only to victory, no matter how un.
righteous the cause. Hence ouI
brother would not be deemed by the
ordinary observer lawyer of para
mount skill, one who could thrust and
Weak irritable Tired