The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-02-15
TERROR OF DEATH
It Il Not Present with Everyone
Who Dies.
Testimony which Goes TO Prove THAI
Many View with Uneoncsrn the Ap-
proach of Dissolution-DyinS
Words Of Noted Men.

Many people. through fear of death,
are all their lives subject TO bondage,
writes Rev. E. j. Hardy in the Sunday
Magazine. The questions: How shall
we die? When shall we die? and
where shall we die? are continually
worrying them Indeed, there have
been several suicides caused by this
haunting terror of death. The thought
OF it made their lives insupportable,
and they killed themselves in order 10
know the worst. And yet it is quite
possible that in respect to the physical
sensation of dying we resemble Don
Quixote, when he hug by his wrist
from the stable window and imagined
that terrible abyss yawned at his
feet; fate. in the character of Mari
tornes, cuts the thong with hghtsoue
laughter and the gallant gentleman
falls--four inches.
When Louis NV. lay dying: "Why
weep you?" he asked those who sur
rounded his deathbed. Did you think
l should live forever?" Then. after q
pause: 81 thought dying had been
harder" DR.. Hunter was another who
was agreeably surprised by his expert
ence of dying. His last words were:
If had strength to hold pen would
write down how easy and pleasant a
thing it is 10 die" A charming actress
who had been twice almost drowned
told a friend that dying vas the incest
sensation that she knew. The late
archbishop Of Canterbury, as his
''agony" befell, quietly remarked: ut
Is really nothing much after all"
A man said to Socrates: 1.-THE Athe-
mans have condemned you to death"
And nature" he replied, has con-
demned them" BY the ancient Greeks
death was considered simply as de-
stroyer. To them it was the last and
most bitter of foes. Achilles in Hades
says to Odysseus: way, speak not com
fortably to me of death. Rather would
] live upon the earth the hireling of
another, than bear sway over al the
dead that are no more" When death
is bitter it is SO, as general rule, far
more by reason of anxiety and rernorse
than from physical causes A mat, for
instance, can scarcely die easily if he is
provision has not been made. The
medical men who attended Oliver Gold
smith in his last hour asked him if
there was anything on his mind, as he
could not account for his temperature
being so high. The poet admitted that
there was. Debt was upon his mind.
To some it Is riches, and not poverty,
that renders death painful. When
Garrick showed to DR.. johnson his pala-
tial residence the latter said: "Ah,
David. these are the things that make
death terrible"
John Wesley was once asked by
lady: Suppose you knew that you
were to die at twelve o'clock tomorrow
night, how would you spend the inter
vening time?" "How, madam" he re-
plisd; why, just as intend to spend
it now. 1 should preach this night at
Gloucester, and again at five tomorrow
morning. After that 1 should ride to
Tewksbury, preach in the afternoon
and meet the societies in the evening.
] should then repair to Friend Martins
house, who expects to entertain me,
converse and pray with the family as
usual, retire to my bed at ten o'clock,
commend myself to my Heavenly Fa-
Their, lie down to rest, and wake up in
glory"
This was the feeling which nabled
the American, Gen. Stonewall Jackson.
to die as he did. When told he had
only two hours to live, he answered:
Every good: it is all right. Order A.
P. Hill to prepare for action. Pass the
infantry to the front rapidly. Tell
Maj. Hawks" Presently a smile Of
ineffable sweetness spread itself over
his face, and he said, quietly and with
an expression Of relief: Let us cross
over the river and rest under the shade
of the trees"