The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1896-11-13

NO, Df. IEAtN IONGu MS CHOSEN CALI
ing. and Lad only one difficulty in
Dracticing it; he had the tenderest
heart and he suffered, seeing others in
pain. AS physician he excelled in
diagnosis. That was his especial gift,
the proficiency of his very acute intel
lect-tO see into us-to detect the or
gan affected, the nerve that was on
strain, the cause and origin of our
sickness. In q word he could tell the
matter with us at a glance. If it was
triiiing and We made Il great ado, he
was Disguised, went off and wouldn't
come near us for two DAYS, for he hat
ed every species of humbug. If he
could help you, he smiled and his
eyes twinkled, and he dosed you. But
if you were past human skill, if science
was ba1lled and art unavailing, you
could read it in his honest face. No
false hopes from him. No deception
as to your condition. He could not
lie when he wanted to ease a patients
| mind or aIlay the fears of friends.
Therefore he often rode straight away
from a house, with the sorrow of death
hanging over it, with bowed head
aud closed lips, for he couldn't tell
them what he saw in the fading eye,
nor bear the sobs of their grief when
the end came.
81 am of the opinion that if DR..
Finney had loved Hartford county less,
had valued fame or cared at all for
money, (Which he did mott he would
easily have risen to fame in Philadel-
phia or Baltimore, as a specialists in
diagnosis, or us a general practitioner.
| But, the dearest spot of ground is
| where those whom we love abide, and
! Hartford held him by his heart. And
so lie dWelt among you. asking no fees
only to serve you all, at midnight or
at noon. riding your roads at all hours,
welcome in the cabin of the black as
well as in the mansion of the rich,
| breathing your pure, sweet air; seeing
the fourfold seasons of the year come
and go. Seed time and harvest; the
| pillow in furrow and the corn in shock;
his horse tied at my gate or yours;
and the genial Doctor within the
house. slapping his knee and main
tanning that Maryland was as State
| the home Of gentlemen without a
peer, and Hartford county, Maryland's
| brig hteSt gem.
| My friends, greatness as the world
| views it, is to have glory of which
| fame has taken charge, SO that great
man fills space, casts shadow on a
| continent, his name and deeds known
| to the world around. Such were
| Alexander, Caesar, Napoleon, Shaks-
| peare and Washington; Some the
| butchers, others the benefactors of
| the human race.
| But there is another greatness, a
| truer greatness, one which we all may
| achieve. 1t is to take the common
| things Of life and walk truly among
them. 1t is to do our work the best
| of its kind, in the vocation wherewith
| we are called. II is to be content to
| lift our powers and serve faithfully
| the community in which our lot is
| cast, even though we cannot amaze q
| country or lift continent. And such
men of great love and purest serving,
are the salt of the earth, the saviours
| of society, the true helpers of their
| brother men; and such q man was
DR.. Finney. Neither asking or ac-
cepting honor or reward, but going
| his rounds on his little horse in all
winds and all weather to Danish pain
or wrestle with disease.
Now about the leading traits and
characteristics of DR.. Finney, the man
Is distinguished from the physician
well, truth compels me to say that
| the Doctor was not one of those per-
feet wonders of early piety and sane
tity, with whom God has 10 trouble,
AMI therefore no enjoyment, for only
the twice born man is a JOY in heaven.
There was no fatted calf killed for the
orderly but uGinteresting elder broth
er, but for the returning prodigal, the
boy who came TO himself. quit feeding
with swine, and urged by Il heavenly
Inconsistencies, came back with wound
ed feet aud Bleeding heart to take
servant 5 place. Even God, it seems,
likes people who give him some
trouble. And the Doctor, like you
and ME and young Jacob, trod, his
Jabbok, his nights Of wrestling and
his days OF humiliation and repent
ance. For he had faults, 1--WE, strange
TO say, love people often more for their
faults than tor their virtues.) He had
clamorous appetites, and a quick, keen
temper-and so have we. Therefore
there was trouble with the Doctor for
his guardian angel. But ever since
that blessed day, nearly a quarter of
century ago, when in this dear old
church, ne put on the armor of Chris
tian soldier, he made vigorous fight,
and if ever baffled or beaten in the
strife, rose and fought again and con-
quered, his eye fixed Oh heaven-and
angels could do no more. Again DR..
Finney was not q cosmopolitan man,
| that is man at home everywhere,
who would burn incense to a pagan
god, or worship in a catacomb with
| Christians, with equal indifference
and scorn. He was not a man who
saw all sides of all questions, and car
| ed nothing for any side of it, or the
question itself as so many snobS af-
| feet, cultivating q foreign accent and
| aDologizing for their State and coun-
| try. No, indeed, the Doctor had con-
| vicIions, opinions you couldn't shake
| and lots of local color. He was true
| Southerner. 1t is the glory OF the
| Southerner to announce, Il am from
| South Carolina Some plants you
| can tear from their hooks in the wall,
| and they thrive and bloom even if
| they have no roots. But you couldn't
tear up Dr. Finney. He would have
| bled to death; had rooted convictions,
| notions as deep as the springs of his
| life, and when he made up his mind.
| there you could always find him; the
| right of secession, his scorn of avarice,
| his hatred of shams, his devotion to
| friends and loyalty to men he once
| trusted-it was sublime, beautiful, for
! his hates were mortal, but his friend
| ships eternal, and he, like God, waited
| past the eleventh hour to be gracious,
| and it broke his honest, trusting
| heart to be compelled to acknowledge
! that one of his finest men in the
| United States was unworthy or less
| than upright.
The Doctor was one of the sincerest
of men. He was real. Some men
change, others forget, but if the
Doctor liked you once, he did always.
He never forgot.
| When shall we see his like again?
| Sleep we'll my friend in this halting
place on the way to Jerusalum.
Now let the corner stone be laid
with sentiment and high esteem and
grateful affection for him whose
| grave it marks and whose memory it
| perpetuates Let it be laid in honor
! of good manhood and rare upright
living. Let il be laid in love and
LOYALTY; in honor OF friendship and
constancy of soul. to him who never
failed friend, or betrayed a person
or a cause he once espoused. Let 1T
be laid in faith hope and charity, in
peace and good will toward all men,
with prayer to God for the best well
fare of the sons and daughters who
come after us.
Let it be laid by a whole county to
one of her best and most devoted sons,
whose family has shed lustre upon
your whole community.
Record Breaking Spiders.
1t takes an American longer to get used