The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1896-11-04

we are willing to be helped IN. AT iast
the octogeuarian falls Forty years CT
decaving. No sudden change. NO herce
cannonading of the batteries OF life, but
a fading away, slowly, gradually, as
the leaf-as the leaf!
Again, like the leaf, we fade TO
make room for others. Next years Tor
ests will be as grandly foliaged as this.
There are other generations Of oak leaves
to take the place of those which tins
autumn perish. Next May the cradle CT
the wind will rccl: the young buds. The
woods will be all ;,-hum with the chorus
of leafv voices If the tree in frcDt OF
your house, like Elijah, takes chariot
of fire, it's mantle will fall upon Elisha
If in the blast CT these autumnal bat
ter;es 50 many ranks fall, there are re-
serve forces to take their place to defend
the fortress of the hills. The beaters CT
gold leaf will have more gold leaf to
beat. The crown that drops today from
the head cf the oak will be picked up
and handed down for other kings to
wear. Let the blasts come. They only
make room for ether life.
Give Way Chcerfuily.
So, when We go, others take our
spheres. We do not grudge the future
generations their places. We will have
had our good time. Let them come on
and have their good time. There is no
signing among these leaves today, be-
cause other leaves are to follow them.
After lifetime of preaching, doctorlng,
selling, sewing or digging, let US cheer
fully give way fer those who come on
to do the preaching, doctoring. selling,
sewing and digging. God grant that
their life may be brighter than ours has
been. AS we get older do not let US be
affronted if young men and women
crowd Us little. We will have had our
day. and we must let them have theirs.
When our voices get cracked, lot US rot
snarl at these who can warble. When
our knees are stiffencd, let US have pa
tience with those who 60 feet as the
deer. Because our leaf is fading do
not let rs dcspise the unfrosted. Au-
tumn must not envy the spring. Old
men must bo patient with boys. DR..
Guthrie stood up in Scotland and said
"You need not think am old because
nv hair is white. never was SO young
as am now look back to my child
hood days and remember when III win
ter nights in the sitting room the chill
dren played the blit5est and the gayest
of all the company were father and
mother. Although reaching fourscore
years of age, they never got old.
Do not be disturbed as you see good
and great men die. People worry when
some important parsonage passes OF the
stage and say, His place will never be
TAKEN But neither the church nor
the state will suffer for it. There will
be others to take the places. When God
takes one man away. he has another
right back of him. God is so rich in
resources that he could spare 5000
Summerfelds and Saurins, if there were
so many. There will be other leaves AS
green, as exquisitely veired, as grace
fully etched, as we'll pointed. However
prominent the place VIC fill, our death
will not jar the world. One falling leaf
does not shake the Adirondacks. a ship
is not we'll manned unless there be all
extra supply Of hands-solre working
on deck, some sound asleep in their
hammocks. God has manned this world
very well. There will be other seamen
on deck when you and l are down in
the cabin, sound asleep i'll the ham
mocks.
Not Alone We Perish.
Again, as with the leaves we fade
and fall amid myriads of others. One
cannot count tie number Cf plumes
which these frosts arc pluckins from the
hills. They will strew all the streams;
they will drift into the caverns; they
will soften the wild beasts lair ard fill
the eagles eyrie.
All the aisles of the forest will be COW
cred with their carpet, and the steps OF
the hills glow with 4 wealth Of color
and shape that will defy the looms OF
Administer. What urh could hold the
ashes of all these dead leaves? Who
could count the hosts that burn Oh this
funeral pyre of the mountains?
So we die in concert. The clock that
strikes the hour of our going will sound
the going of many thousands. Keeping
step with the feet of those who carry US
ont will be the tramp of hundreds doing
the same GRAND. Between so and 70
people every day lie down in Green
wood. That place has over 200, 600 Of
the dead said to the man at the gate,
"Then, if there are so many here, you
must have the largest cemetery" He
said there were two Roman Catholic
cemeteries in the city, each of which
had more than this. We are all dying.
London and Peking are not the great cit
les of the world. The grave is the great
city. 1t hath mightier population, Ion
ger streets, brighter lights, thicker dark
nesses. Caesar is there, and all his sub
jects. Nero is there, and all his victims.
City of kings and paupers! It has swal-
lowed all our cities. Yet, City of ST.
lence. No voice, no hoof, no wheel,
no clash, no shifting of hammer, no
clack of flying loom, no jar, no whis-
per. Great City of Silence! Of all its
million million hands, not one of them
is lifted Of all it's million million eyes,
not one of them sparkles. Of all its mil
lion million hearts, not one pulsates.
The living are in small minority.
If in the movement Of time some
great question between the living and
the dead should be put and God called
up all the dead and the living to decide
it, as we lifted our hands and from all
the resting places of the dead they lifted
their hands, the dead would outvote US.
Why, the multitude of the dying and the
dead are as these autumnal leaves drift
ing under our feet today. We march on
toward eternity, not by companies Of q
hundred, or regiments of thousand, or
brigades Of ten thousands, but sixteen
hundred millions abreast! Marching on!