Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1897-02-19

ann puTposcicss cNiStrticc IA soi"us
zesttul lite like theirs: nor tn hun who
sees nothing in the liie of a practicng
attorney hut toll and drudgery: hut
everything To him Nnosr ga catches the
music OF every day life aud whose eyes
STE the happy adjustment nj multitude
of conflicting interests and disorders.
Even the grandeur Oi the combined sen
timents and achievements OF alltne world
would he nothing to him who LOOKS upon
the grave as containing only the dull
remnants of what were once living
man but nothing nov; but everything
To him who looks today into two graves
swarming with memories and associh-
tions many of which are sacredly cher
ishcd portions al his own life.
Our experience in the coming and going |
at these t~o men is a mystery in wh'cn !
is mingled JOY and sadness; their coming.
on youthful feet, was so swift, their rise !
81 rapid, and their departure SO quick
that it all seems like dream. But IT all
corresponds with their natures aud al
though they brimmingly enjoyed and de-
sired lite they had no siavish lear OF
death.
They were so closely blended in the in
terests of community and so united the
thoughts of the public that their going
| keenly touched the tenderest sentiments
of the people. Their deaths occurred too
about the time of other occasions for
general sadness; time in which strong
men were falling all around us; among
whom was our great chief, and your
good strong predecessor, Mr.. President;
and him who was SO cruelty hurled to
his death, as well as him who was their
Junior in years but not in learning or
law.
! What a source of inspiration do sub
| lime lives like those we are now comment
Grating furnish the young men OF today
/ They have left a land of promise for
TO still further glority if they will. They
! have left more abundant material and
better legal appliances than they had
themselves. Let the coming men rise
with energy and dispatch if they hope to
/ rival the work done in Grafton and Coos
/ Counties by generation the last of
whom are "homeward ploddlng their
weary way" he memory of those men
are still saving III the words Brother Ray
, used to repeat with peculiar eloquencc:
Lives uf great men all remind US
We can make our lives sublime,
And departing leave behind us
Footprints in the sands OF time"
And now we in turn are ieebly tracing
with tender interest the footprints OF our
brothers who are gone with the days
that will be no more tor us; but which
will return again to repeat their JOY and
CladneSs to Others. Lives as countless
as the leaves of the forest are rolling
away in the eternal years evidently as
parts of some great design compared
with " hich our individual lives are but
poor trfles. But, MIR. President, less
than YOU may cunnt on your fingers Of
the active legal men of forty years ago
within the limits OF your association re-
incines us to bow in the presence OF a
power which forever ends associations
which were part of ourselves. But let
us stand with becoming dignity and
consistency in the presence of events
common to all humanity. And above
all let us not roll darkness into the
bright young souls of those who are
coming after us, and who are, even now,
with us. This gives no occasion for dis
enlargement. Life is short but the
memory OF manly work is longer. 1t is
, contribution to the eternity of pro-
gress. An active, Jealous life gives
highest zcst to living; but to walk as
dead men do upon the earth is morbid.
do not look upon our brothers as dim
ghosts stretching out their misty hands
i'll some Shrouded land. hear no voice
+, from the grave. But in memory's grand
est hall love to listen to echoing words
, which sound just as they did when our
brothers spake them when living. If
shall ever hear imaginative voices from
. the grave even as multitudnous as the
sounds of many waters | shall not imag-
inc that hear voice of lamentation
from any who had acted well his part
in life until shall be convinced that woe
and misery is to be the reward for brave
and toilsome lives.
But pardon this depression. for it
seems to me we will honor more and
more justly our brothers whom we loved
, by referring to the more substantial
II things pertaining to their lives and
= work than by INDUCING i'll emotionalized
II memories. Besides death is not always
: Il misfortune. Its timely intervention
{ has rescued many from the ills of a sen
sitivc, tretful and jealous old age; from
l the chagrin which always follows vast
ing vrility from hopeless struggle tc
II regain or reassert the vigor of days that
are gone; the indifference of the hurryine
/ crowd; the seemingly insolent usurpatior
d of the old mans place and work. from
s. encounters with youth in which the vet
t eran is unable to return quid pro quo
- land from all the ills OF age in the pres
e ence of which the King of Terrors stands
u uncrowned. Avoiding those ills and as &