The herald., 1898-08-16
Mcguire

me not to have been permitted to die in so
| many battles, and to end thus by q cows
death! At least put on my breastplate.
| grid on my sword, set my helmet on my
| head, my shield in my left hand, my
| golden battle ak in my right, 50 that a
| great warrior like myself may die as war;
rior." One may set the two speeches side
by side. though there are five centuries be-
tween them, as typical expressions Of the
same spirit.
| But the approach Of death In the quiet
ness Of home draws more gentle and peace
full utterances from religious souls. Isaak
Walton's description of the death of Hook
er is classical: Richard Hooker meditated,
when he lay a-dying, the number and ma
ture OF the angels and their blessed obedi-
ence and order without which peace could
not be In heaven. And oh! that 1t might
be so on earth!' 1t was a serene ending to
serene life. Surely we may place side
by side with It the account Of the last hours
of Tennyson as 1t is given US In hts life:
"SIddenly he gathered himself together,
and spoke one word about himself to the
doctor--'Death?-andD DR.. Dabbs bowed his
head, and he said, That's well; and later
on he exclaimed: I've opened IT. Perhaps
the Shakespeare opened at
Hang there like fruit, my soul
Till the tree fall.
Or perhaps one of his last poems was run
ming iu his head-'The Silent Opener Of the
Gate He then spoke his last words, a
farewell blessing to my mother and my
SELF" SO the present Lord Tennyson de-
scribes the solemn passing" of his great
father from the stage Of life.
n~
among the strongest and greatest feel most
the isolation, the lonliness and the utter
weakness Of their last hours. It Is mel
ancholy picture that is preserved for US
Of the last hours Of Thomas Carlyle, as he
sat on chair, solitary and wretched, in
the middle Of his room, patheticaily crying
out from time to time: II want to die! I
want mother" The great Napoleon re-
CURED, too, to the thought of his mothers
tenderness; "Ah, Maman Letiza! he ID
said to have murmured constantly as he
lay dying at ST. Helena, so far away from
his native island 1t is strange to think OF
these two great, self-assertive men being
SO hdmbled by the approach of the con-
Queror Of sages and emperors alike.
| Among the last words Of the great think
ers of the earth will ever be reckoned the
Moro light! More light! Of Goethe It
may be that he only meant that the blinds
should be drawn that he might see more
clearly; but still. the famous words have
haunting sound, that makes one fancy
there was more in them than that.
Such are some last sayings cuiled from a
wide field. Here is a death scene that In
its silence is full Of eloquence. 1t is from
| the life OF DR.. Livingston:
'They found his candle burning at his
bedside, and Livingston kneeling there as
If In prayer, his face In his hands, but he
was dead"
The parting benediction of Gladstone as
he gazed for the last time at the faces of
his countrymen assembled to greet him:
God bless you all and the land that you
love- will no doubt become historical. It
was the land that you" love- and not that
1--WE" love, for he felt that for him there
remained only the more abiding kingdom.
His actual last recorded words-"kindness
kindness"-seem to have been an acknow-
ledgment OF the universal sympathy and
sorrow that attended his last moments.