The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1898-12-15

w hen all did nobly. all deserving praise:
Who gave a fortune to his country S cause
To fill her armies and maintain her laws.
Who searched the field of carnage when the
strife So
Had rolled beyond, to save the soldiers life.
Or bring the fallen heroes home to lie
In God s own country meath their native sky:
Who kept their families in daily bread:
Who clothed the widow. who the orphan fed
Who gave his substance to the suffering poor,
To keep the wolf of hunger from their door.
Who gave to charity the fruits OF trade
And spent on want the fortune ne had made
Till all was gone and he could give no more:
And tried beyond endurance. old and poor
He struggled on, nor nurmured at the past
In what heroic mould that soul was cast.
He gave his pity to the very last.
And is this all there is of human worth:
Has gratitude deserted callous earth:
The friend of man. the patriot is here
And not flower is laid upon his bier:
He finds rest beneath Octobers leaves
The skies weep tears. but only Nature grieves
O how unlike the wealth OF flowers supplied
In rich profusion at the bier of pride; ~
o: how unlike the flourish and display
The sable emblems that eclipse the day.
And fill the streets with simulated gloom
Where venal wealth is carried to the tomb.
When death unclasps the miser's hold
And from his rigid fingers drops his gold
Whose life to greed and selishness confined
Has left no tender memories behind:
An alien to his race whose heart ne'er thrilled
With human sympathy for man or child
No wants relieved, no orphans clothed or fed,
Whose heart was stone when he was asked for
.ra bread: - #-..
whose only gift was cathedral pane
To claim alliance to the Christ in vain:
CMemorial windows with the donors name
Oftimes speak more for vanity than fame:}
Who dying, gave to India all his pelf
To christianize the heather like himself
And this his only bounty: while the poor
Were pinched with hunger. at his very door:
And neighbors' daughters were induced to vice
To find the food that honest toll denies.
And when he dies the town is drapedin gloom.
And cringing sycophants surround his tomb:
Penuriousness and Wealth stand side by side.
And next to them stand Vanity and Pride
And Indolence and LUXURY are there
Rapacity and Greed. a wrinkled pair . ,2zss1Es:
And Craft and Cunning their devotion prove
And all are there Save Charity and Love
The pulpitspeaks his praise. and rapture cries
-
And virtues are extolled-he did not own.
And charities named-he'd never done.
And truth is wrenched to fabricate his worth.
christian gentleman, saint on earth:9s II
And DER his corpse the cheering news is given
That he has gone to be a saint in heaven.
Some may demur with recollections grim.
And sumo assign another placefor him:
And skeptics will conclude, if this be true
That some get more than is their honest due e
To have the best of. earth and: the best of
heaven too az - -: =, -
What strange anomalies. in human lives:
What contradictions human conduct gives;
The most unworthy find the most reward,
Who live the noblest meet heleast regard;
The stoniest hearts that never breathed sigh
Are .canonized as models when they die.
The truly great seem dwarfs the pigmies great,
In mans esteem. Is death to vindicate
The paradox of life, the irony Of fate:
Toledo Bee, Nov. 81 1895.