The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1899-08-04
.INGERSOIL' LAST POEM
FINISHED a FEW HOURS BEFORE
DEATH
The Last Opinions Of the Great Agnos-
tic Told in Poetic Form-"We Hope
and Wait"

DR.. John Clark Ridpath, the cele-
brated historian, read at the IngersOll
funeral the last poem written
by the great agnostic. He made the last
alterations in it only a few hours before
his death. The poem is as follows:
DECLARATION OF THE FREE.
We have no falsehoods to defend
we want the facts. our force, our
thought, we do not spend i'm vain at
lacks. And we will never meanly try
to save some fair and pleasing lie. The
simple truth is what we ask, not the
ideal. We've set ourselves the noble
task to find the real If all there is is
naught but dross, We went to know and
bear our loss. We will not willingly be
fooled by fables nursed; our hearts by
earnest thought are schOOled to bear
the worst. And we can stand erect and
dare all things, all facts that really are.
We have no God to serve or fear; no
! hell to shun, no devil with malicious
/ leer; when life is done an endless sleep
may close our eyes, a sleep with neither
dreams nor signs. We have no master
on the land, no king in air; without a
manacle we stand, without a prayer,
without a fear Of coming night we seek
| the truth, we love the light. We do
! not bow before a guess. A vague un-
| known; a senseless force we do not
| bless in solemn tone. When evil comes
]
no worse When cyclones rend, when
| lightning blights. tbs naught but fate.
| There is no God of wrath who smites in
heartless hate. Behind the things that
| injure man there is no purpose, thought
or plan. The jeweled cup of love we
drain, and friendships wine now swift
ly flows in every vein with warmth di-
vine. And so we love and hope and
dream that in deaths sky there is a
CLEAN. We walk according to our light.
pursue the path that leads to honor's
stainless height, careless of wrath or
curse of God or priestly spite, longing
to know and do the right. We love our
fellow man. our kind wife, child and
friend; to phantoms we are deaf and
blind; but we extend the helping hand
to the distressed; by lifting others we
! are blessed. Loves sacred flame within
the heart, and friendships glow. while
all the miracles of art their wealth be-
stow upon the thrilled and joyous brain
and present raptures Danish pain. We
love no phantoms of the skies, but liv-
ing flesh with passions soft and soulful
eyes; lips warm and fresh. and cheeks
with health's red flag unfurled the
breathing angels of this world The
hands that help are better far than lips
that pray. Love is the ever-gleamine
star that leads the way; thai
shines not on vague worlds of bliss, but
on a paradise in this. We do not pray
or weep or wall; we have no dread, nc
fear to pass beyond the veil that hides
the dead. And yet we question, dream
and guess, but knowledge we do not
possess. We ask, yet no one seems tC
know; we cry in vain; there is no Mas
ter of the Show" who will explain oil
from the future tear the mask: and We
we dream and still we ask, is there, be
yond the silent night, an endless day
Is death door that leads to light? WI
cannot say The tongueless secre
locked in fate we do not know. We hop,
and wait.