The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-01-09

us Moses legislated and Isaiah saw Wis
ions. For us Shakespeare wrote his
dramas and Raphael painted his Ma
donnas For us Bacon framed his sys-
tenn Of science and Handel composed
his Hallelujah Chorus. For us the
sword of Cromwell cut an open path
for civil and religious liberty, and the
wisdom of Washington laid the foun-
dations of our free republic. For us the
Mayf1ower was launched and the De-
claration of Independence was written.
We are "heirs of all the ages in the
foremost files of time" And shame
thrice shame upon us il we -dO not
prize our heritage or enter into the
possession Of our inheritance. To live
the life God intended we should live, to
enter the doors of service that God is
flinging open before us, we must hear
and heed the voices of inspiration and
warning that speak to us from the
graves of the past. The great-souled
men of the past are our richest heri-
tage. They reveal to us the possibili-
ties of our God-given natures. They
beckon us to higher achievement. They
show US what we may become. On the
tidal-wave of their example and infiu-
ence we to higher levels rise.
There are some things that death
cannot touch. 1t cannot touch char
acter. It cannot touch influence. Good
men are triumphant over death and the
grave. They have an earthly as well
as a heavenly Immortality. They live
on in this world after they have left
it. They live in the truth they have
taught, in the reforms they have eff
fected, in the institutions they have
founded. They live in minds made bet
ter by their example. They live in
thoughts sublime that pierce the
night like stars, and by their mild per-
sistence urge mems souls to vaster is
Sues 1t is a great incentive 20 noble
living to know that the good we DO
will live on after we have passed away.
There is no better place to review a
mans life than at his grave. From
that spot his character and career may
be studied in their entirety. From that
spot the meaning and mission of his
life may be best understood and ap-
preciated. Therefore, I ask you to-
night to stand awhile at some of the
God would teach us.
One by one they go, into the unknown
dark
Starlit brows of the brave, voices that
drew mems souls.
Rich is the land, o, death, can give you
dead like our dead.
The neurology of the year just gone
contains some names of worldwide
renown. At many of these graves we
can only pause a moment to read the
name and lay a wreath of affection and
esteem.
When the hands that write our books
grow cold and drop the pen we feel
a special bereavement. Among those
who dropped the pen last year are
George Ebers, William Black and Har-
old Frederic. These writer's of fiction
have entertained large circle Of read
ers during the last quarter of a CEN
fury. George Ebers took US into Egypt
and made that old land and people
live again before us. William Black
is remembered by 1.-THE Princess of
Thule" ''Madcap Violet etc. Harold
Frederic by "Seth's Brothers Wife"
THE Lawton Grip and 1.-The Damna
ton Of Thereon Ware" Both these
writer's worked up from journalism to
fiction.
The records of our public libraries
and the sales of our book stores show
that no class of literature is more
sought after by all kinds Of folks than
fiction. The practice of novel reading
is so general that it has almost pro-
duced a revolution in education Some
ministers as Ian Maclaren and Crockett
md Sheldon find hot fhau
a wider hearing for their message
through the novel than through the
sermon. Writers on social reform as
Edward Bethany, who passed away
during the year, find the novel the most
direct way to the intelligence and con-
science of the multitude they desire to
influence. Grant Allen says he could
get no hearing for his theories on So
ciety until he took to writing stories.
Mrs. Humphrey Ward used the novel
to attack orthodox theology, as in
Robert Elsmere," and to advocate So
cial reform as in 'sMarcella." Charles
Kingsley used the novel to champion
the cause of the workingman. Charles
Reade used it as a vehicle of prison re-
form. Thackeray used it to expose
snobbery and ma1nness. H. B. Stowe
used it to aid the emancipation of the
slave. Sheldon is using it to spread the
principles and teachings of Jesus.
George Macdonald uses it for moral
purposes.
The novel with a purpose is in our
midst and must be reckoned with as one
of the educating factors of modern life.
The ethics of fiction is a subject that
must concern everyone who has the
welfare of society at heart. The novel
writer cannot get rid of moral respons-
Utility. He may not directly teach a
moral lesson, but does create an atmos-
phere that is either morally healthful
or harmful. We do not ask the novel
ist to turn himself into a preacher and
sermonize to Us. We would rather he
would not. We prefer to take our SER
mon straight We do not ask for a
moral in every novel we read any more
than we ask for moral in every pic
ture We see or piece of music we hear.
We do not ask for the moral of a bottle
of perfume or bouquet of flowers. A
novel is not to be condemned because
it has no moral tackled on to it or run
ming through it. We want books for en-