The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-11-27
The MAY FUNERAL.

membered the impetuous and chival-
rous warrior, and those who were per-
mitted to see the life of the gentle sage
and student, could bring their testi-
mony we should have his real memo
rial.
There were these two conspicuous ele-
ments in his life. Seen in one field,
he is all passion, activity; seen in an
other, he was the quiet seeker after
wisdom. 1t is said of Gladstone that
in the public arena he appeared as If
for contest, while when he retired to
his temple of peace, as he called his
library, it seemed impossible for him to
be happy anywhere else.
The assumption is singularly fitting
as applied to Mr.. May. The presence of
these two interests often deemed in
compatible, serves to explain the bal
| ance as well as the strength of his char
acter. His activity in the mid years
of his career was inseparable and in
| cessant. How he Travelled, labored and
spoke in the cause of liberty and hui
mainly What high courage he showed
when others were timid and silent. He
could not think of himself or care for
ease or comfort or popularity when
duty showed him the road That low
whisper, thou must" which he ever
obeyed, was to him the voice of God.
What he did for the abolition of slavery
| is part of the greater history of the
| country. His name will be written
by grateful posterity on the same page
with the names of Garrison and Phil
| lips and the other
HEROES OF THAT HEROIC TIME.
And he will be remembered by all who
knew him as an example of self-sacri-
| ficing devotion to his fellowmen,' as one
willing to be the servant of the least
of those of his brethren.
This noble chapter of his history tells
of his fervor, his unresting persistence,
his self-forgetting courage, and of the
great principles and convictions of
right which ever impelled him forward.
There is another chapter that tells the
secret of his spiritual rigor and unwast-
ed strength, He, too, had his temple
of peace" into which he could retire.
| There he lived with the books he loved
so well; there he communed with the
friends of his spirit, and in their COM
panionship his ideals were kept bright
and his energies repaired for the unfin-
ished struggle. A life like his, giving
| itself away in such abundant measure,
means not only the presence of great
convictions, but also the incoming of
great and constant inspiration.
And back of all, high qualities were
his by birth and inheritance. The very
name he bore was the synonym of
HONOR AND PUBLIC VIRTUE.
From his father, a Boston merchant
with the face of Edward Everett, he
inherited his robust conscience; from
his mother, herself a champion of re-
| ligious freedom, his courage in an UNI
popular cause; while from the burning
spirit of his cousin, Samuel j. May, he
received the light that kindled his own
powers into flame. Faith in all things
high and pure came even to him-easy
to him. In him the noble stock from
which he came blossomed forth in
moral beauty again. He represents
the best type of New England charac-
ter. Here was the stern moral quality
that knows no compromise with wrong.
Here was a conscience as true as the
needle to the pole. 1t was said by
Samuel Hoar himself, the best incar-
nation of conscience today, that if ever
in doubt on some great question, he
knew he was right when his judgment
agreed with that of Samuel May,
Yet these strong Puritan qualities
were softened by generous culture as
we'll as by the broad sympathies of a
refined and genial nature. Warrior as
he was, he had the heart of a child
saint. No one that was ever received
into his hospitable home could forget
the warmth of his greeting or the gra-
ciousness of his manner. No one could
come into relations with him, without
an impression of the commanding ends
for which he lived, and of the engaging
charm of his personality.
His religious life was deep, broad and
practical. He had little interest in &C.
| cesiasticism, and slight esteem for
what passed as Christianity, but he had
an answering faith in the teaching
of Jesus, the object of his profound rev.
erence.' He was. above all things, the
Christian minister, though in charge of
church but dozen years. He filled
| his life with the spirit of his Master,
and, like him, went about doing good.
It was his happy privilege to pass
his whole life in one place, and in one
service More than sixty-five years
ago, in the summer of 1884 he came
| here to live. Here he made his home,
and this has been his home ever since.
How he loved this beautiful town, you
need not be told. Its interests its ira
! ditions were his own. What wisdom
he brought to it's affairs, what devotion
to its schools and Libraries!
| Jealous, watchful care of the welfare
Of it's inhabitants. Not the least of his
titles to his praise is that he was the
good citizen, was ever ready to take
his share in any duty that needed to be
done.
And so as the years passed, he ripened
into that
SERENE OLD AGE
that became him so well, and which has
rested like a benediction on the com
munity His home became a place of
pilgrimage. He was surrounded by
| love and honor and friends. One
| by one his old associates had
fallen from his side, till he was
almost the last of his generation.
| The armor he put on in 1884
he never put off. The cause to which
he gave the strength of his life, he
saw triumph, but the other needs of
humanity claimed him. The spirit of
his devotion never changed from the
beginning to the end. 1t is the crown
ing felicity of his life that it obeyed
the voice at eve, obeyed at morn, and
in this lifelong fidelity to the vision of
duty there is no record that can leap
to light but what is high and sweet and
honorable and true. He has fought a
good fight he has kept the faith, and
has left us an inspiration that should
make our own work truer and our lives
better.
o strong soul by what shore
| Tarriest thou now? For that force
| Surely has not been left vain;
| Somewhere, surely. afar,
| In the sounding labour-house vast
OF being, is practiced that strength,
Jealous, beneficent, firm!
| Yes, in some far-shining sphere,
! Still thou performest the word
| OF the spirit in whom thou dost live
| Prompt, unwearied, as here.
| Still, like a trumpet. 'dost rouse
| Those who with ha1f-open ewes