The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1900-09-05
Strange Eulogy by ingalls,.

| AN NNoth Va A)CuntOE 1uRdIIS TCCdlIS
a speech made by him in the senate in
August, 1890, on the death of Senator
Beck, of Kentucky. 1t was probably
the strapgest culogy ever delivered in
that body. Rich, almost faultless, in
rhetoric, as his speeches always were,
it also revealed some Of the inner
workings Of his mind-thoughts, spec
ulations, vagaries, if you will-which
men seldom express, even if enter
tanned. Senator ingalls, never indul-
ged in long prefaces, and he plunged
into this subject with almost startling
| abruptness. He said
''Mr. President: Rugged, robust and
indomitable, the incarnation of physi-
cal force and intellectual energy, Sen
ator Beck seemed part of nature, in
separable from life, and exempt from
inf nifty. | recall the emotion with
which | saw him stand painfully in
his place and announce with strange
pathos that for the first time in twenty
years he found himself unable to par
ticipate in debate. He fingered awhile,
as the PROSTATE oak retains its verdure
for brief interval after it's fall, or as
the fame fickers when the candle is
burned out; but his work was done.
1t was the end.
1.-The rig it to live is, in human es-
timation, ie most sacred, the most
inviolable, the most inalienable. The
joy Of living in such splendid and
luminous day as this is inconceivable.
To exist is exultation. To live for.
ever is our sublimcst hope. Toknow,
to love, to achieve, to triumph is rap.
ture; and yet we are all under sentence
of death. Without trial or opportu-
nifty for defense, with no knowledge
OF the sccuser or the nature and cause
of the accusation; without being con-
fronted with the witnesses against us,
we have been summoned to the bar of |
life and condemned to death. There
is neither exculpation nor appeal. The |
tender mother cries passionately for |
her first-born, but there is no clemen-
cy. The craven felon sulleniy prays
for moment in which to be aueled,
but there is no reprieve. The soul
helplessly beats its wings against the |
the bars, shudders and disappears.
Humanity itself is destined to ex-
tincsioo. Sooner or later, it is the in
struetion Of science that the energy
of the earth will be expended and it
will become incapable of supporting
life. e group Of feeble and paid |
survivors in some sheltered valley in
the tropics will behold the sun sink |
below the horizon and the pitiless
stars glitter IN the midnight sky. The
last man wilf perish and the sun will |
rise upon an earth without an inhab-
liant. It's atmosphere, it's seas, it's
life and heat will vanish, and che |
planet will be an idle cinder uselessly
spinning on its orbit.
IF the only object of creation is
destruction, if infnity is the theater
of an uninterrupted series Of irvepar-
able oalamities, if the foal caase Of
life is death, then time is, an inezpli-
cable tragedy, and eternity an illogical
and indefensible- catastrophe.
"But no, Mr.. President, thiseulogy
is for the quick and not for the dsad.
1t is not an inconsolable- lamentation.
1t is strain of triemph. II is an,
affirmation to those who. survive, shat
as our departed assoeiate, oontenlplat-
ing at the close of,hie life the monu--
neDs Of good deeds BE has erected,
might exelaim with tho Roman. poet,
Mon omniN moriar.' &c., turning to.
khe silent and unpne#n future, he.
eould reply with iuse and. reasonable
confidence opon that raost impressive
sn6 moMenicas. assurance ever de-
hvered to the human raoe: He that
beheveth in Me, though he were dead,
yet shall he live; and whosoeves liv-
eth and bslieveth in Bge shall mover
de-"
OF course, have only quote5 q part
Of the speech, though in it's entirety
it was very brief GSlJert a. Fierce, |
sn Chicago Times s-Esrald.