Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1901-10-24

very verge of time. All the world is
pitted with graves, and in the soil
tudes of earth forgotten millions lie in
the "windowless palaces of rest" For
age after age the world has laid away
its dead, has spoken words of praise
above the tomb and inscribed on stone
and brass the record of Individual
lives for future ages to obliterate and
destroy. But in the economy of the
Grand Architect of the Universe not
life since time began. however insig-
nif1cant, has gone down to the grave in
waste and utter uselessnes. Our be-
ings are the sum of all that has exist
ed. We claim the common ancestry
of the dead. No existence so poor
and profitless but that it's influence
lives to all eternity. And thus, while
we mourn our brethren dead. we know
that in their lives. the worlds forces
which make for good, for the right
eousness of future generations and for
the final perfection of the race have
been increased.
A little dreaming and we are
Further than the furthest star,
| A little pleasure and we gain
The fortitude to bear our pain;
! A little striving and is ours
The strength of all the latent powers,
A little purpose and a will
And we our highest hopes fulfill;
A little doubt, intrepid ghost,
And We lose all We cherish most;
A little faith the steadfast smile,
And we the future reconcile:
A little earnest. trustful prayer
For wildered creatures everywhere;
And that all bad is for the best
The worst, perchance. be worthiest."
Men have made of death a specter
and dread the work of their own mag
nations. He seems monster, and in
a fearsome mood we shrink his touch.
yet closer seen he comes with angel
grace. The dark-pinioned wing of Is
rael brushes softly over the faces of
those grown weary, and they rest.
Could these, our brothers, but return,
they might tell that which would re-
verse our human terms of life and
death-that after a period of fitful
dreaming they have but entered into
the reality Of existence.
/ Only Of one of those your honor to-
night can l speak with a personal
knowledge, and his praises have been
well spoken. That one, worn out in
the service of, the fraternity he loved
who sleeps in the old Gods acre at
Iowa City besides his ancient friends,
the last of his time-a giant of soul
though physically frail-T. S. Parvin,
the beloved grand secretary of Iowa
Masons. | would that it were posi-
BILE for me to bring to you from across
his grave the words of wisdom, of ex-
perience and of infinite faith which
have heard that grand old man utter
while he awaited the inevitable end
The Master of the Temple has approx.
Led and accepted his labors. He has
been called from the ruder working
grounds of material things to where
perhaps richer and more glorious la,
bors may have been waiting in that
temple not made with hands,
| can add nothing to what has al
: ready been said of eulogy of that dis
: tinguished brother slain by an assas
sins blow and mourned by all the
} world. In the general grief we have
sincerely shared In condemnation Of
J the horrid deed and of the hellish log
ic which prompted it we as Masons
are unanimous and outspoken. Oul
, fraternity stands before the world FOL
law, for good-citizenship. for all the
: forces which make for the conserva
ton and betterment of society," Tht
black creed of anarchy can find M
l more stern opponents than among
r men pledged to their God their coun
5 try. their neighbors and themselves.
> Of your own loved dead-the meI
who shared your labors and into
! whose graves you have cast the ever
green as symbol of your faith-o
e these you have told the story of we'll
spent lives in fitting words. To mt
r and to the others here who are strang
) ers the fact that these men were goot
i. Masons, worthy of your fellowship, il
i sufficient eulogy and guaranty o
, worth. To the souls of all these ant
. |of all the dead of all the craft With
ersoeyer dispersed may God, in his in
finite love grant eternal peace.
And when to each of us the las
bitter hour shall come, and the doom
2 of mortality shall strike the hear
d with sudden chill, when faltering lip
d of friends shall speak loves last fare
S well, and death-dimmed eyes shall los
e sight Of earthly things; when tearfu
d watchers at our side shall catch tn
n sound of waves that touch upon n
S shore of time, may we, like thes
" brothers whose memory We honor tt
|, night, pass from the scene. withou
e fear for the future or vain regrets fo
e the past.
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