The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1902-08-28

Reviewed by One VINO anew Him Best.
The following very interesting and
beautifully written eulogy to the
memory of the late lamented Judge
David W. Sloan was prepared and
read by his lifelong friend, General
Joseph W. Sprigg, at the meeting of
Potomac Lodge, No. 100, Ancient,
Free and Accepted Masons, held last
Wednesday evening:
Before action is taken upon the res
olutions presented by the committee,
l desire to avail myself of the oppor-
tunity to pay slight, simple, person
al tribute to the memory and charac-
ter of our departed friend and brother
We are thus again, my brothers, re-
minded of the uncertainty of human
life. You will doubtless remember.
that at our last regular communica-
ton | reported brother Sloan some
what improved. | thought then that
my information was reliable, and it
gave me great pleasure to communi-
cate it to this lodge. Two days there
after, however, brother Sloan was
summoned from this to "that all per-
feet, glorious and celestial Lodge
above, where the Supreme Architect
of the Universe presides." Yes, my
brothers, hard as it seems Especially
to mel to realize it, our worthy
brother, Judge David w. Sloan, is
dead and buried. He died on Satur-
day morning, August 9th, at II min
utes after o'clock, and was buried
at Frostburg the following Monday
afternoon. Had he lived until the
Goth of September brother Sloan
would have been SO years of age.
In the midst of life we are in
death" Man that is born of woman
is of few days and full of trouble:n
He cometh forth like flower and is
cut down; he fleeth as shadow and
continueth not "All that live must
die, passing through nature to etern-
lty." And, my brothers, how intrus-
i've is death. There is no age nor con-
dition into which it will not intrude
its presence. The humble and the
great, the rich and the poor, alike fall
before this enemy of mankind. Vain
man in his pride says: 81 will build
me larger houses into which to store
my goods" A small still voice in SOL
emn tones replies: "Thou fool, this
night shall thy soul be required of
thee" A dreamer sees in the dark
an ill-omened bird perched upon his
chamber door, and to his impreca-
lions he hears but one response
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS" There
is spirit which is constantly warn
ing:
Vain man, thy found pursuits forebear;
Repent, thy end is nigh.
Death, at furthest, can't be far,
Oh! think before thou die
The youngest of us may, the oldest
OF us must, soon pass into that great
unknown world whence come no It'd
ings of those who have gone before.
Nature, experience, conscience, all
continually sound in our ears the mel
ancholy truth.
To die-to sleep:
To Sleep perchance to dream; aye there's
the rub,
For in that sleep of death what dreams
may come,
When we have shuffied of this mortal coil.
Must give us pause"
Ihave frequently thought how help
full, possibly, it might be of one, with
out himself dying, could realize and
experience what there must be in the
mind of well constituted man when
the shadows lengthen, when the final
stroke is near, when the inevitable
hour has almost come, when there is
in the ears the sound of the waters
of the mystic river, in the full possess
sion of all his faculties, with family
and friends gathered about his bed
side,-my brothers, what a feeling,
what an experience it must be. But,
my brothers, this cannot be. God has
ordered it otherwise. We must all
take the journey alone. No one can
take the fruits except he himself
pluck them as the final act of life here
and as the initial act of life hereafter.
But, my brothers, speculations
about such things, however seductive
they may be, and however we are
drawn to them from time to time as
the grave opens from time to time to
receive one after another of our kin
dred and friends, are ever specula-
lions which lead simply to more spec
ulations and which can only be ans
wered finally and demonstrated as to
their truthfulness or their baseless-
ness by our own experience. 1t is
helpful, 1T is worth while, however,
as we go along through life, with it's
trials and triumphs, with ali it's good
and bad deeds, sometimes satisfied
with what we do ourselves and at
other times greatly dissatisfied, some
times pleased with what our friends.
our neighbors or our fellow beings in
the great human family do, some
times with the aid of others trying to
accomplish what we regard as great
and good, sometimes exerting our
best energies, drawing all the force
and all the will and all the power that
we can command into the work of
overcoming or even destroying those
who do not think or see as we do; it is
well, | say, in all these varying and
trying experiences of life, in all its
peace and happiness, with all its fail
ures and all it's successes, when we
can recur to and dwell upon the life
of departed friend or relative who