The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1904-06-15

honor to our common humanity; we are
here because we We're brothers iu life, and
because in death the members of the great
human family only lie the closer bound;
leveled here before us sleep the hundreds
that have in the years agone passed from
out their households into the everlasting
meadows whose shores are laved by the
waters of thu eternal river of death Here.
ir this hallowed soil. all the jealousies and
strifes of earth meet and co-mingle with
the joys of heaven; here. we all find the
open door to which none needs passport
here we shut our eyes in darkness to open
them in the brightness that glows in the
gardens of God.
There is no death, the stars go down
To rise upon some other shore:
Ana bright in heaven 5 Jeweied crown
They shine forever more
Our great fraternity honored these men
! in life, and in death they enriched US; they
barred their arms in the mighty struggle
that to the real Knight is but the budding
hope of eternal reward; tenderly we
brought them here ard laid them down.
nor sword nor spear. nor shining shield
marks tteir end. but as the lanterns of
night testud and illumine the sky, SO do
| their mighty lives enrich our little world;
| SO does their high hope here golden fruit
age find. All these died in the plentitude
of their powers and usefulness; but we
have been taught to believe that the earth
which hides our mortal frames in her
kindly bosom never covers from sight the
influences of the good we accomplish
| Kind deeds live longest in our memories,
| \ye 1yh rt,r ar
stronger for the lives that came here a
little while apart aud laid their burdens
down
| We who are brothers know because we
have testimonies innumerable that these
bore dauntless courage, and were animated
by high resolves we know of the tender
ness of their hearts and of their unstinted
love. And while we mourn their early de-
parture. we are glad because they have en-
tered into the temple and stand before tie
King who rewards the ever faithful knight
with greater riches than gold or precious
stones. To each true Knight the golden
spurs are but the outward symbols of that
richer reward laid up henceforth forever
more.
The world recks not of our flight; it
never tires. never stops. And yet all the
world is richer that the numblest of us
has lived here even for little while.
Time, relentless and unconquerable, wings
his weariless flight; but the good man
marks the steady progress upward and
forward Of the whole human race. We
pride ourselves upon our works and take
ljoy in our fame; but when death has taken
us hence only the sweet SAVIOR of the holy
influences that we cherished lived after US
The Supreme Architect and Master Build
er does not lack for craftsmen to take oul
places And when at last the arch enemy
overtakes US, and the working tools of life
fail from our nerveless hands, the stately
towers of our earthly temple-charactel
modelled to symmetry by lovely deeds-wil
shine resplendent in the deepening nigh
OF the grave.
''Oh, at this hour when air and earth
GuSh out with love and Joy and light
Il And songs of gladness hai. the birth
OF all that's beautiful and bright
Each pulse beats high. each heart is blowt
To flame; the spirit drinks the tone
OF higher worlds; and meltS away
In visions of eternal day"
1t is a noble faculty Of human nature
which enables US to see the stars beyone
the twilight of the tomb, which puts al
our sympathy, all our love and affection
our divine kinship, into harmony with the
/ spirits of our departed brothers. 1t Is
nothing less than divinity that prompts Il:
to mould and pattern ourlives after earth:
great God kept souls s-for when faith i:
lost, when honor dies, then man is dead
, Thus eternal life becomes the prize toware
which we set the mark of our calling, ane
honor and friendship and benevolence ar.
= the guideposts that point us to the path
/ way of the stars.
q When loan of Arc stood listening to tn
5 voices that told of danger to her beloved
i France, she counted not the cost, bu
bravely faced the fagot and the stake
! when Napoleon's form had been hidden il
the tomb all that was great in the art O
: war famed and flashed in the sunlight o
r the ages, and patriotic heroism took on
4 new lustre that shines now and will shin
i with increasing splendor as long as fore
v musl be used to compel right when tn
pagan philosopher, Socrates, drank tn
q hemlock, nor shrank at the fatal draugh
r generations of men would doreverence be
$ fore his sacred dust, while all memory {
; themselves would be lost in the wilderness
f of their wickedness; when Cromwell
r spirit was freed on the gallows in Edir
/: burgh, liberty sang for joy; when Wasf
d ington's tired soldiers at Lexington, an
s. Bunker Hill. and Yorktown flooded Britis
h greed with the red tide of their heart
e blood, every corpse spoke with tongue {
e flame; when the martyred Lincoln san
l. into dreamless rest after lifes night of toi
n the chimes of freedom rang tie deun
e around the world. So it is with thes
d graves where sleep our brothers. Fro
n these sodded mounds there come thousant
a tongued voices to remind us who linger 9
h the way that lit is not all Of life to liv
n nor all of death to die " These have wr
n ten their names into the lives of all the
brothers; we know that whether the mea
$. ure OF their opportunity was great or sma
~ their endeavor filled that measure to II
- brim.
They strove among Gods suffering poor
Il One CLEAN of brotherhood to send;
le The dungeon opened its hungry door,
n 10 give the truth one martyr more
re Then shutAAnd here behold the endn
lg AS the deathless spirit OF the immort
IN and inspiring Cicero still captivat.s ar
~. 4 u.