The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1904-10-07

He was a man of strong friendships
who loved his friends and never tired of
doing for them. In few men was this
attribute so highly developed. He was
slow to accept statements against others,
always excusing their short comings,
nor was his friendship of the passive
kind. Many time have 4 heard him
defend some absent acquaintance with
spirit and vigor.
Pardon me if I illustrate this with
personal incident. Returning from
Europe five years ago our steamer was
long over due before she was reported,
causing much anxiety to friends who
are always apprehensive when the
ocean is factor in journeys delay.
On the fifth day Mr.. Gould drew money
from the bank in the morning making no
comment on his action but it afterwards
transpired that he intended to start for
the sea port, Montreal, that evening il
the boat was not heard from. A fool
ish thing to do many people will say
for what could he do to hasten an
ocean liner on her journey. Perhaps
from purely practical point of view,
1t was, but from the side of friendship
thousand times no. 1t will be sad
day for humanity when human i'm
pulses, friendships and anxieties are all
controlled by the spirit of the stock ex-
change
You recall the Boxer uprising in
China and how our townsman Rev. w.
S. Ament (Will Ament he will always
be to us who knew him in boyhood
though he should some day control an
empire) was shut APP in the Legation in
Pekin and how we waited day after day
for news of the final catastrophy. You
recall how his wife and mother, then
living here, waited in awful suspense
day after day hoping for and dreading
the news that the morrow might bring.
I missed Mr.. Gould from his accustomed
haunts for a time and finally found that
he had gone to Boston hoping by actual
presence to get some news from the
American Board. The only man of all
Mr.. Ament's Owosso friends who took
the journey hoping for news and COM
fort for the wife and mother.
Be ye not critical my practical friend
in the presence of friendship so nobly
realized as this.
Lucius Gould was not endowed with
strong constitution. Nature denied
him the blessing of vigorous physical
development, but she gave him mind
as unusual as the body was frail. He
had nice sense of literary discrimina-
tion and loved the beautiful and the
true in literature. A wide reader who
treasured what he read l question if
any person in this community possessed
as much information concerning as
many things as did our friend. How
many Of us who knew him have gone to
him for assistance in some literary or
scientific research. And how often we
received the aid we sought. He was
the literary storehouse of the city, never
knowing periods of famine, always
supplying the wants of needy friends
and neighbors.
Mr.. Gould's ability as a student in
history and research was put to practi-
cal purpose in unraveling the tangled
thread of legend and story of the early
settlement of this county. With pains
taking care did he trace vague stories to
their source, harmonize statements of
early settlers, search the records to
settle disputed points and he gave to it
all the local coloring and description
to make it vital, living reality,
this early life of the county. Shia-
wassee owes much to Lucius E.
Gould for preserving her early history
from oblivion and)how earnestly he
labored at it. Often at the close of a
day he would call ON me, his face aglow
with pleasure because he had unearthed
some needed fact to complete the chain
of story.
Many men may be successful
Fewer men are good.
Who shall judge of what constitutes successs
Any man can recognize goodness.
Many men push and shoulder their way like a
"Striver" through life.
Few men are gentle and kind.
Who shall judge OF the virtue that lies in striv.
ing and pushing and crowding way through
life at the expense OF others.
Who cannot recognize gentleness and kind.
ness
Many men have fluent speech that cuts and
stings an adversary.
Fewer men speak kindly OF all others.
Who can correctly judge OF the sincerity thai
lies behind silver tongue,
Who can fail to appreciate the mantle tha,
charity throws over ALL
Many men are quick to see faults and inflrmi
ties,
Few men see first the goodness that lies in O
human heart,
Who cares for the spirit that carps and finds
fault and belittles others,
Who does not admire the generous nature tha,
believes in fellow man.
Most men are delighted to receive,
Fewer practice the Joy of dividing what they
have with others.