The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1904-04-01
DOOMED TO OBLIVION.
Such Is tho Fate That Awaits Us at
Deaths Door.

Such Is tho Fate That Awaits Us at
Deaths Door.
Senator Hanna has been dead how
long? 10 most Of us his death seen S
rather distant event; and yet 1t was
but nineteen days ago. February 16,
the day after, the country talked of
nothing else and all the newspapers
were full OF Hanna. Then came the
funeral and we had columns of de-
scription and Of apprL late reminis-
ccnce. Then we turned away from
the grave OF the most prominent mau
on the continent, and one Of the
strongest, and began to think Of some
thing else; and today we may search
the daily newspapers from end to end
without finding in them the name Of
llama, which occurred In some con-
nectiOn in almost every issue OF every
paper OF the country from 1896 to
i004Aten years the foremost man OF
the dominant political party, a leader
of Thought and action, applauded and
denounced, pictured until his face be-
came more familiar to us than that of
our nearest friend, attended by crowds
Eager to see one SO famous, pointed
out everywhere he went: and in ten
days almost forgot. We who live
may learn what our fates must be.
No matter how successful our lives,
how important we may think our
selves to be, we are doomed to oblivion
and dumb forgetfulness along with
our humble and 0bScured brothers and
sisters who are unknown even to their
next door neighbors. Nobody is es-
sential. Everybody's place can be
tiled, little as we may think it. We
loom large in our spheres and may
learn to believe and may make others
believe that we are the potent and
necessary forces. But we die, our
success ,rS are cilC sen and installed,
the world goes on its way and even
the special machinery we though we
were driving continues to run smooth
y without Il jar or a break and giving
no evidence that we have been or are
not. The presence once familiar and
pervaisc is present no more; the voice
that was heard anu was waited for,
respected, feared, which gave the
plans and the signals for action, is
.huShcd, to remain huShed forever:
but there is no vacancy AMI no stop
ping.
Our fate is n matter of knowledge,
not OF supposition. From the begin
ming of the world important men,
strong men, ruling men, kings, en-
perors, generals, leaders and masters
in all human cndeavor have died and
humanity and all the aifdirS Of the
world have moved right on, and pres
emily they nave been forgotten. Even
Of the very greatest little remains but
their nam and records. The men
themselves are lost. Nobody living
today knows the actual personality OF
George Washington or could form an
accurate mental picture of him We
know in Il general way how nc stood
and looked when he was posing for I,
picture OF la statue, and his height
and weight and the color of his eyes
and hair. but th(se are but details in
the mysterious thing we call person
ality and which neither pictures nor
statues can represent: We are doom
ed to be forgotten. 1t is pathetic in
one point Of view and comforting in
another. 1t is Slddening to think
that the memory of all our lives, so
vivid and intense to US, in which we
are engrOSSed, that all our activities,
all our triumphs and disappoint-
ments, large or small, shall pass away
with us. Our friends may cut our
names in stone, but two generations
hence the idle young people walking
through the cemetery will read those
names without recognition and with
no knowledge of who we are Of any
thing that we have done. Yet, if we
stopped TO mourn our dead, motion
would be wasted in lamentaticn. 1t
is wise and merciful decree that we
shall forget. The worlds work must
be done and humanity may not llngel
by its graves.
| this world and this life are all.
if our living here is not preparation
for living somewhere and somehow
else, if death is the end, all Of us may
realize how empty and idle and futile
it is. We cannot make anything that
viii! endure permanently or keep the
memory Of us or even our names alive.
The builders of the pyramids are for
gotten Nations which combined their
powers to establish great cities have
vanished, and tlseir cities with them.
If there is no life but this, our lives
have but little more dignity. meaning
or purpose than those OF the epheme-
ra, born With the sunshine and Old,
decaycd and dead at nightfall 1t is
hard TO understand the philosophy
which teaches that man with mem
Dry, inventive faculties, soul, purpose
and emotions, is made for nothing
more or better than this. Consider
ing life as Il period of preparation OF
as part of Il process Of evolution and
development, it is logical just and
has meaning and design. Consider
ing il rs thing beginning when we
are born into the world and finished
when we are buried out of the world.
it is empty, blank and purposclcss
and nothing remains worth striving
for but the qualification of the appe-
tites and needs we share with the
animals.
The memory of any human life
fadeSaS the waning day clouds To twi-
light and TO night. Human grief
vaniShes as the darkness gives way
little by little TO the coming of the
morning. None of us can hope to be
remembered long to Ia sc our names
or our doingS endure many years. 1t
should be a comfort to us to know, as
we do know, that the grief for us