The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-05-11

nation or the world, and TO his worth
and character they were bowling today
in deep respect
1t was given to few men to live so
long and SO well. His earthly career
had been marvellous.
1t was not rare, said he that a man.
succeeded i'm some one relation, or
even in two or three relations of life,
'but to find a man whose life stretches
across near a century, growing out of
hard days and sore trials of poverty
and temptation, without a tinge of
failure or compromise of the majes
ty of a noble character, is a marvel
Gus tribute not only to him, but to the
redemptive grace that in him worked"
That he was we'll born, his life and his.
character showed plainly. 1t took long
generations of good breedin gto have
so strongly marked his majestice fea-
lures to so endoW his every move
ment with native grace and majesty.
1t was breeding which had given him
the lustre of his eye, quickening, to
flame at his thought. But his StalWart
character he built himself, his mind
and his heart which his success and
his money exemplified he did not get
from birth.
mo man ever owed less to academic
training, said he; "and today he
stands in the annals of the South the
greatest patron of higher education
she has ever known
Mr.. Duke had been born in a scan
ty world, in n day Of scanty advan-
tages, when 4 colonial dwelling was 2
plain house. He had no resources Of
success, save the resource of personal
character
After you have studied Schiller's
works" quoted the speaker, study
Schiller!"
HE broke the circumstances about
him and made himself a free man."
He had never believed that he had
achieved more than any other man
might Mature gave him a magnifi-
cent body which the years could not
stoop." Though his feet might totter.
his brain never did. Never did death
assault citadel Of life better en-
trenched than his. And what nature
had given him. he preserved by the
recttude Of his life"
DIR. <ilgo spoke of Mr.. Dukes great
powers of mind and body in his old
age. OF his retentive memory, which
when age had somewhat dimmed it,
gave him intellectual Impotence.
Never was he impatient, he declared,
except when his memory failed him
momentarily and would not do his
will. ''He had a sound judgment,
never crazed by passion, blinded by
prejudice or paralyzed through selfish
intellectual insight which never di-
verged. but went straight towards the
central fact, his brain WOI ked almost
intuitively. He spoke at length upon
Mr.. Dukes sincerity, of his faithful-
ness to his friends, of the great moral
force and moral will power that lay
back of and animated and directed all
his faculties He spoke of his faith
and of his courage. OF his kindness
to all men. He though hard of no
man, he declared, and there did not
live the man who could say he had
ever heard Mr.. Duke speak hard Of
any man, however great the provoca-
ton. His philanthropy could not be
understood i'm the light of his gifts
alone. Philanthropy was not exhaust
ed i'm giving He referred to the gem
tie smile he showed when he met Il
child, of his kind word to the humblest
negro that he met, of the tear ready to
course down his cheek at any tale Of
sorrow or of suffering. What was the
consuming desire. of his soul, striking
through his character to the centre?
1t was home. Travel had no induce
ments for him. Among the last things
he said, when his illness had reached
the point at which his faculties were
somewhat impaired was to reply to
an offer of assistance, Nothing but /
want to go home"
But his soul was never unconscious
his faith never shaken. he wanted also
to go home to that 'Wonderful Coun-
try of the hymn.
The speaker referred eloquently to
the dead mans social and church life,
his faithfulness TO his friends, to his
beliefs and to his church. The clasp
of his hand betokened a friendship
that others did not quite have.
For SeyentY-three years he had been
q me NIL oh
country lad, through poverty and in
wealth, sad and in JOY through lonli-
ness and glad associations through
peace and war; day and night, temp
tation sore, prosperity glad, he walked
with single heart and kept spotless
his church VOWS on which no man
dare say there had ever been a shad-
ow cast
He spoke of Mr.. Dukes simple life.
his homely days, his walking to the
church from his nearby home to wor-
ship, his greetings to the congrega-
ton, to his friends and to strangers.
No man worshipped God with more
simplicity or sincerity than Washing
ton Duke. He had, said he a males
ty on earth glory in the skies, eter-
nal power over the men who knew
him for good. Referring to his faith
In the church and i'm God he compar-
ed the dead eloquently to a great ship,
drifting along a strange coast, seek
ing an opening into the Wonderful
Country. He spoke again with the
greatest tenderness and feeling of Mr..
Dukes grace, of his simplicity, of his
majesty OF his religion
And at the end of a flight of earn
est eloquence he told of how he had
said near the end of his life that he
was ready to go, that he had but one
objection to dying:
Il should like to go; / am ready to
60 but you know | hate to leave the
boys"
Lead up to as this simple heart in
sight of the old mar was, the effect
was marvellous. Sobs went through
the church, and tears glistened i'm
hundreds Of eyes
DIR. Kilgo closed speaking to the
family as he knew the father would
have spoken to them, as to what he
would have wanted them to be and do.
In its effect upon the congregation. the
closing minutes of the eulogy were
deeply affecting.
Services at the Grave.
After the church services. the pro-
cession formed and moved to the Gem
etery where the burial services were
conducted by Rev. w. L. Cunningham