The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1905-01-04
The Lexington Dispatch.
Wednesday, January q, 1905.
Memorial Of Hon. r. A. Meetze.

Memorial Of Hon. r. A. Leetze.
To the .2ditcr cf the Dispatch:
In view Of the prominence OF Hon.
H. A. Meetze in matters OF State and
Church, think some more extended no.
tice of his life should be printed than
has so far appeared. The best way, III
nv Judgment, to accomplish this. is
to procure for publication Of the ad
dresses made ut the exercises held in
memory Of him at the February term
of court as we can. leaving out the rcso-
lutions. which have already been pub
lished. and the formal part of the exer-
cisies. If you will kindly print these
addresses in installments, I will furn-
ish as many of them as l can get the
SiN'''> '> " p''( G. NJ. EFIRD.
EUIOGY, e. T. GRAHAM. ESQ.
Mr. Graham said.
1t is my sad duty TO inform the court
of the death Of Major Henry A. Meetze.
the nestor of this bar. which occurred
on the 18th day Of January last.
There is something about the fact or
condition which we term death that
challenges our attention, yet it is not
death that halts us and sets new thoughts
in motion. It is life we are thinking
about. 1t is life that fills us with emo
ton; life that wrings our hearts and
heats our brains. Life is the marvel Of
our age, the perpetual problem of men.
1t is the life Of our friend that we re-
member. We care nothingfo the trans
formation which we know as death. We
hasten to forget it in all it's incidents,
but the life is with us forever. It's place
in the memory is kept garnished and
clean continually as the years come and
20. We would not, if we could. let 20
the hope that some day, when the time
is ripe, souls shall meet again. How
cherries the days and months and years
would be to the family of the deceased
brother were they deprived Of the hope
to see again and to love the man whose
presence to then, in their happy home in
Lexington was 50 dear, SO hopeful and
cheering. No, no! it is not death that
interests US, but life; for life is real,
continuing eternal.
We are told that death is no respectCr
of persons. ''He is black camel that
kneels at the feet Of ALL He knocksat
the cabins of the poor and the palaces of
kings. He crosses the threshold of the
peasant and the statesman, and hangs
his Grape upon every door without re-
gard to rank or age or sex.
You Honor, amid the many pressing
and onerous duties devolving upon us it
is eminently right and proper that we
should pause for one day to pay the last
sad rights to the name and memory OF
our deceased brother, Henry A. Meetze.
the honored and illustrious lawyer, citl-
zen and statesman.
How shall we study Maj. Meetze's life
and how shall we measure him? Shall
we begin by ignoring these things which
made bim what he was, or substituting
another life fer his? Shall we construct
our ideal man and then describe and
praise our own creation, or shall we
rather do in his own case as he would
have done in ours; take up his life as he
lived it and look at that?
AS the sands Of the sea are different
and one star differs from another star in
glory, so that the life Of one man differs
from another; yet to understand the
motives which impelmen to actions is
quite as important as it is that we un-
derstand the medicinal properties Of the
food we eat Our lives are effected by
the lives Of other men. Our thoughts
are Influenced by their thoughts. Our
opinions are largely made up of what
was formed in other minds before it
lodged i'll ours. Our physical movements,
our social department., our habits Of
thoughts, our manner of speech, our
gestures, all that we are and all that we
do before our fellow men, all that goes
to make up our lives, is as much an as
similation for what was said and is be-
ing said and done by persons around US
as our bodies are made up Of vital es
sence that grow in the grass and on the
trees. These grand characters that stand
out among their fellows like peaks in
mountain ranges, and that we see afar
off as we see cliffs and promontories Oh
the shore line Of the sea, are the men
that move the world. Their thoughts
take lodg,nent i'll our minds and reap
pear in the literature Of the times; their
style and manner of speech are copied
wherever language is written and deeds
are proclaimed.
Maj. MeetZe was born in this county
in 1920. He was educated in the schools
of this county, and after completing his
education he entered the office of John
Addison, who was the Commissioner Of
Equity, as his assistant, and while there
he began reading law Mr.. Addison's
death occurring the following year, Mr..
Meetze was appointed to succeed him,
and held the office of Commissioner Of
Equity until it was abolished III 1868.
Previous to this, however, he had com
pleted the law course he was pursuing
and was admitted to the bar in 1913. At