The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1907-07-27

In the obsequies of the late Mayor
Bliss yesterday afternoon. the Rev.
Percival n. Whaley, rector of Christ
Episcopal Church paid the following
tribute to the late mayor in his
public relations, both as a public
spirited private citizen and as the
head of the city government:
Mr.. WhaIeys Address.
Among the ancient Egyptians 1t
was customary, after ones death, to
try, at the bar of a formal tribunal,
the man in respect to character before
permission for burial was granted
Even down to recent times in Egypt,
before burial is permitted, there must
be one witness to the good character
of the departed.
On this old custom We have the
form which embodies fact no less
common with us than with them.
There is now, of course. no liked
tribunal. nc literal bar o. decision, yet,
in absolute fact, when man dies, he
does appear before a certain sort OF
Judgement in this world a court OF
public opinion, composed of friends
and enemies, which speaks more free
ly than formerly, when as yet, the por-
tai of the grave have not been opened
to receive the new inmate.
Human character is positive,
but elusive thing, which seldom gets
its dues till after that hour of death,
when success and failure are no
longer within the sphere Of possibility.
The man dies. and then, in the just
flush of the news, silence OF I'M
speaking harmony blows the Zephyrs
Of fhn hrrC of rho
e@ning over the motionlessfb body. The
within of decay rests for awhile from
criticism, reposes in a kind Of proph-
ecy of the long quiescense which
reign in the temples of the dead-Soon
judgement upon the man
sheds its rays of praise and blame.
The first silences are broken, and
voices Of friends and foes begin to
dissect his character.
ut Is only as years recede, and the
of history come into play,
that any fair and final judgment can
be made. The passions of friends
and enemies distort the legitimate
correctness of view, when what the
man was and did are all that we have
to guide our opinions. No longer can
the living tongue interpret its own ut
terances and explain it's own actions.
The mans sayings and dOingS are In
the cold storage of the past, and fur
nish the only clue to interpreting him
self and his life.
LAS principle of human-logic, it
is a sound and safe method of judg-
ment, yet when you advance into the
region of moral sentiments, it is vital
ly defective because it leaves out of
the consideration the motives of heart
and head which are behind the visible
throne of all finite performances
Thus the frigid deductions Of cold log
ic based upon the words and acts
of the dead, leave you with but one
of life's equation, the other
one of which cannot be determined
till we reach that future abode where
the motives of life become as lumin-
Gus as the things of life. where we
shall find a higher law of judgement
and a sublimer criticism of character.
"a public man is always more or
less of an idol or victim. the idol of
his followers and the victim of his op-
pOnents, and some times, too, of his
friends. If public Office is public
trust, then its horizons transcend, by
far, the Judgment of individuals, while
the eXactions of legal and technical
position are never to be taken as final |
tiles in deciding upon personal and prf- |
vate character, few, very few, have
been the exceptions, where the facts