The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-05-04
From the New York Times.

~N1 IKE the events nat propoiieo HVCI the pen of Bret Harte was one k which occurred recently at Rawhide, Nev-the death and funeral of Riley Grammar, race track plunger and mining town saloonkeeper. No stranger scene was described by the chronicler of the Argonauts than this funeral in the new town which is at the doors of civilization.
 Shielded by an oilcloth blanket, the coffin of Grammar was borne in com mon express wagon down Rawhide avenue from the tent of the camps undertaken. The services were held in variety theatre in the rear of a sa- loon, Here gathered women in silks, men in corduroys, miners in grimy oyeralls, prospectors, merchants, brokers bartenders and gamblers.
 There was not regular minister to preach the funeral sermon. Friends of Grammar drafted Herman W. Knick- erbocker, formerly a Methodist preach CT. who had been cast out of the fold for heresy He had become mine operator at Gildfeld, and recently had been prospecting throughout Nevada and become a pioneer in the RaWhide district. He appeared beside the cof- fin. which was covered with lilies, in the rough anu stained clothes of . miner, with high boots completing the costume With his voice often break ing, he delivered a strange discourse that brought tears to the eyes of many hardened ones among his hearers
 q feel that it is incumbent upon me now to state that in standing here l occupy no ministerial or prelate posi- tion." he said. q am only a prospec- tor I make no claim whatever to moral merit or religion, except the re- ligion of humanity, the brotherhood or man. I stand among you today simply as a man among men, feeling that l can shake hands and say brother to the yilest man or woman who ever lived.
 Riley Grammar accepted the circum- stances surrounding him. He was man whose exterior was as placid and gentle as I have ever seen, and yet when we look back over his meteoric past, we can readily understand, II this statement be true, that he was absolutely invincible in spirit. If you will ollow me, I will use a phrase most of you are acquainted with. He was a dead game sport I say it not irreverently, but fill the phrase as full of practical human philosophy as 1t will hold, and I believe that when you can say one is dead game sport you have reached the climax of human k philosophy.
 q know that there are those who will condemn him. There are tn ose ] who believe today that he is reaping the reward of msspent life. There are those who are dominated by me- diaeval creeds. To these l have no words to say in regard to him. They are ruled by the skeleton hand of the past. and fail to see the mortal beau ty of a character lived outside their puritanical ideas.
 His goodness was not of the type that reached its highest manifestations l in any ceremonial piety. It was of the type that finds expression in the | handclasp, in a word of cheer to al | discouraged brother, in quiet deeds or character, in friendship, the sweetest flower that blooms along the dusty highway of life; the type that finds expression in manhood.
 1 "He lived in the world of sport. l do 1 not minee my words. In the world of sport--hilarity sometimes, and may be worse. He left the impress or ms character on this world, and through the medium of his financial power he i was able with his money to brighten the lives of its inhabitants. He wasted it, the world says.
 "A little happiness brought into their lives means as much to them as hap piness brought into the lives of the straight and good. If you can take one ray of sunlight into the night life and thereby. bring them one sing c hour of happiness, I believe you are A benefactor. He may have wasted some of his money this way.
 "Did you ever stop to think how God does not put all of His sunbeams into corn, potatoes and flour? Did you ever notice the prodigality with which He
 scatters these sunbeams over the uni
 verse? Contemplate. God filings the auroral beauties around the cold | shoulders of the earth. hangs the quiv- ering picture of the mirage above the palpitating heart of the desert. Wasted
 sunbeams Are these?
 This may be infidelity, but if it is