Weekly journal-miner., 1908-12-09
Friends of Order Crowd Theatre in Honor Of Occasion and Listen to Judge Sloan Deliver Gracefully
 Fitting Address.

tro1~ Ot Wtnd, but it tS the dread and
 forehoding over what may happen or come Co us in the future. that is SO
 disquleting and causes us to grow old
 before our time Even death itself is usually and most generally faced
 without fear when it actually appears.
 To the healthy and normal mind the
 thought of having sooner or later to
 leave this world. which after all is said, is a very agreeable one. is not
 plcaSant and this is perfectly nat
 ural. Yet. it IS true. that this feel.
 ing may easily. and frequently does. degenerate into morbid and >unrea-
 soning dread. Life appears so sweet. that the prospect of leaving it spells for many much of its joy and satis.
 faction. I do not know if there be any antidntc for this species of | cowardicc. when it once takes posses. sion of man. but there are many ways by which one may fortify him. self against i, and one of these is on i occasions like this to calmly, justly. and couragcous!y contemplate t. and | dwell upon the thought. not in it's for | bidding aspects, but in inc spirit of cheerful optimism. that sees eompen. satiou and comfort ir an that nature | ha. m store for us.
 That serene old stoie. and pious ! pagan. Marcus Aurelius. has presented l ihi, aspect of the subject so well. that ! in all literature. ancient or modern. l nothing truer or more adapted to the 1 spirit of our age. mas ever been utter ed. Listen to what he says.
 | Death like birth is a mystery. The one composition ont of certain cle.
 ments, the other a decomposition into the same, both are in accord with ma. turc; why then fear death! Think of | all the changes that hath occurred in l thy life. and then ask myself concern. | ing any change that hath vet to be.
 is there anything to fear | am spirit
 and body. Neither will pass into
 noth!ngness. since neither came there. from; and therefore every part of me.
 though changed in form. will continue
 to be part of the universe. and that
 par; will change into another part. and so on through all the ages And
 therefore through such changes I my self exist. and. in like manner. those
 who preceded me. and those who will
 follow me will exist forever"
 To those who are haunted by and | shrink from the thought that "death may end all.' listen again to the com
 forting wisdom of the wise old Roman. How can it be that the Gods who
 have clothed the Universe with such beauty and ordered all things with such loving kindness for inc welfare of man, have neglected this alone,
 that men should never live again when | once they have died. If this be true. then be satisfied that it is best that it should be SO, else it would have
 been otherwise ordained. For what. ever is right and just is possible; and therefore if it he in accord with the
 will of the Divine Being that we ! should live after death, so it shall be.
 lBnt, if indeed it be otherwise, rest
 thou satisfied that this also is just
 and right, for we may believe that in the government of the Universe
 nothing that is just and right has been overlooked or forgotten"
 This appears to me to he the true spirit of optimism. To recognize the inevitable, to be prepared for i. by l familiarizing ourselves with the
 thought that death is as natural as
 life, that what all the past of our race
 have undergone we may undergo, and that what countless millions have suf. fered We may endure, is the highest wisdom and the truest philosophy.
 One day last summer 1 stood on n beautiful hillside in southern Ohio, surrounded by the graves of three gen erations of my people. Long absence or perhaps something in the quiet and serene atmosphere of the place stimuli. ated my imagination and produced an unusually impressionable and thought. ful mood. l felt as l wandered amid those sacred mounds the ties of kin.
 ship as l had never felt them before. This feeling was not limited to the living, nor even to those who in life had been the loved companions of my youth, but included those, even, whose
 names carved upon granite or marble served only to recall family legends almost forgotten. None seemed re- mote, but they seemed near, conscious of myself, and it appeared to me that their invisible forms were round and about me. Ever since the thought has remained with me that the ties of family and of blood, of common origin and association, reacn far beyond the confines of physical life, and unite ms, the living and dead, by real thought spiritual bonds of memory, sympathy, and affection. To feel that the ties which bound us together in life were not severed, when our friend bade us good bye, and passed to the beyond,
 to recall the scenes of other days when his eyes were as bright. his hand as
 warm, his laugh as light, and his
 presence as full of the joy of life as
 was ours, to remember his virtues, to dwell lovingly upon the peculiarities of mind and person which endeared
 him to us, humanizes us, enlarges our
 horizon, broadens our sympathies,
 strengthens our feelings of brother
 hood, and fits uA better fn disc m raa