The San Francisco call., 1910-06-26
few TO MOURN AT
The BIER OF POET
Funeral of Louis A. Robertson
Impresses Sad Lesson
Upon the Living
Clergyman Quotes Verses That
Were Penned in Agony of
Mind and Soul

Some one once said, In the moments
OF his popularity man is idolized and
the hand Of fellowship is extended to
him from all sides: but when the hand
OF death lays him low, how soon he is
forgotten" This was forcibly illus
trated yesterday morning in the Hagan
mortuary chapel when service was held
over the remains of Louis Alexander
Robertson, the poet who in life charmed
wide circle of friends, yet there were
not enough in attendance to fill the
little chapel to pay the last tribute to
his memory.
IMPRESSIVE REMARKS
The service was conducted with much
feeling by Rev. F. W. Clampett OF
Trinity church. who quoted from the
verse Of the dead poet TO emphasize
some brilliant thought In part he
said:
No man can stand in the pres
ence OF death without realizing
the strange impression OF life The
nature OF the average man IS so
complex, so filled with the infirmi-
ties and peculiar inconsistencies of
being, that the angel and the devil
seem TO fit in and out like the
phantoms Of a dream. How true,
awfully true, has il been of him
whose soul hath so lately taken its
in yonder casket.
THE POWER OF SONG
SO great is the compiexity, so ut
terly strange the inconsistency that
we are simply forced to surrender
our power of judgment. His fin
gers swept along the strings of the
harp of life. summoning at viii by
the power OF song the imps Of hell
and the angels Of heaven.
His life was as wild and weird
as his imagination. 1t reads like
the history of many lives in one.
The sweets Of wealth and the bit
terness Of poverty, the seduction of
unlawful passion running riot and
the imagination taking to itself
wings and soaring into the secret
places of the Most High, the pride
begotten OF matchless physique and
the terrible shame and remorse in
the vision OF the lrreparable wreck;
the shout of triumph in the beauti-
ful consciousness Of innate strength
in its Scotch Drawn and brain. and
the heart rending meanings of the
soul into whose vitals the pain
entered like a sword. I pity the
man who has not a great hot tear
10 mOisten the page of "Ataxia,"
for there YOU have the de profun-
dis" in one long, low minor.
THE CRY OF AGONY
True TO his own nature. lis song
Is simply the echo Of the man Lis
ten 10 him as he utters his cry,
wrung from the agony Of mind and
soul:
Ee weary. come TO
Ana ] VIII give you rest.
Have not bent the knee
And all my soul confessedz
Art thou a myth. o God. blind
Cropping in the gloom OF peace can not find
Oh shed one beam Of light
And when my flesh is wrung
Through sgony's long night
When all my life is hung
On retrospection's cross and when the spear
OF conscience strikes my soul, then be tho
near.
And so the man. who uttered that
prayer has passed into the pres
ense Of the Eternal. after whom he
thus ErOped- The soul OF Alex
ander Robertson is with his God.
The flower bedecked casket will b
taken 10 Cypress Lawn cemetery toda
and placed in the vault TO await in
structions from James V. Coleman, q
TO the final disposition Of the remain
For the simple yet impressive serl
ice the Bohemian club was represente
by William Greer Harrison. A NJ. Rot
ertson, George Sterling and II. NJ Sper
Ger. James V. Ckleman was represent
ed by A N. Randol, his secretar-
Among the most ardent admirers
the genius Of Robertson were G.
1&insey and Miss Minnie Williamson.