The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1910-02-03
| n NJ { NJ 0 R | A NJ
INFLUENCE"
INFLUENCE"
Dedicated to the late Senator
Anselm J. McLaurin, By j.
]. Walker, COPIED from the
N. o. Picayune, Jan. 80, '10)

In little village, set upon high hills,
over which the sky bends lovingly, there
is a cemetery where numberless graves
testify to the antiquity of the place.
Great forest trees overshadow these
mounds. As the wind plays among the
branches of the trees the sunlight makes
a tracery of leaves in picturesque forms
upon glistening white marble.
Over old moss grown tombs semi-trop-
ical vines have thrown their trailing
glories, while wild flowers raise sweet
faces to the passer-by.
Birds sing undisturbed in the boughs of
oak, of cedar, of pine and of sweet
gum, plaintive melodies as we'll as
paenas of triumph
On forest-crested hills and in pictar-
esque glades the ancient dead dream
their dreamless sleep, undisturbed by
earthly alarm in sweeter, wilder, more
naturally beautiful Goods Acre" than
those of more costly mien.
Lately l stood there pensiyely gazing on
a newly made grave. 1t was covered by
embles of Immortality and of undying af-
fection-pure, exquisite flowers. 1t is the
grave of man who had been distinguished
among men for his record of brilliant
achievement. NotableS had come from far
and near to do honor to his memory, but
worldly aggrandizement, place and power
had no part in the thoughts which filled
my soul.
Place and power are transient, but the
influence of a good man never dies. The
CHEEKY smile, with cordial greeting, is the
sunshine that passes on from one to another
and gilds the earth with light that never
was on sea or land His stanch upholding
of right principles, his devotion to truth
for honor's sake, his loyalty to the Bible
and Christian citizenship, for which it
is the guide book-all these are forces
which shall make for good to the end
of time.
His answering faith and loyalty to
the lowly Jesus have had their influence
among men, which will be transmitted by
one to another until the waves of time
have broken upon the shores of eternity
This influence will bring an increment of
numberleSS good deeds to be laid at the
Masters feet
Near him sleeps his brothers whom he
loved with a love which the pen of man
cannot describe.
Just one step beyond rests a friend
whom he devotedly priced; comrades
in life, in death they were not divided.
Both men were cut off while in the acme
of intellectual power There had been
no long illness and no old age to bring
enfeebled perceptions.
How blessed to wake into fairer ex-
istence with the mind susceptible to the
keenest realization of intellectual bliss |!
One was a master of men and minds
in public life, the other in molding their
opinions by the weight of his pen. Both
having led strenuous existence, in the
worlds broad field of battle" they now
rests in peace after the heat and burden
of the day.
The voice of the nearby village the
drum beats of active life, pass by, undis-
turbing their slumbers. No more for
them the turmoil, the fret, the fever pluse
of modern life. Earthly cares can harrow,
earthly sorrows can distress them no longer.
Their pluses respond no more to the call
for action Far removed from the noisy
haunts of men, in this beautiful, restful
place, they sleep in the arms of Mother
earth.
This newly-made mound of soft, warm
earth bids one realize that the friend
who tenants these narrow confines may no
more speak the inspiring "Good morrow, .
or be the good Samaritan to the stranger
by the way, but one may also realize what
blessedness has come to him. One moment
here, surrounded by his loved ones and
the sacred associations of home, the next
caught up to heaven, among the very
own, there to clasp his long-lost chill
dren in his arms, and to be greeted by
father, mother and brothers. All are
transformed by the light of eternity,