Licking Valley courier. [volume] (West Liberty, Ky.) 19??-current, 1911-09-07
perfume of blooming flowers

tains are clothed in garments of
ice, and in summer the blistering
rays of the sun beat down upon
the skeleton Of the desert,
'Is there in this a picture of
universal life? Sometimes when
| look upon the circumstances of
life there comes to my lips a
curse. | relate to you only my
views. If these run counter to
yours, believe what | say is sin
cere When | see the ambitions
of a man defeated, Isee his aim
and purpose frustrated only by a
combination of circumstances
over which he can exert no con-
troll. | see his outstretched
hands about to grasp the flag OF
victory, and seize instead the en-
blem of defeat. | ask, what is
life? Dreams, awakening death.
Life is a pendulum betwixt a
smile and a tear. Life is but a
momentary halt within the waste
and then the nothing we set out
from. Life is a shadow, a Door
player, that struts and frets his
hour upon the stage and then
is heard no more. Life is a
child-blown bubble that reflects
the shadow of its environment
and is gone "a mockery, a sham,
a lie, a FOOLS vision, its happi-
piness but Dead Sea sapples, its
pain the crunching of a tyrant's
heel.
IF | have gagged Grannan's
character correctly, he accepted
the circumstances surrounding
him as the mystic officials to
whom the universe had delega-
ted its whole office concerning
him. He took defeat and victory
with equal equanimity. He was
a man of placid exterior. His
meteoric past shows him invinci-
lble in a spirit and is not irrever-
emily that l proclaim him a dead
game sport, When 1 use the
lJ.hrsse | do so flli 20 L as full q
practical human Philosophy as II
will hold. Riley Grammar fully
exemplifed the philosophy Of
those fugitive verses:
1T is easy enough to be happy
when life goes along like
song,
But the man worth while
Is the man who will smile
When everything goes dead
wrong.
For the test of the heart is
trouble,
And it always comes with thu
years,
And the smile that is worth tn
homage of earth
Is the smile that shines through
tears
There are those who will con
denim him. They believe that t
: day he is reaping the benefit o
a mispent life. There are thos
t who are dominated by medievs
) creeds. These | am not address
S ing. They are ruled by tn
S skeleton hand of the past. The
fail to see the moral side of
1 Sharcter lived outside of thei
| Puritanical ideas. Riley Gran
4 mons goodness was not of a typ
E that reached its highest NANTES
e tation in ceremonious piety.
t found its expression in the han
: clasp of friendship. 1t fonnd il
voice in the word of cheer to
i discouraged brother. His wer
Y deeds Of quiet charity. His wer
= acts of manhood.
i Riley Grammar lived in tn
5 world of sport. My words al
! not minced, because lam tellin
what | believe to be true.
4 was the world of sport, som,
= times hilarity, sometimes wors,
. He left the impress of his cha
acter upon us all, and throug
: the medium of his financial powt
e he was able with his money
I brighten the lives Of all wi
: knew him. He wasted his MOI
I ey, so the world says; but did
d ever occur to you that men al
women of such class upon who
d he wasted it are yet men al
h women? A little happine
a brought into their minds mea
o. as much to them as happine
u carried into the lives of {
d straight and the good. If y,
II can take one ray of sunshine