Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1911-07-04

Kings xiii:2O and 2D. There SENS to be
in the lives of true men a quality like
that which fingered in the prophets
bones,-a power to make dead and dying
things live again. Their memories In
feet US with spirit of virtue like the
heroic goodness which dwelt In them.
They make the whole earth wholesome,
says Emerson. and he quotes in support
of the affirmation the saying of the
Chinese Mencius who declared, "A sage
is the instructor of a hundred years.
When the manners of Loo are heard of.
the stupid become intelligent, and the
wavering, determined
This view Of great men is correct That
nation is richest which has the most Of
such men in memory and in fact; poor
is the people who have none such from
whose lives to draw instruction and in
spiration. 1t is worth while, therefore,
for nations to make the most of such
treasures Of greatness and goodness not
so much to pay a debt of honor to the
dead as to preserve a source of blessing
for the living. When the orators of Ath-
ems wished to arouse that tickle people to
deeds of heroism they pointed them to
Acropolis, glorified by the monuments to
the valour of their ancestors. The most
eloquent passage in classic literature is
the passage in which Demosthenes in
vokes the shades of those who died at
Marathon and Plataea to sanctify the
cause to which he called his countrymen.
The effect of his words was almost like
calling into the field two armies, one from
the ranks Of the living and another from
the tombs of the dead.
Our country, though young, is not poor
In the number and worth of its heroic
dead. The South alone is rich in such
T1,,k 10
fessed that we make too little of these
holy treasures. We allow our great men
to pass quickly into forgetfulness, fancy
ing that erecting monuments to their
memory is more matter Of useless SEN
timent than of lofty inspiration. In
horse-lot in middle Georgia is the tomb
Of one Of our governors who was ac-
counted in his day good enough and
great enough to have a county named
for him. James O. AndreEv a historic
figure In the history of the States and of
the whole country, sleeps in the village
cemetery at Oxford beneath the shadow
of low monument and high weeds.
1t is depressing to the living to OBJ
serve such neglect OF departed worthless
Men hesitate TO endure self-sacrifice when
their contemporaries seem to be inap-
preciative Of the services of their prede-
cessors.
The British Isles know and do better
about such matters than does our coun-
try. One can scarcely visit a village
in all Great Britain where he viii fail
to find some inspiring monument to the
good and faithful who nave gone before.
The whole country seems to be inoculat-
ed for the purpose Of producing greatness.
And the harvest of greatness which
those little Islands have reaped has more
than repaid all the care thus expended.
Old Bunhill Fields, where rest the re-
mains of Defoe, Susannah Wesley. John
Bunyan, and others is a FERTILE spot from
which moral worth must ever spring.
And just across the street from it is
City Road Chapel, in the churchyard
of which John Wesley sleeps. An acre
or two of ground there is full Of inspira-
ton to the entire English-speaAing world
Not far away is Westminster Abbey,
with its sepulchres of statesmen and
kings. And nearer still is ST. Pauls,
scarcely less rich In ITS historic tradi-
lions.
How differently we do things Jonathan
Edwards, man of most extraordinary
intellect and of the most extensive influ-