The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1912-06-27

obedience to wills that had not nlnched before
the wrath Of kings.
On the thirtieth Of June the orator for the
celebration at Quincy called upon Adams in
his home and asked for toast. 81 give you,
said the feeble patriarch, Independence for
ever!" Asked If he desired to add anything to
the sentiment. the old hero replied: met
word"
The great day dawned and John Adams still
lived. But the candle had burned to its socket
and could give but feeble flicker. "'Tis
great day! IT'S good day" he said to the
anxious relatives who surrounded his bed. Rea-
son wavered but the futterng mind in its last
earthly moments recalled the friend of Month
celo-the old comrade who had stood with
him shoulder to shoulder in the fight for free
DOM Thomas jefferson still survives" he
murmured in voice so feeble that the last syl-
tables were scarcely dstnguishable. Those
were his last words. His spirit departed with
the descending sun.
He died in error. Thomas Jefferson did not
survive. For days the good Democrat had felt
the approach of death and had prepared for It,
desiring only that he might live until the
Fourth. On the third the stupor into which he
had fallen became almost continuous. An,
DOCTOR" he said, awakening in the night "are
you still there Is it is Fourth" ut soon will
be-" answered the physician. AS midnight APP
preached those watching noted anxiously the
passing of the minutes. hoping and praying
that the feeble thread might hold and death
be hallowed by the great anniversary. The
wish was granted. Not until fifty minutes past
the meridian did the soul of the great COM
moner exchange immortaties.
1t before the days of telegraphs and
railroads. The news spread slowly. Five days
elapsed ere the denizens of Baltimore and
Washington learned Of what had happened at
Brantree. Meantime the inhabitants of Vir-
gnia and neighboring states mourned the
death of Jefferson marveling greatly over the
strange coincidence that one who had been
the author of the Declaration should die upon
the fftieth anniversary of its adoption.
Then came the news from the north and
men realized that not one but two patriarchs
OF liberty had departed the day when hearts
were bounding with Joy over blessings which
sires of former age had handed downfall
almost simultaneously these two had been
translated in the midst Of the accamations Of
millions to the judgment of their God Had
steeds and charots of fire descended to fake
up these partners in earthly fame and coheirs
of eternity It might perhaps have been more
wonderful but not more glorious.
AS the news spread over the land to the vii
lagos and the hamlets lit raised everywhere
thrill of emotion. such as has never been
wall of grief, such as is drawn forth by the
sense of privation by the less of valuable lives
The advanced age Of the persons, if nothing
else, neutralized that 1t was the offspring of
the mixture OF feelings, the chief of which
was the surprise at the strangeness of the oc-
currence veneration for the men themselves
and delight in the splen dor which it would re-
fleet upon page of the national annals Ger
tainly the fabulous passing away Of the first
n plU tho
in the midst of elementary chaos, does not
compare with it in grandeur Men loved to
meet each other and to dwell on the most
minute particulars, as they were seduously
laid before the public by the newspapers and
TO read the comments raised to unusual elo.
quence by the tone of the general mind"
Never has it fallen to the lot of any com
mander' wrote the adjutant general, Ito an
nounce to an army such an event as now calls
forth the mingled grief and establishment of
the republic Never since history first wrote
the first record of time has one day thus min.
ged every triumph with every tender emotion
and consecrated nations joy by blending 1t
with the most sacred of sorrows"
For weeks the newspapers contained little
else but descriptions of the lives and deaths of
the departed patriots. In every city i'm the
land memorial meetings searched sacred and
profane history for parallel. OF the hun.
ureus OF sucn oratlons one at least VIII sur
vve, Websters classic on adams and Jeffer.
SON." In his message to Congress- the noble
son OF a noble father, in calling attention TO
the country's loss reverently announced that
the time, the manner, the coincidence are Wis.
ible and palpable marks of Divine favor. for
which I would humble myself in grateful and
silent alteration before the Ruler OF the Uni.
verse"
Nor was such language extravagant The
passing of the two patriots formed not only
the strangest coincidence in the annals OF
mankind. but II marked the end of an era--of
the heroic age of American history