The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1912-12-06

his duties. For some time he
acted as secretary of the, Man
kato Commercial club. He was
later a member of the board of
public works, and in the capacity
of city assessor rendered valu-
able and acceptable. public sery-
ice. AS secretary of the Man
kato Fair association, he dis
played great energy and enthusi-
asm, traits which characterized
his whole career. He did nothing
by halves, but entered into every
thing he had to do. with q vim
and vigor and whole heart.
Affable and social, he made
many warm friends, and kept
them. He was a dependable
man who never betrayed a con-
fidence and looked with scOrn
upon him who did so. The soul
of honor himself, he expected
nothing less in return than to
be paid in the current coin of
square dealing and upright con-
duct. ....- ."-
Such. in brief, were our five
brothers. They were not great,
just common, ordinary men; but
failures they were not. Success
is not measured wholly in dol
lars and cents but also, in part,
by the amount of JOY one gets
out of life and the amount of
warm human sunshine one
brings into the world. Now hap
piness is flower, blooming as
freely in the cottages of the
poor as in the palaces of the
great. This benign arrange
ment in the economy of nature
leads to some strange results.
More successful and happy by far
was Ragnar the draughtsman,
crushed and sinned against that
he was, than the Master Builder
Himself, wide Of fame and vast
of fortune, striving to possess
the earth, yet trembling from
fear of the younger generation.
More successful and noble by far
the barefoot shepherd, tending
his fiocks by winding stream and
over heathery hills, than the
ruthless despoiler of a nations
resources ! in men and money.
More successful and grand by
far the ,Rustic bard who sang of
the daisy and sympathized with
the fiGdmouse whose nest his
plowskare ruined than the Cor
sicanj colonel who re-made the
map of Europe, then fell, fell
from his dizzy height, never to
rise again, except as a synonym
of force and murder. No, no.
Our friends were not great, yet
masters among their own and
successful in their way. De-
lightful companions all and
brothers who exemplified in
their lives as best they knew
and best they could the teach
ings of our order Were this
not so, we should not miss them
so or mourn them so. Yet are
we not like shipwrecked marin
ers on a gloomy night, unguid-
ed by the twinkliDg of a star?
entered the five towns and
heard Arnold Bennett describe
with sustained power and SYM
pathetic interest the physical
decline and death of a man who
had long been a great force in
the community in which he lived.
The picture awakened a sense
of sadness, but there was moth
ing unnatural and hopeless about
it; for it depicted the common
fate of man, the certain destiny
of us all.
This number on the program is
commonly spoken of as a eulogy.
To the living eulogy may indeed
serve purpose and enforce
lesson; but among the dead,
it is out of place and without
value. A poet-statesman has well
said:
''Tn the democracy of the dead,
all men at last are equal. There
is neither rank, station !, nor
prerogative in the J, republic of
the grave. At this fatal thresh-
hold the philosopher ceases to