Putnam patriot. [volume] (Putnam, Conn.) 1872-1962, 1918-05-10


Thursday. wss held in conformity to
t#e wish he haa often expressed dur
Iae his life time. About Is people
altered a. the Congregational
church at 2 O'Clock Sunday afternoon,
where the service was conducted by
the pastor, Rev F. D. Sargent There
vas singing by a quartette composed
Of Misses Clara and Margaret Maer-
tens and J. Wallace Smith and Nelson
Lown. Miss Clara Maertens sang,
Why Do We Dwell in the Shadows"
and the quartette sang, Beautiful
Isle of Somewhere 3"
Rev. Mr.. Sargent then spoke as
follows.
We are here today to perform the
funeral rites OF man who has been
d citizen of this community for many
years We are in here as we'll to carry
out a special request that these ser
vices should be held in this place 1t
Is not for us to question the wisdom
on propriety of this desire on the part
of the man who in the church sense of
the term was not a religious man. 1t
is one of the accepted obligations of
humanity to regard as sacred dying
utterances, and while the fulfilling of
them may entail trouble, expense or
even unfriendly remark, we are glad
to do that which because of the alb
sence of the spirit could not be di-
rected by the man himself.
Not long ago person died in the
far west whose early home had been
in one of the New England states Be
fore he died he expressed the wish
that his remains might be brought
back to his early home and laid away
IN the old burying place of his child
hood. His family fulfilled that re-
quest even though it required a sac
lHce of time and money. They re
garded it as a sacred duty and one
that they gladly fulfilled.
We are not here to eulogiZe, or to
denounce, to excuse or to accuse the
man whose body rests in the casket.
lie had his faults, glazing ones some
would say. He had his good qualities
that rs the years increase will become
more apparent Possibly there is no
excited more comment or been more
widely known than Phineas G.
WRIGHT. Because of that notion
which he visualized by displaying it
on granite, people from all over the
country were eager to know more of
the man. To some the sentiment that
he caused to be chiselled at the base
Of his monument was an indication of
a disbelief In an hereafter, while to
the more thoughtful it simply declar-
ed that while he believed in an i'm
mortal life he had not that clearness
or vision or that religious faith that
would enable him to believe in the ac-
cepted tenets of the church on that
subj eet AS matter of fact, he was
only voicing a doubt which a large
number of people in every eommuni-
q have.
To more people than we might at
fest think the grave is a mystery Md
the futpre yelled Like the ancients
no enc knew what was beyond the
confines of time Ship after ship had
sailed cut into the darkness: but how
of Y aither the watchers knew not, for
never mad an inrolling wave brought
even SO much as tell-tale fragment
" here aid the millions go? Was
there brighter shore beyond the
gloomy line. 1t was chasm too
wide for man to jump. That was the
condition of mind in which the world
lived years ago, and not until Christ
came and not until the Christ is ac-
eepted as the Savior of the world, can
that condition be changed
&a hot
question the wisdom of the sentiment
that this man caused to be placed up
on the base of his monument, it real
ly showed at least two things, first
that he believed in immortality, and
second, that he had the courage to
make record of it. Years ago, lis
tened to that prince of orators, Rob
ert G. Ingersol. l think | never heard
his equal as a speaker, and more than
once have sat spell-bound under the
influence of his utterances that were
absolutely at varience with all that l
had been taught to believe. Robert
u. Ingersol was a man of power and
brains, but speaking after the stand
ards of the church and the teachings
of the Word, | had rather risk my fu-
ture Oh the declaration of Phineas G.
Wright chiseled upon his tombstone
than the utter desolation implied in
the teachings of Ingersol about the
future.
We are apt to form our judgment
of man by what we see and hear,
whereas Is may be that the man never
appears 10 the public what he is really
at heart Every man has his ideal or
standard Some men take pride in
dressing to the extreme of fashion. To
them bit of dust on the clothes or
garment that is not up TO date is al
most a crime, while others. like our
friend, delight to ride through the
streets in a rough suit of clothes and
with every indication of an utter dis
regard of every ordinary proprlety
or even laws of modern life. But in
either instance the man should not he
judged by the clothes he wears. Be
meath many a rough exterior there
beats q heart warm and tender. |
recall at one time attending burial
at the Grove street cemetery. and
when the service was over Mr. Wright
insisted that / should ride with him,
and as we were passing out OF the
yard he told me of his mother, and he
recited two or three stanzas OF a
hymn that she taught him, indicating
10 one that the memory Of that old
mother long since dead was more
than a sentiment, and while / do not
know i to be a fact, | have no doubt