The Washington times., 1919-12-14

When Men Die.
Their asst Words.
Character Revealed.
What win You Say?
~ ARTHUR BRISBANE

4H - werlfs q stage, and all
- ~ women merely play.
- 0ey Ave their exits and their
43sr1aees3 and one man In his
49, lsays 1any parts"
IL there II any child, over twelve
years, in your house that does not
nov the rest OF that, 20 to the
bookstore and buy q complete edi-
uon OF Shakespeare. 1t need not
cost much.
A house without Shakespeare,
the Bible, good dictionary, and a
good encyclopedia Ia like a ma
cnfne shop without tools, or worse,
nke q restaurant without food.
All men and women have their
exits and their entrances"
Thsy all enter the world crying,
oa1ptAg for breath. They all leave
gAsping for breath. A majority
groak and small say nothing as
thsy 90, their race is done, and
0ey are tired. a few, at their
exit, say something worth re-
De1tiAg.
Men are stimulated by the last
words Of . powerful man. II makes
them wish that they might live IN
such q way a. to make their dying
words worth while.
No thinking man reads unmoved
what the intellectual giant, Newton,
saao, near the close OF his life:
Il - nst knsw wnot 1 may ap-
eor = Ne WoR11J but te myself
I Deeu = lave boeu enly Ike
~ llnyhg - tAe seashere, anl
everdng nyse6 n now Or then
hnd1ng . sneether peAb1e Or .
pretties shell t1an erdlnsry, whilst
the great eeean ef truth hay all
un1iseevered before He.'
he had invented the mathemat-
heal shorthand, called ID fYerential
ealculus;" had formulated the law
q gravitation, and will stand while
mans memory lasts among the
giants Of time.
He was great because he knew
how LITTLE he knew. Tell that
70 your ambitious son.
Many men, smaller than New
ton, rsvel in their own importance
to the last.
Marshal New. who fought for
Napoleon, then BETRAYED those for
whom he had agreed to betray
Napoleon, said before his despe-
rate charge as. the Battle of Water
loo was ending:
~Coas and zee hew q marshal of
Franee can de-"
Addison. the poet, sent for his
wicked, wild young stepson. Lord
Warwick.
Il hsSs ssntsfw - hat vvu
01y - ~ = Christian can die" |"
A plncky Frenchman IN the reve-
luton, member of the chamber,
was told by woriImen whom he
asked to help build barbados:
I'VE won't risk our lives to help
you keep your twenty-five francs
a day" 1.-THE amount of his salary.
He replied:
Il win show YOU how a man can
die for twenty-6ve~francs a day"
Murat, another marshal. SON of
an innkeeper. whom Napoleon
pushed ahead. giving him his SIS
ter in marriage and making him
King OF Naples, was, according to
Napoleon, the best cavalry officer
IN Europe, and. according to many
young women. the best looking
man. When ne faced the firing
squad, he said:
Save my face. aim at my heart
Lord Chesterfield, who was in
politeness what Brummell was in
dress, said as he died:
6ive Dayrolles chair
Polite to the last
According to Boswell's Johnson,
Chesterfield said of himself and
Lord Tyrawiey, when both were
old, what many, no longer useful,
might say:
Tyrawiey and / have both been
dad these tive years, but we don't
ehosse - have h known"
Samuel Johnson, so often bitter
in life. was gentle enough at the
end:
~Ged bless you, my DEAR were
his last words to the young daugh-
ter of a friend.
DR.. Wolcott's last words. 20 lis
doctor, who asked what he could do
for him, were:
sGive Ne back my YOUTH
Few men, II wise. wou'l say
that He who has gone through
life and Ii going out with a fairly
good record should be grateful. not
ask the risk Of going through 1t
again.
The most pethetic last words are
those Of Francis Bacon. greatest
philosophical mind since Aristotle,
born almost two thousand wears
before him. Bacon died dis0raced.
bat his work has been teaching
men for more than three hundred
years
Fer ny name and memory. I
leave Il to mems charitable
speeches, to foreign nations. and
70 the next ages"
He would not be disappointed il