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 In Memoriam. 
 
 HOir. HENHY M. SPOFFOHD. 
 
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IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 HEINHY T>1. !Bil?OFFOIM>. 
 
 [From the Pulasld (Tenii.) Citizen, Aug. 26, ISSO.] 
 
 OX last Wednesday a telegram siniinioiied Major J. B. Siacy and 
 Dr. C. C. Abernatliy to Cincinnati, conveying also tlie sad infor- 
 mation tliat Judge H. M. Spofford was tliouglit to lie dying at Red 
 Sulphur Springs, West Va. Tliey left on tlie next train, and met Mrs. 
 Sixiffunl in Cincinnati, where she has been for several weeks, and pro- 
 ceeded thence to Judge Spofford's bedside, but before they arrived 
 death came to relieve him of snfiei'ing. He expii-ed at 8 o'clock Friday 
 morning, Aug. 20, of abscess of ihe liver. 
 
 Judge H. M. SroFFOED was bmii in Gilmanton, N. H., Se|it. 8, 
 1821. He was a graduate— with highest honors — of Amherst College, 
 Massachusetts, and located in Slireveport, La., in 1845, and at once 
 entered upon the [)ractice of law. He early gave promise of a brilliant 
 future, and rapidly rose at the bar. In 1854 he was elected to the Su- 
 preme Bench of Lor.isiana, and filled that exalted station with signal 
 credit until he resigned in 1858, returning to the practice of his profes- 
 sion and to the achievement of those honors which cluster so thickly 
 about his name and make his memory imperishable. Possessing great 
 wealth, and having risen to the highest attainable emitience in his pro- 
 fession, politics had little that could allure him; he nevertheless ac- 
 cepted an election to the Uiiiteil States Senate, in 1877, by the Nicholls 
 Legislature. How he was cheated of his office by the Republican Sen- 
 ate, and how a Democratic Senate has signally disgraced itself by fail- 
 
In Memoriam. 
 
 ing to undo tli:\t great wrong, are known to tlie public. He never once 
 wavered in liis struggle bel'ore tlie Senate, pursuing it, as he lias told 
 us, because lie tliouglit it due to the people who had elected him tliat 
 he should devote all his energies to securing the office for tlieui. It is 
 a matter of little doubt that the heavy weight of this great wrong niion 
 his niiinl, and the harassing cares of a prosecution he never permitted 
 to waver, hastened his death at so unfortunate a juncture. 
 
 Jiiilge Spofford was united in marriage with Miss Ojihelia M.niin, 
 daughter of our late honored citizen, Thomas Martin, E.-q., in 181)0. 
 To tlieni were born three children, all of whom are yet living. 
 
 Judge Spofford left New Orleans on the 18th of March la.st and 
 came to Pulaski, when he was almost immediately taken down with the 
 disease that has iiarassed him for two years — a liver complaint. He 
 lay for some time at the point of death, but skillful treatment baffled 
 the disease to that e.xtent that he was able in a few weeks to go to Bai- 
 ley Springs, wliere he spent two or three weeks, and returned better. 
 About a monlii ago ho went to Cincinnati to consult physicians, and 
 from thence went to Red Sulphur Springs, West Va., in company with 
 his son, where his earthly career closed. 
 
 On last Tuesday morning, at 11 o'clock, the remains of Juilge Spof- 
 ford arrived in Pulaski by special car, accompanied by Mrs. Spoflbrd 
 and her son Thomas, with Jlrs. George Martin, a widow of a brother 
 of Thomas Martin, deceased, and her son, Mr. Martin, of Columbia, 
 Hon. Aiiisworth R. S|)off>rd, Lilirarian of Congress, Dr. C. C Aber- 
 nathy, Mr. Hugh C. Topp, and Major J. B. Stacy. The train was 
 met at the depot by several hundred of our people, and the remains 
 were taken in charge liy the pall-bearers appointed at a meeting of our 
 citiz'^ns the day before. The procession moved slowly to the late resi- 
 dence of Major Hugh F. Ewing, on First Street, which had been fitted 
 up for the reception of the family (their residence on Second Street 
 being in process of repairs), where the remains were deposited until 5 
 o'clock, when they were conveyed to the M. E. Church. Out of respect 
 for the eminent dead, and under a proclamation of the Mayor, all bus- 
 iness was suspended, and Pulaski en ma-sge drooped its head in solemn 
 
Henry M. Spofford. 
 
 soi'i'ow in honi.'ige ami Inve for tlie great man thus brought low by the 
 grim hand of death. At the M. E. Church, at 5 o'clock, one of the 
 largest audiences ever assembled in Puhxski met to pay the last sad 
 tribute of respect to the mortal remains of the honored dead. The pul- 
 pit and altar iiad been elaborately draped in moniuing, in testimony 
 of sorrow, and Dr. W. M. Leftwicii pronounced the most touchingly 
 beautiful and pnifcmnd funeral oration we ever heard upon such an oc- 
 casion. It abounded in grand thouglits and lessons drawn from tlie 
 eminent success and faultless life of the deceased, and was a lofiy 
 tribute to his memory. 
 
 At 0:15 the cortege started for the New Cemetery, where the last 
 sad rites were said, the bitterest tears dropped, and the mortal remains 
 of Henry M. Spofford were deposited in the spacious family vault, 
 close beside those of the family gone before. 
 
 Tiius has passed away forever one of the grandest men of tlie times. 
 Profound in all the science-!, versed in literature and history, eminent 
 in law and p<iliiic-', and grand in all, he stood the peer of the greatest. 
 
 MEETING OP THE CITIZENS. 
 
 Pursuant to notice, a meeting of the citizens of Pulaski and Giles 
 county was called at tlie Court-house on Saturday evening, Aug. 21, 
 1880, to pass suitable resolutions i-elative to the death of the Hon. 
 H. ]\I. Spofford. On motion, Col. Solon E. Rose was elected Chair- 
 man, and Charles P. Jones, Secretary. The following resolutions were 
 then [iresented by the Hon. Thomas M. Jones: 
 
 Whereas, The painful intelligence has reached us of the death of the Hon. 
 H. M. Spofford, who, although a citizen of the State of Louisiana, has for 
 many years lived a portion of his time in the town of Pulaski, and by his gen- 
 tlemanly bearing and urbane deportment endeared himself to our citizens: 
 
 Be it resolved, As a testimonial of the high regard we cherished for him 
 when living, and the esteem and respect in which we hold his memory, that a 
 committee, consisting of twelve citizens, be appointed by the Chairman of this 
 meeting to act as pall-bearers to meet the remains at the depot, and to escort 
 the same to his residence, and such place as may be designated for the funeral 
 service. 
 
In Mkmoriam. 
 
 2. That our deepest sympathies are hereby tendered to his bereaved widow 
 and family. 
 
 Be it farther resolved, That a copy of these resolutions, signed by the Chair- 
 man and Secretary, be sent to Mrs. Spottord, and furnished the Pulaski press for 
 publication. 
 
 These resolutions, on motion, ■were unanimously adopted. 
 
 In accordance witli the above resolutions, the following gentlemen 
 were appointed as pall-bearers, to wit: Thomas M. Jones, John A. 
 Tinnon, J. N. Patterson, W. H. Abernathy, J. B. Childers, P. H. 
 Ezell, A. J. Abernatiiy, John S. Wilkes, W. P. BnUentine, T. M. N. 
 Jones, p]. B. Buford, and M. Childress. 
 
 On motion, the Ciiairman and Secretary were also appointed as pall- 
 bearers. 
 
 There being no fartiier business, the meeting adjourned dne die. 
 
 S. E. Rose, Chairman. 
 Charles P. Jones, Secrdanj. 
 
 THE CITY COUNCIL. 
 
 Upon call of the Mayor, the Aldermen met at his office on Tuesday 
 
 morning. Present: Mayor Crow, Aldermen Childers, McLean, Finley, 
 
 Jackson, Townsend, and Recorder Winship. The following resolutions 
 
 were then adopted : 
 
 WnF;RKAS, We have received the painful intelligence of the death of the 
 Hon. Henky M. Spofford, whose courtesy and gentlemanly bearing endeared 
 him to all who knew him; therefore, be it resolved by the Mayor and Aldermen 
 of the town of Pulaski — 
 
 1. That in the death of the Hon. II. M. Si'offord we have lost an esteemed 
 and valuable citizen. 
 
 2. That we tender to the family of the deceased our sincere sympathy and 
 condolence. 
 
 3. That, as a testimonial of the high regard we entertain for the character of 
 the deceased, and the esteem and respect we cherish for his memory, we will 
 attend his funeral, and accompany his remains to the cemetery. 
 
 4. That the proprietors of all business-houses be requested to close the same 
 at 4 o'clock this afternoon. 
 
 5. That a copy of these proceedings be furnished the widow of the deceased, 
 and jniblished in the Pulaski Citizen and Herald. 
 
Henry M. Spofford. 
 
 Funeral Discourse 
 
 OYER THE REMAINS OF THE HON. HENRY M. SPOFFORD. 
 
 DELIYERED IN THE METHODIST CHURCH IN 
 
 PULASKI, TENN., AUGUST 24, 1880. 
 
 BY THE KEY. W. M. LEFTAVICII, D.D. 
 
 PHILOSOPHY turns to folly in the presence of grief. 
 The shadow of death upon the heart obscures the 
 perception of truth, and defers candid criticism. Not until 
 Time, the great healer, has soothed the sorrow and lifted 
 the shadow can philosophy be true to itself, and turn its 
 unsparing lights upon the subject of its analysis. 
 
 To the profound thinker the philosophy of life is better 
 than its facts, and the principles are of more value than the 
 pi'oducts. Facts only illustrate philosophy, and products 
 declare principles. Life reaches its highest significance in 
 the character it forms, and philosophy finds its richest and 
 ripest subject in the analysis of character. It is not the 
 genealogy, not the biography, not the personal history, not 
 the facts, and fruits, and forces of life, that most deeply and 
 vitally concern us, but the character that rises up out of 
 them, and apart from which they cannot be studied. Hence 
 it is that history hesitates until philosophy interprets for us 
 the genius of humanity, and translates into common princi- 
 ples the subtile spirit of representative life; then the right 
 point of view is given, and the history of the world becomes 
 the biography of its great men. 
 
6 Ix ]Mi:moriam. 
 
 Men ;ire vepresent;itive of ideas and principles. By 
 some occult law of our nature each man becomes the agent 
 and interpreter of those ideas and principles which, by 
 assimilation, have become a part of his consciousness, and 
 which have been crystallized into his character. Ideas and 
 principles — from whatever system of truth evolved — are 
 valuable to us only as they can become vital in conscious- 
 ness and character. Hence, the various sj'stems of philo.s- 
 ophy and science, as well as the religions and civilizations 
 of men, are valuable and vital only in the character they 
 produce, and the comfort and culture they bring; and the 
 ultimate value of each human hfe is to be estimated b}' the 
 grade of character it produces, and the extent of its use- 
 fulness. If it be true that each material thing has its celes- 
 tial side, its translation tln-ough humanity into the spiritual 
 and the invisible, how much grander the truth that the spir- 
 itual and the divine have their translation through the 
 higher forms of human character into the visible kingdom 
 of God, converting fallen men into sons of God and heirs 
 of everlasting life ! 
 
 Looking thus at human life, we are profoundly affected 
 when its earthly biography closes, and its product is before 
 us in the highest type of representative character. If we 
 study the personal liistory, and measure the great achieve- 
 ments of a successful life, it is that we may rightly esti- 
 mate the character, and possess ourselves, for practical uses, 
 of the ideas and principles which the character represents 
 and interprets for us. 
 
 Now, when the f)resent pall passes away, and the dark 
 shadows are lifted from our hearts, then will the life of 
 Henry M. Spoffoud — studied in the light of these princi- 
 ples of social science — stand up in the history of our coun- 
 try, a character of remarkable symmetry and solidity, of 
 
Hexry ^I. Spofford. 
 
 exceptional purity and poli.•^h, full and finished in all the 
 essential elements of the highest and noblest manhood. 
 
 He was born in Gilmanton, N. IL, in 1821 ; graduated 
 at Amherst College, Massachusetts, in 1840, and was a 
 member of the Facultj^ of his Alii/a Jfafrr from 1840 to 
 1842. Quitting New Hampshire, he went to Louisiana, 
 where he taught school, and read law, until 1845, when he 
 opened a law office in Shreveport, in partnership with Judge 
 Olcott. His professional integrity, abilit}', and learning, 
 soon placed him at the head of his profession, attracted to 
 him a lucrative practice, and received substantial recognition 
 by his State. In 1853 lie removed to New Orleans, and in 
 1854— when he had barely reached the constitutional age — 
 he was placed upon the Supreme Bench of the State of 
 Louisiana, to succeed Judge John A. Campbell, resigneil. 
 In this capacity he served his State and country until 1858, 
 when he resigned and resumed the practice of his profes- 
 sion. It was after occupying this high position of honor 
 and trust that he met and uiariied his now bereaved widow. 
 His profound legal learning and discriminating judicial mind 
 made him one of the ablest and safest jurists of the coun- 
 try. His name is conspicuously associated with the his- 
 tory of the jurisprudence of his State, ami will go down to 
 posterity as that of a profound jurist. Future generations will 
 study his character and wisdom in the great questions of 
 constitutional law settled in his judicial decisions, which 
 wiU. constitute a monument to his fame as enduring as the 
 laws and language of his race. But not alone as a Supreme 
 Judge has he written his name upon the high scroll of fame, 
 but also in the succe.ssful prosecution of his profession. 
 Life's greatness and grandeur, as seen by men, consists in 
 its material products which bless and benefit mankind ; for 
 it is still true that 
 
I.\ Memuiuam. 
 
 "We live 111 (leeils, not years ; in thoughts, not hreatlis; 
 In feelinf^s, not in figures on a dial. 
 We shoulil count time by heai-t-thvobs : he most lives 
 Who tliinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best. 
 
 We come to-day, friends, not to weep only, but to study 
 the ]e.sson.s of ;i snccessfol life — success measured by high 
 achievements — achievements in professional and general 
 knowledge, in ripe scholarship, in profound learning, in 
 social and aesthetic culture, in literary finish and exquisite 
 taste, in wisdom, fortune, and f ime ; hut aliove all, and bet- 
 ter than all, stands the chumder, gentle, refined, cultured, 
 chaste, polished, solid, balanced, rounded, complete in all 
 the higher possibilities of Goil's noblest work — a model 
 sentleman. "He that is slow to anger is bettor than the 
 mighty, and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketb 
 a city." Man's greatest achievement is to rule himself, and 
 resolve the mighty forces of his nature into a well-poised, 
 well-matured Christian character. 
 
 As executor of the large estate of his deceased father-in- 
 law, Mr. Thomas Martin, Judge Spofford spent much of 
 the i»ast several years in this connnunity and county, with- 
 out removing his citizenship from Louisiana, or breaking up 
 his home in New Orleans. While thus iiu'identally con- 
 nected with this community we have learned to know him, 
 to love him, to honor him, and to appreciate in him a char- 
 acter which combined so many of the refinements of culture 
 and the chaste amenities of the social gentleman. His life 
 has touched ours, his character has toned ours, his presence 
 has blessed us, and his death has beref^t us. This vast con- 
 course of citizens, of all ranks and conditions, bowed in 
 silent grief, attest the general and genuine sorrow over the 
 distinguished dead, and the genuine and general sympathy 
 for the grief-smitten living. 
 
Henry M. Spofford. 9 
 
 In 1877 he was elected by tlie Legislature of Loiiisi;in;i 
 to ii seat in the United States Senate. From this seat he 
 was excluded by an opposing party majority. It would 
 not become this place, nor this sad occasion, to review the 
 history of that contest. It is sufficient to state that when 
 the question was reopened, after a long, patient, and thor- 
 ough investigation of the case, a majority of the Committee 
 on Privileges and Elections reported him justly entitled to 
 his seat. Pending the discussion of this report the Senate 
 adjourned, and now death has put an end to all the ques- 
 tions to which he was personally a party. Though deprived 
 of the seat to which he was elected, his name became widely 
 known and respected, both North and South, as one of the 
 most conservative, courageous, generous, learned, and elo- ■ 
 querit, of those citizens of the old Whig school, who have 
 in later years acted with the Democratic party. His speech 
 before the Committee on Privileges and Elections in his 
 own cause won for him the highest personal regard, and 
 placed him before the country not onl}' as a learned jurist, 
 but as a wise and conservative statesman, (he peer of the 
 wisest and the greatest. His name will ever be associated 
 in history with this the highest honor which his State could 
 confer upon him, and of which neither Returning Boards 
 nor party majorities can ever deprive him. His name 
 belongs to his country, and his couiitiy will take care of 
 his political history and character. The essential honor of 
 this high achievement has been greatly enhanced by the 
 high-toned spirit and manly bearing he has maintained 
 through all the long and bitter discussions of the case. 
 His sensitive nature, writhin"- under a sense of the areat> 
 injustice done him, making deeper and keener the many and 
 great provocations to resentment, yet his perfect self-con- 
 trol and magnificent equipoise have disclosed the real nobil- 
 
10 In Memoriam. 
 
 ity and greatness of Ihe uiaii more than any other eliapter 
 in his history. From this contest all the finer instincts of 
 his nature recoiled as from an infection. It was a perpetual 
 torture to his refined sensibilities, which he endured solel}' 
 for the sake of the fundamental principle of constitutional 
 government which he represented. The right of a State 
 to be represented in the Senate of the United States, and 
 to elect its own Senators by a legally chosen and recog- 
 nized Legislature, is a fundamental right guaranteed by the 
 Constitution of the United States. It was only as the rep- 
 resentative of his State, in defending this vital principle of 
 constitutional law, that he consented to maintain a contest 
 which involved so much that was foreign to his tastes and 
 crucifying to his feelings, and which may have hastened his 
 death. But it would hav« been contrary to the ruling spirit 
 of his whole life to surrender a vital principle in which the 
 rights of others were involved; rather would he sacrifice his 
 own liberty and life. Fidelity to principle, as distinguished 
 from policy, made him heroic in life and tranquil in death. 
 
 A character which combined so many elements of true 
 greatness, and which was sustained so wisely and well in 
 the highest conditions of a noble manhood, must yield many 
 lessons of wisdom, both to the profession in which he was 
 a, shining light, and to the young men (if the country, for 
 whom he is a high model. 
 
 In studying the lessons of a successful life, we encounter 
 the fact that the history of the world is the biography of 
 successful men. If he made the most of his profession, 
 getting wisdom, learning, fortune, and fame out of it, and 
 reaching its highest possibilities in his own State, it was due 
 to the fact that his professional history was only the ex- 
 pression of his personal and professional character. A man's 
 history can never be separated from his ciiaracter, nor can 
 
 o 
 
Henry M. Spofford. 11 
 
 we stuJy them npavt. A successful career is only a man's 
 character in action. Opportunities given, the con<litions of 
 success must be found in the elements of character which a 
 philosophical analysis alone can re\'eal. In Judge Spof- 
 ford's character we have as conditions of success — 
 
 1. Self-reliance. — There may have been nothing heroic in 
 his boyhood, but the force and fire of his young manhood 
 threw him uj) and out, away from home and friends, to 
 make the battle of life among strangers, and to carve out 
 his own fortune with his own unaided right arm. In such 
 fields the grandest men of the race have laid the founda- 
 tions of character upon wliich fortune and fame depend. 
 The self-reliance and self-confidence acquired in the earlier 
 strusdes of life, in the earlier settlements of Louisiana, 
 were far more to him in the after-achievements of life, and 
 contributed more to life's success, than any inherited fortune 
 and position. All great men are self-made. 
 
 2. Decision of Character. — Success is not fortuitous. 
 Great achievements are not accidental ; they are the prod- 
 ucts of decision, purpose, power. Strong, sustained char- 
 acter, is not the product of casual and diverse impulses, nor 
 of the drifting influences of society, but of one steady and 
 sustained purpose, which absorbs the whole being, and holds 
 the impulses and forces of the whole life true to itself with 
 a decision of character as unwavering as the truth, and as 
 unchangeable as the eternal principles which supply the 
 inspiration for all truly great men. 
 
 3. Self-conlrol. — The whole measure of human passion 
 is not too much to supply the interest, the energy, and the 
 enthusiasm, necessary to the highest effort. Young life is 
 weakened, and often wasted, in the undue indulgence of the 
 passions, and records its shameful weakness in the history 
 of dubious musings, abortive resolutions, fickle fancies, and 
 
12 In Memoriam. . 
 
 foolish failures. But life grows stalwart and grand only 
 under the self-control which commands all of its vital forces, 
 and delivers them with precision and power upon one great 
 purpose. The sad history of failure, which so often disap- 
 points and crushes mature manhood, is written in the self- 
 indulgence of youth. Self-control, acquired early, and used 
 severely, gives — 
 
 4. Force of character — which lifts the resolute above the 
 too common incumbrance of mere hangers-on. Imperti- 
 nence is alwa3's obtrusive, and too many friends modify, 
 if they do not defeat, success. The strong have to carry 
 many dead-weights, while weakness invites arrogance. The 
 earnest man often has occasion to wish himself possessed of 
 a character with which stupidity and impertinence could 
 not make so free. Many a generous life has wasted itself 
 on unprofitable friends ; while the firm, heroic, self-poised 
 spirit, possessing positive force of character, has seen the 
 spaces clear around him, and the inennibrances fall off, leav- 
 ing him room and freedom. An earnest man has not more 
 time to waste on profitless friends than passion to spend in 
 youthful indulgences and irresolute purposes. The path to 
 signal success is so beset with difficulties, and so obstructed 
 by opposition, that none but the self-reliant, determined, 
 heroic spirit, in command of all the vital forces of his nat- 
 ure, concentrated upon one purpose and one pursuit, can 
 pass on and up to the sublime goal. 
 
 To all these elements of success Judge Spofford added 
 moral courage, systematic application, energ}', self-confi- 
 dence, conscious integrity, and professional fidelity, which, 
 reposing upon the basis of a substantial physical manhood, 
 sustained the imiicUing power of a nervous force equal to 
 the highest intellectual efforts and the utmost physical en- 
 durance. He was thus lifted, l>y the happy cond)iiiation 
 
IIenrv M. SroFFORD. 13 
 
 of physical, intellectual, ami moral forces, above the com- 
 mon mass, and placed upon a pedestal of exceptional ex- 
 cellence, which commands the admiration and homage of 
 men. 
 
 With these elements of character sustained through life, 
 he would have been successful in any position or pursuit. 
 But other conditions contributed to his success in his chosen 
 profession, which we would do well to note. And, 
 
 1. His professiun absorbed him. It was his meat and 
 drink — his life and love. It consumed him like a passion, 
 and, like all great passions, it refused to be divided. He 
 turned aside for nothing; admitted no divided interest; 
 listened to no alluring promises. When earnestness be- 
 comes an enthusiasm, success is limited only by the impos- 
 sible. 
 
 2. He carried with him the sense of the gravest responsi- 
 hility. A man's life-work will never be better than his ideal. 
 Judge Spofford saw in the legal profession not so niutdi 
 money, but so much professional honor, integrity, and fidel- 
 ity to the responsible trusts confided to an attorney at law, 
 out of which came his professional character, and apart from 
 which professional character was impossible. 
 
 3. He possessed legal learning. He was no smatterer. 
 Few men surpassed him in the knowledge of law, its his- 
 tory, its principles, and its practice. His first business was 
 to master the civil law of his adopted State, which differs 
 essentially from that of anj' other State, and which required 
 a knowledge of Roman law, with all of its ancient history 
 and maxims. This fact may, in some sort, account for the 
 classic molil of his thought, and style, aud manners. But 
 his learning compassed the entire range of his profession 
 with a thoroughness and accuracy rarely eijualed. Be- 
 sides, his researches extended into almost every field of 
 
14 In !Memoriam. 
 
 knowledge, making bis general infurmation extensive and 
 reliable. 
 
 4. He was a superior judxje of har. Possessed of a fine 
 legal mind, with rare powers of discrimination, it is not 
 surprising that bis opinions were widely sought, and bis 
 decisions of final authority. As counselor, advocate, and 
 judge, he knew not the cunning of the shyster, nor the 
 mean advantage of the unscruj)ulous. His was an open, 
 manly, professional character, honorable alike to the legal 
 profession and to our common humanity. 
 
 Some years ago William Arthur wrote a book which he 
 called '• The Successful Merchant," taking for his subject 
 not an ideal but a real character. If I liad to write a book 
 to be called " The Successful Lawyer," I would take for the 
 hero and the model, Hexry M. Spoffokd. 
 
 But what shall I say of him as u niun in the private and 
 social relations of life? He was so gentle and generous, so 
 kind and considerate, so polite and polished, so chaste and 
 elegant in feeling, language, and bearing, that he was the 
 charm of every social circle, and the center and soul of 
 domestic life. A courtly gentleman, a kind neighbor, a gen- 
 erous friend, an atTectionate husband, an indulgent father. 
 But I forbear to enter the charmed home circle where his 
 domestic life and love run the deepest, and his milder, 
 and softer, and holier virtues shone the brightest. This 
 is holy grounil, upon which common sandals should never 
 tread. Rude words should never break upon the holy 
 places of such love, such grief. No ^•ulgar stare of gap- 
 ing crowds should be permitted to shock the wounded 
 sensibilities which appeal to us in the silence of this 
 sacred sorrow. How sad that every heart must have its 
 own bitterness, every house its own skeleton, every para- 
 dise its own blighting, every garden its own sepulcher ! 
 
Henry M. Si'offord. 15 
 
 But so it is, since '' sin Ciime into the woild, and death by 
 sin." 
 
 Tliiit such a life should pass away, leaving such broken 
 hearts behind, in such a desolate home, is but the repetition 
 of the old, old story of death and dust. But if we have 
 fouml lessons in his life, we should also hear the voices of 
 admonition in his death, the most imjiressive of which 
 conies down to us from the mountain wilds of West Vir- 
 ginia, where the last summons found him. To die at home 
 is a great mercy, but to die in mountain solitudes is solemn, 
 sublime. Alone with his son, and attended by strangers, 
 he met the last enemy, and conc|uered as he fell. His 
 manly courage, Christian philosoph}', and sublime faith, sus- 
 tained him in that hour ; softened his pillow, reposed his 
 soul, and su[»plied the rod and staff for tlie last dark valley. 
 
 The ■' after-glow " which lingers upon the earth long after 
 the sun has gone to rest, cimverting the summer twilight 
 into a scene of ethereal beaut}-, is not more heavenly and 
 hopeful of a bright to-morrow tlian was the celestial ra- 
 diance which, gathered from all the beneficent ministries of a 
 well-spent life, and suffused with the soft glow of divine 
 light and love, transfigured his face before he expired, re- 
 lighting it with the beauty of youth, which lingered long 
 after the noble heart was still, and death had claimed his 
 victim. There is heart in such a life, and hope in such a 
 death. Life is a scale of degrees. Between rank and rank 
 of our oreat men are wide intervals — intervals not of time 
 and place, but of character ; and each character rejiresents 
 its own sj'stem of ideas, and interprets for us its own phe- 
 nomena of life. No man has a successor, but each stands 
 alone in a separate and distinct individuality. He comes 
 and goes, fulfilling his mission and ministry, and passes on 
 into the Forever. His place is never "hlled. Nature never 
 
 \ 
 
16 In ^ri'MnUlAM. 
 
 repeats herself. God never dupliciites his woik. When 
 these golden suns sink below the evening horizon, we look 
 ill viiin for their return. Other orbs will float above the 
 horizon, resplendent with the light of life, but he whom we 
 mourn to-day will come not. 
 
 Tliis is the state of man ; to-day he puts forth 
 The tender leaves of hope, to-morrow blossoms, 
 And bears liis bkishing lienors thick npon him ; 
 The third day comes a frost, a killing frost; 
 A^nd when he thinks, good easy man, full surely 
 His greatness is a-ripening — nips his root, 
 Aiid then lie falls. 
 
 I'riutoil at the Sodtliorn Methodist Publishing House, N.ishvillo, Teiin. 
 
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 BINDERY INC. 
 
 ,0^ APR 89 
 
 N. MANCHESTER. 
 INDIANA 46962 
 
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