Rensselaer Union, Volume 10, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 April 1878 — “If I Should Die To-Night.” [ARTICLE]

“If I Should Die To-Night.”

“ If I Rhoulrf die to-night. My friend* would look upon my quiet face Before they laid it in it* resting place, And deem that death had left it almost fair; And, laying snow white flower* against my hair: Would smooth it down with tearful tenderness, And fold my hand* with lingering care**." It has been said that “ the evil which men (W lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.” We do not believe that this is generally true. It may be, in some 'desperate cases; but in most, it will be found to bo just the reverse. Some one dies who, during mature life was regarded as hard, grasping and invariably uncharitable, “grinding the faces of the poor;” yet, standing by his colfin or speaking of his death, the very persons who most openly recognized his unlovely traits and unhesitatingly criticised them severely, are quick to recall many exeeltieeded. “Yes,” they say, “No doubt,,he loved money and knew well how to make and keep it; but we know he was the kindest person in his family, the most thoughtful of the interest and comfort of those in his employ. It was always supposed that he never §avc liberally; probably he did not. ut no doubt ho was harassed by constant applications for aid, until he refused every one without examination. Who can wonder? And yet, in a quiet, unostentatious way, concealing from his left hand the good his right hand may have done, there is reason to believe that he was a benefactor to many who will yet rise up and call him blessed.” Death often kindly throws a yeil over imperfections or wrong-doing, and jn that solemn hour friends look upon the quiet face and deem he has “ left it almost lair.” “ My friend* would call to mind with tendor thought Some kindly deed the icy hand bad wrought, Some gentle word the frown lip* had *aid. Errand* on which the willing feet had *pod. The memory of my selfishm*** and pride. My ha*ty word*, would all ho pnt aside. And so I might be loved and mourned tonight?’

Looking thus upon the face of the dead, friends and neighbors who were quick to take offense—in haste to put false constructions on every careless aet —may now; in all honesty be led to examine their own hearts, and in the examination perhaps feel that they were in some degree responsible for much of the wrong-doing of one’so soon to be hidden from their sight. How many,, acts of the departed that annoyed and provoked them, have these friends met with impatience and rudeness P How sternly have they rebuked even trivial offenses, and angrily silenced every attempt at an apology? As they stand over that still form tney are Compelled to ask, “ Had I been kind and gentle, had I listened patiently to the apology, accepting it as far as it could be done honestly, and afterward used what influence I may have had to point out the wrong or show how to avoid it in future. What' a change id all the mature years, now closed, might have been effected P Had I been more noble, more Christ-like, how many of the / mistakes of my friend's last years might never havw occurred? Ah! more Kindness, more open manifestations of my real affection for him might have changed his whole life, but now—too late!” Yes, too late to remedy the wrong done those who have passed away, but not too late for parents, brothers, sisters and friends to be warned and to profit by their seU-upbraidings in those last momenta

Many high-spirited children arc ruined by the impatience of those whowere set to guide and guard them, or by sharp rebukes or stinging ridicule, when standing just at that critical moment when patience and gentle affection could have piloted them safely past the breakers and guided them into still waters. How many who should have been noble raeu and women, for lack of skillful guidance in early life, if they reach the “ farther shore” in safety, are “ saved so as by fire?” Parents ami friends are often neglceti ful of the many little things by which • 1 they conld soften and refine the characters, or make happy and useful the lives flf those who grow up under their guidance ami influence. But it is only I while they are with us that influence or affection has any effect. It may do us good to rouse up to a kindly and charitable interpretation of our friends when we stand by their coffins, but onr lovo and grief or late repentance can no longer benefit them. Oh! leave not all the manifestations of affection and just appreciation of their good qualities to that hour when for them it will be all a vain show! Wc do not know —we cannot imagine without the most careful and earnest watchfulnesss —how many hearts silently ache for some tangible evidence of love and interest, or how, in secret troubles and trials, in seasons of great bitterness of spirit, such demonstrations would give strength and courage to preserve and bring comfort and joy unspeakable. "Oh, friend*! I pray to-night. Keep not your ki**e* for my dead, cold brow, Ihe way i* lonely—let me feel them now. Think uentlv of me; I nm travel vorn, My faltering feetnre pierced by ma»yatborn. When driamle,* rest is mine 1 shall no* need The tendernos* for which 1 long to-night. Mrs. H. W. Beecher, in Christian Union.