Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Lessons of Wisdom for a Mourning People: A Discourse on the Death of President Harrison, Pronounced on the Evening of April 20, 1841, the Day of Public Funeral Solemnities
What fearful calamity has occurred, that those mourn ful lamentations are heard in the very Capitol of our great republic? Why is it, as those flying messengers start forth in all directions from the seat of government, that they spread such consternation and sorrow in their path? What are those gloomy tidings which they bear with heavy hearts, and speak with trembling lips - and as soon as they are heard what aileth the people that they weep? What means that mournful knell, which, like the keenest woes of the inmost spirit, with suppress ed and reluctant sound ?ows forth from ten thousand spires? What means the sad and sullen roar of that minute gun, as for hours and for days it rolls over our hills and dies away in our valleys? Why is that star spangled banner, which hath ever floated with lofty bearing in the presence of its foes, lowered from its proud place, and arrayed in mourning? What aileth the people that they weep? Why have the multitudes of our active and enterprising merchants shut their doors against the business of the world? Why does the artist, and the mechanic, and the farmer, pause in the midst of his pursuit, and, dropping the implement of his avocation, go with a sad step to mingle his sorrows with the weeping throng? Why is it, that from the learned and the ignorant - the high and the low - the rich and the poor, throughout the wide extent of our whole coun try, from both sexes, and all classes, and all ages, the voice of lamentation is heard? What mean these large and solemn processions, as with badges of grief, and measured step, they are marching slowly and sadly to the sanctuaries of the Lord? Why does that deep sigh break from the breast of the hardy sailor - and that tearof sorrow tremble on the cheek of the brave? Why are our rooms of state - our classic halls - and even the temples of the Lord, hung with these emblems of we? What aileth the people that they weep?
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