to all that is? We cannot tell. We do not know which is the greatest blessing, life or death. We cannot say that death is not good. We do not know whether the grave is the end of this life or the door of another or whether night here is not somewhere else a dawn. Neither can we tell which is the more fortunate, the child dying in its mother's arms before its lips have learned to form a word, or he who journeys all the length of life's uneven road, painfully taking the last slow steps with staff and crutch. Every cradle asks us "Whence?" and every coffin "Whither?" The poor barbarian weeping above his dead can answer the question as intelligently and satisfactorily as the robed priest of the most authentic creed. The tearful ignorance of the one is just as consoling as the learned and unmeaning words of the other. No man standing where the horizon of a life has touched a grave has any right to prophesy a future filled with pain and tears. It may be that

death gives all there is of worth to life.

If those who

press and strain against our hearts could never die, perhaps that love would wither from the earth. May be a common faith treads from without the paths between our hearts the weeds of selfishness, and I should rather live and love where death is king than have eternal life where love is not. Another life is naught, unless we live and love again the ones who love us here. They who stand with breaking hearts around this little grave need have no fear. The largest and the nobler faith is all that is and is to be, tells us that death, even at its worst, is only perfect rest. We know that through the common wants of life, the needs and duties of each hour. their griefs will lessen day by day until at last these graves w

be to them a place of rest and peace, almost of joy. There is for them this consolation: The dead do not suffer. If they live again their lives will surely be as good as ours. We have no fear; we are all children of the same mother and the same fate awaits us all. We, too, have our religion. and it is this: I Help for the living, hope for the dead."

66

At the conclusion of the eloquent oration the little coffin was deposited in its last resting place covered with flowers.

A Harrison Ratification Speech.

The Metropolitan Opera House in New York City was crowded from the uttermost edge of the topmost gallery to the farthest extremity of the stage with Republicans who had assembled under the auspices of the Republican clubs of the city to ratify the nomination of Harrison and Morton. Hundreds who tried to gain admittance were unable to do so. In the large audience assembled the number of ladies present was noticeable. They were almost as numerous as the men in the orchestra seats, and in almost every box there were fashionably dressed women.

Col. Robert G. Ingersoll was introduced and was warmly greeted. He said:

"The speaker who is perfectly candid, who tells his honest thoughts, not only honors himself but compliments his audience. It is only to the candid that one can open his heart. When a presidential candidate is put up most people alway claim that they were with him from the start. Generally they claim that they discovered him. They are anxious to be with the procession. I will be frank wlth you and say that I was not working for the successful ticket in this instance, but there is something in the American blood which bows to the will of the majority, so that when the convention was through all were for the ticket heart and soul. Some people said I made a mistake, but I always know who I am for, and why I am for him, and it never once occurred to me that we could get a man nominated and keep his name a secret.

I believe in doing things above board, openly in the

air. I was not for one man because I had anything against the other noble, splendid men, each worthy to be the chief officer of the United States. Let ns see what animated our party in its recent convention. What was our country when this party first took hold of it. Every man was a bloodhound pledged to aid in catching human beings flying to freedom, led by the light of the Northern star. When this great party came together in Chicago what was its first act? It was to honor the names of the greatest men this country ever produced-Lincoln and Grant.

The next resolution adopted by the convention was "We earnestly hope that we shall soon congratulate our Irish fellow citizens upon the recovery of home rule in Ireland. Wherever a human being wears a chain there he will find the sympathy of the Republican party with him. The Republican party does not believe in State sovereignty, but in reserving to the States those rights given to the constitution we deny that any State has the right to deprive a citizen of his ballot. Whoever refuses to count an honest vote or casts a dishonest one is a traitor to the principles on which the country is founded.

The next thing in the platform is protection for American labor. I'll tell you why I am in favor of it. I want this Republic substantially independent of the rest of this world. For my next reason, the man who raises raw material only is eternally poor. The farmer who raises wheat is always poor, because he only gets one profit, and that is generally a loss. The farmer who raises wheat and pork and beef and horses makes a second or a third profit and gets rich. The country which

grows raw material will grow poor, while the country to which it sells it and manufactures it into fabrics and sells them back to it again will grow intelligent and rich. Just to the extent that you mix mind and muscle you give value. The South raises cotton and sells it. Just so long as the South does this it will be poor and democratic.

I am for protection because it will enable us to raise greater men. We want to rock the cradle of liberty so long as there is a baby in it, and when he gets six or seven feet tall-["We'll get another one," cried a man in the gallery]. No, we'll let him shift for himself. How little, after all, the laboring man receives for his work. ["Even under protection," said another man in the gallery.] Yes, even under protection. but let me ask you this, my Democratic friend, if the laboring man is not paid better here than abroad? Why do we not find American workingmen emigrating to Europe? [This reply was greeted by the most enthusiastic cheering of the evening, men in all parts of the house joining in the prolonged applause that followed it.]

There is no place in the civilized world where the laborer receives an adequate reward for his labor, but I hope the time is near at hand when he will be better paid in this country, but that will never be under free trade.

Why do the Democrats object to the immigration of Chinese? Why do they object to the competition of convict labor. Is is not because they recognize the need of protection? And why not object to immigration from Europe? Because those immigrants when they come