The Golden age. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1906-1915, October 25, 1906, Page 2, Image 2

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2 living ears; a message strong enough to transcend the silence of death itself. The Capitol building has seldom held a more earnest and reverential assembly than that which gathered there on the morning of October 19 to view the body of Sam Jones—the crowd was almost more than the cordon of police could manage, for although it was a multitude quiet, orderly, and sad, each individual was determined to gain the last glimpse of the great man. The galleries which look down upon the space beneath the dome were filled during the entire time and the scene from the highest point was inde scribably impressive. The bright morning light filtered through the glass dome and tempered by distance, fell gently on the silent sleeper’s face; the people, in a steady stream from the main en trance flowed on and on and on, past the solemn bier and out toward the rear of the building. One group, however, remained of all—the young orphans from the Methodist Orphans’ Home at Decatur, which had been for twelve years under the personal management of Mr. Jones. To these children who loved him was accorded the privilege of standing by his side as long as they desired. Tom Dunham’s Friendship. And there was yet another figure to whom the order to “make room for the others” was not given. This figure sat at the head of the casket, almost as quiet and as silent as the still form at his side. And the place was his by right of twenty one years’ devoted friendship—a friendship which it required a strong man like Tom Dunham to show and to practice. “A body friend” he has been called, for during the time mentioned Tom Dunham was never separated from Sam Jones, ready for his every beck and call, and during the days that in tervened between the sudden passing of Mr. Jones and the final burial service, Mr. Dunham never un dressed for sleep and never left the side of his friend, scarcely for a moment, day or night. Closer than Damon and Pythias or even David and Jonathan, was the friendship of these two men, for it took the form of no knightly deeds of sacrifice or valor, but chose the harder paths of con stant hourly helpfulness and watchfulness. Mr. Jones had remarked for twenty-one years, when they were in the same town, he had never gone to rest for a night without the helpful hand of Tom Dunham being extended in some small services which showed deep love and loyal devotion. A beautiful memorial is this—to have won even a single heart’s complete allegiance—and yet Sam Jones won thousands such, who would have been almost as ready as Tom Dunham to live or die for him. Atlanta’s Attitude. Even with the halo which death casts we are not blinded by it so as to be unable to see clearly all the environment of Mr. Jones’ career. He had many enemies—many opponents both in a polit ical and religious way—yet what truly great man has not? As a reformer, Mr. Jones was fearless; as a foe io the liquor traffic he was ever active and as an urgent denouncer of civic laxness he was per haps more virile than any man in the South. No official office was safe from his invective, if he found cause for attack, and many a time was he at variance with the municipal government of Atlanta. But this fact was not resented by the city—on the contrary, as has been shown, the city council hon ored his memory and so far encouraged the peo ple to do likewise, especially the young people, that a half holiday was given in the schools in order that the pupils might pay a visit to the Cap itol where the body of the evangelist lay in state. The Great Sunday Memorial. Again, it was decided that even the scenes at the Capitol were not enough, and some of the prom inent citizens arranged for a special memorial ser vice to be held at the Baptist Tabernacle Sunday afternoon. Again was there an outpouring of the people— "heralded only by simple statements in the daily papers, yet thousands heard of the plan and crowd ed the building to the very doors, hundreds being turned away. How many times had Sam Jones himself occu pied the Tabernacle pulpit! How many times had The Golden Age for October 25, 1906. his voice sounded throughout the building in quaint, eloquent tones urging, “blistering,” exhorting, en treating his hearers to lead the right life and enter the “path that leads to peace.” Space forbids more than a brief mention of the speakers and their words on this occasion, but we give our readers all we can of this wonderful meet ing. . A Coincidental Brightness. It so happened that the Tabernacle building was handsomely decorated for the home-coming recep tion to be given to Dr. Broughton on Monday even ing and these decorations, though seemingly a little incongruous, were left during the memorial service. Just above the pulpit there was placed the inscrip tion, “Sam P. Jones, Georgia’s Beloved Dead.” but apart from this there was no single sign of mourn ing for the passing of the life which the people gathered there to honor. It was an inspiring sight and one never to be forgotten—tier on tier of earnest faces, young and old, rich and poor, creed and creedless, each im bued with a deep sense of the sacredness of the oc casion, and all listening with ready unction, smiles and tears, to the words of the speakers. • Professor B. C. Davis, of the Tabernacle choir, led the congregational singing. Dr. C. E. Dowman, pastor of the First Methodist ■Church, led in prayer, thanking God for the con secrated powers of such a man as Sam P. Jones. And then Charlie D. Tillman, the author of the famous “Revival’’ hymn-book, and Edwin Smoot, singer with Sam Jones and Walter Holcomb sang as a duet, “Some Day the Silver Cord Will Break.” Mr. Upshaw Speaks. Following this, in opening the exercises Mr. Wil liam D. Upshaw, Editor of The Golden Age, said in part: “There are moments, I think, when the spirit re ceives Whole volumes of thought on its unwritten leaves.” And in the tense and tender heartbeat of such a moment today we begin this sacred memorial— an hour that shall be focal of high and holy con templations and vocal with the love and sorrow of thousands. Never since Henry Grady finished his marvelous work at ten o’clock in the morning of life’s won derful day—never since he yielded to what men call death—have I been so anxious to attend the funeral of a great and good man as I was to be at Cartersville at the funeral ceremonies of Sam P. Jones. But I was on bed over in Cobb county and could not be at Grady’s funeral, and the death of a relative would not allow me to mingle with the weeping thousands who thronged the Carters ville Tabernacle because its maker and master had died. But as I could not go there my pierced heart feels a sort of melancholy compensation in the privilege of suggesting Atlanta’s memorial. How ever, priority of suggestion did not mean priority of impulse, for before they had seen the suggestion in the daily press, Messrs. Peacock and Johnson of the Tabernacle congregation came to my office at different hours to suggest a memorial service for Sam Jones. And as soon as Dr. Broughton heard the sad news on returning from England he rushed to the nearest telegraph office in New York and wired, not knowing what had been done, to arrange for a Sunday night memorial for Sam Jones. Thus the feeling was in all hearts and the suggestion struck fire everywhere. It is eminently fitting that the great heart of the Atlanta that Sam Jones loved so well should gather here to pay tribute on the Sabbath day— “ That blest day to mortals given To turn our thoughts from earth to heaven.” Some great good men leave the impress of their lives upon the world because of the conse cration of their wealth; some because of the conse cration of their genius, some because of the conse cration of their eloquence. Sam Jones consecrated all of these—but he did yet more—he consecrated, perhaps as no other man ever did, an exquisite and winsome humor. (Concluded on page 7.) ceives Items of General Interest. Horseshoes are sometimes made in Australia of cowhide instead of iron. In Calcutta consumption is only about half as fatal among males as among females. If a chameleon becomes blind, it no longer changes color, but remains of a blackish hue. The Japanese have taken to canning sardines. Last year, 2,000,000 cans were sold by them. Berlin now has over 6,000 cabs with taximeters— dials indicating the distance traversed, and cost to the passenger. In Germany more than five hundred out of ev ery thousand women reach the age of fifty years, while only 413 men live' so long. Postal facilities in China are reported to be im proving through the service on fast trains between Pekin and Hankow. These are expected to make the run in thirty-six hours. The City of St. Petersburg is proceeding vigor ously with the development of its urban trans portation system. An order has been given for 190 British-made electiic trolley cars. A coat which has been placed on exhibition in a London furrier’s shop is made of 1,200 rabbit ears, which have been sewed together in such a manner as to make a serviceable waterproof coat. There are 713 newspapers printed in India, being 100 more than there were ten years ago. The num ber of periodical publications (other than news papers) is 747, being an increase of 284 within a decade. That disused railway tunnels need not be a drug on the market is evidenced by the extensive and highly successful culture of mushrooms carried on in one of those sombre passages in the vicinity of Edinburgh. It is a peculiarity of Russian railways that their stations are generally two miles distant from the smallest towns and villages which they serve. This is said to be on account of the danger of fire, the houses in small places generally being thatched with straw. Professor Goldwin Smith some time ago formally willed his brain to Cornell University. Some re markable brains have been sold, not given. An Englishman has disposed of his to an American university for SIO,OOO. He is a man of little edu cation, and for many years worked as a coal miner. He has a marvelous memory, especially for dates, and is now earning a good salary on the music hall stage. Senator Beveridge, of Indiana, once entered a competitive examination for appointment to West Point and lost his opportunity for becoming a great soldier because he laughed at an inoppor tune moment in the examination and was fined sev eral points for indecorous conduct. The successful aspirant for the place Senator Beveridge aspired to fill was Captain Austin Hastings Brown who died in 1903. The public has always had considerable amuse ment in criticising the forecasts of the “-weather man” as they are made from day to day, but the United States Weather Bureau now declares that predictions can be made with considerable accura cy extending over a period of six days. An expert has been at work making such forecasts and the suc cess of his predictions has been so marked that the; system is to be continued. The method used is to secure news of atmospheric conditions prevailing over the entire northern hemisphere. Daily re ports are also to be received from foreign countries.