Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 26.djvu/285



The mysteries of life and death are continuous and all absorbing problems. The answer to the query of the psalmist, "what is man that thou art mindful of him" depends upon whether you are considering him as an individual or in a generic sense. In the latter sense there is apparently no limitation to be placed upon his genius and he trespasses almost upon the domain of the Almighty. Individually, when compared with the countless multitudes of earth, he is but an insignificant atom. He continues to shrink in his influence and importance as we consider the small part that he plays in the solution of all the complex problems of life. The average man is but a minor figure in a narrow environment. His achievements make but a slight impress on the pages of history. How little do the petty turmoils and ambitions and disappointments of this life bank up against the problems of eternity or the opportunities and potentialities of the universe. How purposeless and ineffective is the scramble and how pitiful are the rewards of wealth and fame and ambition. Generation after generation spends its brief day and passes on. Yet we cherish this life, and while it lasts we are almost wholly absorbed in its pleasures and its problems. When death comes we call a brief halt. We hold a ceremonial, ostensibly to perpetuate the memory of the dead. We utter a few brief words of eulogy. We fill up the grave. We cover it with flowers, and then we dsperse to plunge again into the vortex where only the trivialities of this life are considered and soon leave the memories of the dead to oblivion. So soon does the world forget. Today we are met—a goodly company—composed in large measure of the men and women of the pioneer element—to pay homage to the work of a generation that has almost wholly disappeared, and incidentally to pay