DADDY" DICKENSON 
 
 Character Sketch and 
 Funeral Oration 
 
 By 
 
 EGAN 
 
i6 
 
 DADDY" DICKENSON 
 
 Character Sketch and 
 Funeral Oration 
 
 jLrvyL 
 
 'J) 
 
 By 
 
 EGAN 
 
r(^6''^ 
 
 Copyrighted 1916 
 by 
 
 GEO. W. EGAN 
 
 All Rights Reserved 
 
 ©CI.A433439 
 
By Way of Introduction 
 
 No apology is offered for the appearance of 
 this booklet. While it is not claimed that it will 
 add to the sum total of the world's literature, yet 
 the purpose for its appearance — which is a worthy 
 one — will be found in a perusal of its pages. I 
 claim for it only the extemporaneous portrayal 
 of the characteristics and attributes of one who 
 had read deeply and understandingly of the 
 book of life. "Daddy" Dickenson was the con- 
 crete example of the eternal truth that, even in 
 the highly commercialized present — when almost 
 everything is measured by the dollar — yet when 
 wc stop to think and take our bearings, it is the 
 fundamental characteristics of faith, hope and 
 charity personified in man which really count in 
 the end. In the following pages I have en- 
 deavored to present to the reader the one thought 
 that, even in the present, it pays to adopt the di- 
 vine injunction "Love thy neighbor as thyself," 
 and weave it into the warp and woof of daily life, 
 rather than to spend one's days chasing around 
 after the silver dollar, and in worshipping at the 
 shrine of the golden calf. "Daddy" Dickenson 
 cared nothing for money; knew nothing of its 
 value, in the dollar-maddened age in which we 
 live. His thoughts and actions were altruistic; 
 to behold the smiles of gratitude and appreciation 
 on the faces of those whom he favored, was 
 pay sufficient unto him. To put into permanent 
 record form for preservation, and to call the 
 reader's attention to these great, almost divine 
 attributes — hence this booklet. Done in our na- 
 tional colors, in honor of "Daddy's" patriotism, 
 I send it forth to the hands of the thoughtful, 
 intelligent reader with the hope that, in its pe- 
 rusal, he may find some of the ennobling prin- 
 ciples in the life of my departed friend worthy of 
 emulation.— GEO. W. EGAN, A. M., LL. M. 
 
Dedication 
 
 To my friends — the men and 
 women of Sioux Falls who have 
 always encouraged me by their 
 support and friendship — ivhose 
 loyalty has never wavered — 
 tvhose faith has never been 
 destroyed neither by the poison 
 of religious bigotry nor the 
 malice of political and profes- 
 sional jealousy — to this dear and 
 generous people — with gratitude 
 and appreciation I respectfully 
 dedicate the following pages. 
 —EGAN. 
 
"DADDY" DICKF.NSON 
 
 'Bereft of hat and clad in the workinfS ({arments 
 of the Serhian peasant." (See paf(e eij^ht) 
 
"DADDY" DICKENSON 
 
 A Character Sketch 
 
 N eighteen hundred ninety Sioux 
 Falls was a struggling little city of 
 about eight thousand inhabitants. 
 The town, imitating the spirit of 
 the state at that time, was practi- 
 cally at a standstill. Little build- 
 ing was done and few permanent 
 improvements were being made. 
 The residence portion of the city was neglected 
 and not well kept. While the business streets 
 bore signs of considerable hustle and bustle, 
 yet the whole town lacked evidence of per- 
 manent future growth and prosperity. The 
 streets were ungraded and soft and in rainy bad 
 weather were almost impassable. Wliat little 
 pavement there was, consisted of rough granite 
 blocks difficult to travel over, and conducive only 
 of profanity. 
 
 Through a divorce colony the notoriety of the 
 city had spread from ocean to ocean and from 
 the Great Lakes to the Gulf. Hence both men 
 and maidens who, dissatisfied with adventures 
 upon the troublesome seas of matrimony, came 
 
 Five 
 
"DADDY" DICKENSON CHAEACTER 
 
 from afar to seek that relief so freely adminis- 
 tered, in those days, by the courts of this state; 
 succored and assisted as they were by certain 
 greedy and grasping members of the Minnehaha 
 County bar. In common with the spirit of the 
 times, the city was run wide open. Drinking, 
 gambling and carousing prevailed. There was 
 nothing in the make-up of the town or its inhabi- 
 tants to direct the mind of the average observer 
 of the then Sioux Falls to the glorious and pros- 
 perous future of this city as it is in nineteen 
 hundred sixteen; with its large modern business 
 blocks, builded and building; with acres of the 
 most beautiful residential districts occupied with 
 palatial homes bordering on broad, cool, splend- 
 idly paved avenues, lined with innumerable large, 
 spreading shade trees, until it might well be 
 called the "beautiful city of the forest"; with all 
 the natural advantages and conveniences; with 
 schools, colleges and churches; with every part 
 and portion of the city carefully groomed and 
 well kept; with twenty- five thousand hustling, 
 bustling, prosperous inhabitants, hurrying from 
 day to day through the busy marts of trade until 
 I aver without fear of successful contradiction 
 that, judged from any viewpoint, Sioux Falls is 
 today the most desirable home city in the United 
 States. 
 
 It is doubtless true that there were those in 
 Sioux Falls in eighteen hundred ninety who fore- 
 six 
 
SKETCH AND FUNERAL ORATION 
 
 saw, with prophetic eye, our fascinating and 
 beautiful city of nineteen hundred sixteen. Just 
 as there are, no doubt, those within the city today 
 wlio, looking into the future, can see the greater 
 and grander Sioux Palls of nineteen hundred 
 tliirty with its innumerable factories and manu- 
 facturing establishments, packing plants, stock 
 yards and modern industries of every kind and 
 character; with fifty thousand inhabitants; with 
 the city bordered and bounded on every side by 
 its rich, fertile agricultural districts, with all 
 lands within a radius of ten miles of the city 
 limits selling for from three hundred to five 
 hundred dollars per acre; while within the gates 
 of the city, is industiy, happiness, peace, pros- 
 perity evidenced by the smiles of contentment on 
 the faces of its people. 
 
 In eighteen hundred ninety, the time to which 
 I particularly desire to call the reader's atten- 
 tion, not many people were coming to Sioux Falls 
 with a view of making it their permanent home. 
 But there did, at that time, come to this city, one 
 of the most unique characters that the middle 
 west has ever knowTi ; a man of strong individual- 
 ity and great personal charm. Such was this 
 man's personal appearance and such the habits of 
 his useful and busy life, that he would have com- 
 manded instant attention anywhere; whether he 
 
 Seven 
 
"DADDY" DICKENSON CHAEACTER 
 
 appeared in the parlors of the elite, among the 
 crowds on the busy thoroughfares, in the hustling 
 marts of trade, or within the sacred temples of the 
 living God. On meeting this man one instantly 
 felt his being before opportunity was given to 
 observe his doing. 
 
 Although humble and of humble origin, without 
 wealth or station, possessing the modesty of a 
 maiden, — with a heart as tender as a woman's 
 and a voice as sweet as the evening zephyr; al- 
 ways a most courteous and obliging gentleman, 
 he trod the earth with an unconscious pride as if 
 in his veins there flowed the blood of kings, while 
 his undaunted spirit, on the wings of hope, mount- 
 ed to the eternal stars. Of rugged stature — lithe 
 of limb, quick of movement; powerful in arms, 
 neck and shoulders; head and face as perfectly 
 moulded as any that ever left the trained hands 
 of the most famous sculptor of ancient Greece; 
 long flowing hair falling about his neck and 
 shoulders; large, soft brown eyes that twinkled 
 merrily, flashed and sparkled according to the 
 emotions of his sympathetic soul; bereft of hat 
 and clad in the working garments of the Serbian 
 peasant ; hurrying, hustling, always working from 
 early morning until late at night, yet ever stop- 
 ping, here and there, rendering aid and comfort; 
 with his soul attuned to that sweetest music of all 
 the world — the voice of childhood; such was he 
 in eighteen hundred ninety and such he was in all 
 
 Eight 
 
SKETCH AND FUNERAL ORATION 
 
 the twenty-six years that he lived in Sioux Falls — 
 "Daddy" Dickenson — the friend of man — the 
 most beloved and revered citizen that ever dwelt 
 within the gates of this city. 
 
 His education in books, because of lack of op- 
 portunity, was limited indeed, but in knowledge 
 of the hvunan heart, he was a master-scholar, and 
 spoke its various language. From the schools of 
 strife and struggle he was graduated with highest 
 honors. He took post-graduate courses in the 
 same institutions and received the degree of 
 D. D. S. — not in the sense that those letters are 
 interpreted by the lexicons of our colleges, but in 
 the higher and more significant meaning — Do, 
 Dare and Sacrifice — A degree which Marcus 
 Aurelius never received, and a higher one than 
 Aristotle conferred in his lyceum, or Plato issued 
 from his academy. 
 
 Omnia vincit labor — labor conquers all things — 
 and labor was the law of Daddy's life. For the 
 quarter of a century he was up at five o'clock in 
 the morning, hustling, ever busy in useful toil 
 until late at night. Work was his watchword, and 
 to do good the purpose of his life. Being a most 
 artistic caterer by training and occupation 
 he, for many years, ran the most popular and 
 inviting cafeteria in this city. Few people ever 
 remained long in Sioux Falls without dining at 
 "Daddy's place." All received from him a tender 
 salutation; the graciousness of a warm, firm 
 
 Nina 
 
"DADDY" DICKENSON CHARACTER 
 
 hand-clasp and the benediction of liis kindly 
 smile — and they remembered! 
 
 There was a naturalness and an apparent self- 
 negation about "Daddy" that drew all people 
 unto him as the magnet draws the fragments of 
 steel to it. To meet "Daddy" and to know him, 
 to converse with him, was to accept him naturally 
 as a relative; hence apparent strangers fell read- 
 ily into the habit of calling him "Daddy Dick." 
 He was more than an acquaintance; more than 
 an associate ; more, even, than a friend to all who 
 knew him well, and was readily given the tender 
 salutation of "Daddy." Young men and young 
 women, old ladies and old gentlemen, transients, 
 travelers, show people, all who were without per- 
 manent homes, on visiting the city, were drawn 
 to him. They found in him a consoling, helping, 
 sympathetic friend. He gave no criticism, spoke 
 no harsh word, but always, with soft, even tones, 
 praised and commended. Possessed of the soul 
 of the poet, and the imagination of the orator, he 
 dreamed dreams, painted word pictures, and often 
 unconsciously spoke in parables. 
 
 Perhaps few men ever lived who had more well- 
 wishing friends made on short acquaintance than 
 our own "Daddy Dick." These admirers were of 
 all classes, and from all parts of the countiy. I 
 have yet to find the first man or woman who, 
 coming within the circle of his charming person- 
 ality, was not impressed by his sympathy and 
 
 Ten 
 
SKETCH AND FUNERAL ORATION 
 
 gentleness, -which made every one feel better for 
 having met him. There was no sham, no hypoc- 
 ricy; but there was an openness and sympathy 
 which did not admit of any doubt as to his gen- 
 uineness and sincerity. 
 
 One tiling I observed especially in his nature 
 was the lack of enmity, animosity, and the spirit 
 of revenge. He had been disappointed; he had 
 been deceived; he had been mistreated; he had 
 been maligned, yet in my close association with 
 him, I never heard one bitter, unforgiving senti- 
 ment pass his lips — which you ar^ always apt to 
 hear in the case of little men. "Daddy Dick" 
 was a big man — big physically, big mentally, big 
 of heart and soul. The fruits of his life are large 
 and good and wholesome, and, like the words of 
 the holy man, shall never be forgotten. 
 
 When called from the work of meeting the peo- 
 ple in his bakeries and cafes — the work he loved — 
 to the public office of city commissioner of Sioux 
 Falls, he brought the same gentle, kindly, sym- 
 pathetic spirit into all he said and did. He es- 
 pecially loved the children of this city, and they 
 knew, respected and loved him. As an official, he 
 looked after their welfare and happiness, and pro- 
 vided for them as far as he was able, youthful 
 comforts, joys and pleasures. In the summer 
 season he provided them with play grounds and 
 in the winter thoir skating places were his special 
 charge. The generosity of his heart was not lim- 
 
 Eleven 
 
"DADDY" DICKENSON CHARACTER 
 
 ited to men, women and children, but extended to 
 birds and beasts and every living thing. When 
 the snow was deep in winter, shutting off the food 
 supply from the birds and beasts, he supplied 
 them, and they all came regularly to eat from his 
 kind and loving hands. 
 
 While city commissioner he began the collection 
 of funds to construct a public bath, particularly 
 for the children. He was not spared to complete 
 this useful work. The writer hopes that the pro- 
 ject may not die with him, but that the city will 
 take up the work and complete it ; and that it may 
 stand as a memorial to our departed friend who 
 so loved the children of the city. Let the per- 
 fected work be known as the "Daddy Dickenson 
 Baths." 
 
 "Daddy" was greatly attached to his family — 
 "Mother Dick" and four fine, big, splendid boys 
 — were his constant thought and always his com- 
 panions. Every moment from his work was spent 
 with them. His family circle was a little de- 
 mocracy where each one shared alike and all was 
 held in common for the use of all. Whatever he 
 had he held in trust for those he loved. He want- 
 ed nothing and accepted nothing for himself 
 which his family did not have — the ideal husband, 
 father, citizen. 
 
 To those whom he knew well and to those whom 
 he loved, he told the tragic story of his early life 
 with its struggles, trials and tribulations. He 
 
 Twelve 
 
'MOTHER DICK" 
 
 'And four fine, big, splendid boys. 
 (See page twelve) 
 
SKETCH AND FUNERAL ORATION 
 
 told me how his mother had, on many occasions, 
 endured the greatest of privations in order that 
 he might have a crust to sustain his life among 
 the thousands of struggling, suffering poor of 
 England's great metropolis. To him his mother 
 was the greatest creature that had ever lived. 
 "When he spoke of her he showed signs of great 
 and sincere emotion. On one of these occasions, 
 when I observed that he was so deeply touched at 
 the mention of his mother, I recited for him, and 
 afterwards many times repeated, the following 
 stanza : 
 
 "How fair you are, my mother I 
 
 Ah, though 'tis many a year 
 
 Since you were here. 
 
 Still do I see your beauteous face, 
 
 And with the glow 
 
 Of your dark eyes cometh a grace 
 
 Of long ago. 
 
 So gentle, too, my mother! 
 
 Just as of old, upon my brow, 
 
 Like benedictions now, 
 
 Falleth your dear hand's touch; 
 
 And still, as then, 
 
 A voice that glads me over-much 
 
 Cometh again. 
 
 My fair and gentle mother! 
 
 How you have loved me, mother, 
 
 I have not poiver to tell, 
 
 Knowing fidl well 
 
 That even in the rest above 
 
 It is your ivill 
 
 Thirteen 
 
"DADDY" DICKENSON CHARACTER 
 
 To watch and guard me with your love, 
 
 Loving me still. 
 
 And, as of old, my mother, 
 
 I am content to he a child. 
 
 By mother's love beguiled 
 
 From all these other charms; 
 
 So to the last 
 
 Within thy dear protecting arms 
 
 Hold thou me fast, 
 
 My guardian angel, mother." 
 
 When I first came to this state, like all others, 
 I was unconsciously drawn to this plain, honest 
 man, and found in him a most enjoyable com- 
 panion and a tried and trusted friend. He had not 
 the advantages of a liberal education, yet liis soul 
 thirsted and hungered for a knowledge of books 
 and men. We spent many pleasant hours to- 
 gether. We talked of liistory, science and philo- 
 sophy; we read many interesting and instructive 
 passages from the books. This was very much 
 to his liking. He was possessed of a splendid 
 memory and on hearing anything read that es- 
 pecially interested him he could repeat it ver- 
 batim. 
 
 Because of his unusual ideas about religion, 
 which I described in his funeral oration, we spoke 
 together on this topic frequently. I quoted much 
 from the scriptures to him. He most liked my 
 quotations from the Jewish prophets, and es- 
 pecially those from Isaiah. Hence, when I came 
 to pronounce his funeral oration, I took for my 
 
 Fourteen 
 
SKETCH AND FUNERAL ORATION 
 
 text a portion of the seventh verse of the fifty- 
 second chapter of that great prophet. 
 
 "Daddy" greatly loved peace, and often ex- 
 pressed to me the hope that war would ultimately 
 pass from the earth. I thereupon suggested to 
 him that his favorite prophet had spoken on the 
 subject of war and had assured us that permanent 
 peace would sometime come. I quoted to him 
 from Isaiah as follows: 
 
 "The day shall come when the 
 sword shall be beaten into plow- 
 shares, and the spear into prun- 
 ing hooks." 
 
 This expression, so in accord with the hope of 
 his own heart, greatly pleased him. 
 
 I remember on one occasion we were speaking 
 of the Old and New Testaments. "Daddy" com- 
 plained bitterly at what he called "the cruelties 
 and sacrifices" recorded in the Old Testament. 
 I then said unto him "Daddy, you are getting in 
 the line of thought with your favorite prophet in 
 that criticism." "Tell me of it," he said. I 
 then quoted to him Isaiah 1 :11-17 : 
 
 "And the Lord said: And to 
 what purpose is the multitude of 
 sacrificing unto me? I have 
 enough of that; the fat of your 
 rams revolts me; your incense is 
 an abomination to me for your 
 hands are full of blood; purify 
 your thoughts; cease to do evil; 
 
 Fifteen 
 
"DADDY" DICKENSON CHARACTER 
 
 learn to do well, seek righteous- 
 ness, and then come unto me." 
 
 These sentences were much in harmony with 
 "Daddy's" own thought and they pleased him so 
 much, that he commited them to memory. 
 
 The only disappointment I ever experienced in 
 all my close association with him was over his 
 views about the birth, mission and doctrines, of 
 the "Manger Child." It was a real sorrow to me 
 that one who had so much of the teachings of the 
 Savior of the world in his heart and practiced 
 unconsciously such large portions of the "Sermon 
 on the Mount" in his daily life, should have held 
 the particular views that dear "Daddy" did in 
 connections with those teachings. But who am I, 
 that I should attempt to criticise one so close to 
 nature — possessed of such a great human, sympa- 
 thetic heart and soul as my departed friend? 
 Taken all in all, his life was one most worthy of 
 emulation by all men. Few have ever lived who, 
 taking their lives in the sum total, brought as 
 much of joy and sunshine and as little of sorrow 
 and sin into the devious and uneven ways of life 
 as dear "Daddy Dick." 
 
 I was not at home when "Daddy" died. I was 
 out trying to persuade the people to make me 
 governor of the Sunshine State, when the sad 
 news came to me. Eemembering my promise, 
 made to htm several years before his death, to 
 pronounce his funeral oration, I cancelled all dates 
 
 sixteen 
 
SKETCH AND FUNERAL ORATION 
 
 and hurried home. But a few short hours were 
 alloted to me to prepare for the sad occasion. In 
 another part of this booklet appears, without 
 change or modification, the thoughts which I pre- 
 sented to his assembled friends. His was the 
 largest funeral ever held in this city. It is esti- 
 mated that over three thousand people were in 
 attendance. All classes were represented— from 
 the most humble citizen of the thoroughfares to 
 the most influential and exclusive of our citizens. 
 All stood with bowed heads in contemplation of 
 the real merits of this kind and gentle man ; while 
 innumerable little children in garments of white 
 scattered blossoms and flowers all about. Stand- 
 ing on the porch of his home, I spoke the thoughts 
 which appear elsewhere to an immense concourse 
 of people; and I aver that I never before saw so 
 many persons assembled on any occasion in which 
 each one appeared to feel that he had such an 
 individual and personal grief, as on the sad event 
 to which I refer. Each one seemed to recall some 
 kindly word, some friendly act, which the de- 
 ceased had done towards him or her personally 
 and was anxious, with blossoms and flowers and 
 tears to pay the obligation. 
 
 It was a sad day in Sioux Falls. Not often 
 does a whole city unite in heartfelt grief. The 
 newsboys of the street, the widow in her weeds, 
 the most wealthy, the most influential, the most 
 powerful, and those who think themselves great— 
 
 Seventeen 
 
"DADDY" DICKENSON CHARACTER 
 
 all felt the cold, harsh hand of the grim reaper in 
 that hour. It was not because a king or emperor 
 was fallen ; nor because a president of the Eepub- 
 lic was dead; nor yet was it because of the death 
 of some great statesman who had portrayed the 
 glories of the nation before listening senates or 
 in the congress of a strange people — no! It was 
 because there had been called from their midst a 
 plain, humble citizen — who had answered in the 
 affirmative that memorable question of Cain — 
 Am I my brother's keeper? and had woven into 
 the warp and woof of his daily life the true signi- 
 ficance of that divine command — "Suffer the 
 little children to come unto me, and forbid them 
 not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven!" 
 
 As but yesterday in life I knew him ; I honored 
 him; I loved him. Today, sitting in my study, 
 with my pen fast closing the written chapter of 
 his life, I uncover in contemplation of the sweet- 
 ness and tenderness of his heart and soul ; I mar- 
 vel at the brave, calm, fearless manner in which 
 he met his death, and my own troubled soul, in 
 anguish, cries across the boundless space — 
 O, "Daddy Dick!" from the bosom of thy God, 
 in which thou reposeth, reveal unto me, 0, good 
 genius — to the friend whom thou didst befriend 
 — those eternal truths which conquer death, de- 
 prive it of fear and terror and make it an ex- 
 perience not to be dreaded but almost to be sought 
 and to be loved! 
 
 Eighteen 
 
Funeral Oration 
 
 over 
 
 a 
 
 DADDY" DICKENSON 
 
 April second, nineteen sixteen 
 
 "How beautiful on the top of the 
 mountain are the feet of him that 
 hringeth glad tidings." 
 
 T 
 
 j±_d. 
 
 ^ 
 
 HESE golden words of the prophet 
 Isaiah, quoted frequently by me to 
 my friend, with his approval, while 
 his blood flowed warm and true, I 
 shall make my text today, as we 
 come to pay our tribute and our 
 last respect to him wlio sleeps be- 
 neath these blossoms and these flowers. 
 
 In the i)hysical world we are taught that a 
 pebble cast upon the ocean's bosom, stirs every 
 atom of its water to the farthest shore. And this 
 is true! So when a noble soul is called from the 
 midst of a community the whole spiritual world 
 is stirred to its remotest depths, and every heart 
 is touched with pain. At such a time by the thus 
 sudden taking-off, we are most forcibly reminded 
 that in the midst of life we are indeed confronted 
 
 Nineteen 
 
"DADDY" DICKENSON CHARACTER 
 
 with an ever present and impending death. We 
 only realize this uncertainty and appreciate the 
 futility of wealth, station and power, and the utter 
 inability of all things mortal to postpone the in- 
 evitable, when our attention is called to these facts 
 by the sudden and unexpected taking-off of some 
 one in our. midst. Indeed, on such occasions, we 
 appreciate in its fullest sense the significance of 
 that divine instruction, in which we are told— 
 "The hairs of our head are numbered, no man 
 knoweth the day nor the hour." 
 
 Today the spiritual ocean ebbs and flows, and 
 we find our city stirred from center to circum- 
 ference because a loved and revered citizen is 
 taken from our sight. We, his friends, come like 
 messengers on the top of the mountain bringing 
 glad tidings and words of good cheer to those 
 whom he loved ; and in return we hope to receive 
 inspiration and encouragement as we consider his 
 kind and gentle life. It was my privilege to be 
 one of the thousands who loved "Daddy" Dick- 
 enson in life, and I am among the multitudes that 
 mourn his death. 
 
 My love and friendship for him he knew, and I 
 have had many proofs of his for me. There was 
 no task I would not perform ; no request I would 
 not have granted unto him. But of all the offices 
 he might have laid upon me while yet he lived, 
 there is none so difficult, so unpleasant and so 
 sad as this. In obedience to a command which 
 
 Twenty 
 
"DAODY" DICK AND FAMILY 
 
 "Every moment from his work was spent with them." 
 (See pai^e twelve ) 
 
SKETCH AND FUNERAL ORATION 
 
 he gave to me and which I would not dare to dis- 
 regard, I am come to speak to you of one of the 
 truest, bravest, noblest souls that ever graced this 
 planet, with life's holiest perfume, and in the un- 
 expected moment, fled all too soon from our 
 midst to brave the raging waters of the River 
 Styx, and rise triimaphant on the further shore. 
 
 Dear "Daddy Dick" has passed on. 
 
 This home was on, as but yesterday, all life and 
 light and happiness ; where love was priestess and 
 peace was master hereabouts. Today tliis hearth- 
 stone is darkened with deep black shadows that 
 fall across the door. Grief and tears and sorrow 
 are where peace and love and joy were. Wife and 
 sons and friends are bended 'neatli an awful 
 shock, and sorrowing stand with faces sad and 
 melancholy and with hearts as lonely as a winter's 
 night at sea. She, the Ufe and light and queen of 
 this fair home, is sad in sadness bound, for he, the 
 companion of her life and the father of her sons 
 is gone, and all too soon. Still young in heart and 
 strong in mind, with the light of love full sitting 
 on his honest brow, with buoyant spirit, and with 
 hope at highest tide, he left her at the noonday of 
 his gentle life. 
 
 Dear "Daddy Dick"! It seems to me but yes- 
 terday since I met him and received the warm, 
 firm grasp of his manly hand and felt the thrill 
 of friendship that streamed from the lambent 
 light of his soft and kindly eyes. But a few short 
 
 Twenty-one 
 
"DADDY" DICKENSON CHARACTER 
 
 hours lie has gone from us, yet every hour has 
 left its scar upon our hearts. He is gone! We 
 shall not look upon him more, yet through that 
 strange medium known to the hearts and minds 
 of friends, he seems to be with us still, and we 
 seem to feel his gentle touch and hear his cheering 
 word, with each quick passing hour. We called 
 him "Daddy Dick" because we loved him, for he 
 was loving and much beloved. And those who 
 addressed him thus, received from him a tender 
 salutation and a smile as sweet and sympathetic 
 as the smile the loving mother casts upon her 
 first born. 
 
 R. W. Dickenson, the husband, father, citizen, 
 patriot, has passed from out the light. I knew 
 him in his strongest, noblest hour. As, standing 
 by his bier today, I recall his priceless friendship, 
 remember all his kind and gentle ways, and con- 
 template his pure and useful life, if I were asked 
 to name the source of all his greatness, I would 
 place my hand upon his heart. 
 
 If, on this sad occasion, I were asked to form a 
 motto fitting to his kind and useful life, I would 
 take it from the Latin maxim — Omnia vincit amor 
 — Love conquers all things. 
 
 The one consuming passion of his life was the 
 love of coimtry and of man. Patriotism with him 
 became a high and holy purpose, and to him there 
 was no East, no West, no North, no South. He 
 loved his country in a lump. In the depths of his 
 
 Twenty-two 
 
SKETCH AND FUNERAL ORATION 
 
 kind and gentle heart, there was room for every 
 acre of his country's sunny soil; its every hill 
 upon wliieli the morning breaks; its every vale 
 that cradles the evening shadows ; its every gentle 
 stream that laughs back the image of the sun. He 
 was brave, industrious, courageous and patriotic. 
 To him the Stars and Stripes were indeed, the 
 sjTubol of freedom and of liberty. So strong was 
 his passion for the banner of freedom that he 
 alone, of all the private citizens of my acquaint- 
 ance, kept ever floating from the door post of his 
 home, the Stars and Stripes — etablematic of a 
 bigger and better life unto all the sons and daugh- 
 ters of men. 
 
 It so happened that a few days before he was 
 taken in his fatal illness, I discussed with him the 
 probability of our country being drawn into the 
 present world war. Turning to me he said: "If 
 it comes, I will shoulder my gun and go, and I 
 will take my four sons with me." "Daddy" was 
 a man of peace. Cruel, hard, unseemly thoughts 
 had no place in his heart and such never passed 
 from his lips. But at the thought of an attack 
 upon his country, his face flushed and his soft 
 brown eyes glowed with the fires of patriotism. 
 As I knew him, I do not doubt but that in th<' 
 hour of his strength, he would have carried the 
 flag that he so dearly loved into the very can- 
 non's mouth and planted it on the ramparts of the 
 enemy! Wliile we might have differed about the 
 
 Twenty-three 
 
"DADDY" DICKENSON CHAEACTER 
 
 name of his religion, or the kind of his creed, yet 
 all who knew him agree that he was a thorough 
 American from the ground up — from Alpha to 
 Omega — world without end. He may have been 
 a man without a party or creed, but his patriotism 
 was such that as long as "Old Glory" blazed in 
 God's blue firmament, he was never a man with- 
 out a coimtry ! 
 
 The deceased was born in London, in the popu- 
 lous district of the world's greatest center of the 
 oppressed poor. Bom among the lowly, in ex- 
 treme poverty, he was reared in struggling in- 
 dustry — fighting always for an existence — a 
 chance to live. The first sights that met his boy- 
 hood eyes were the sights of boys and girls fight- 
 ing for bread. The first hands that seized his in 
 companionship were the wrinkled and withered 
 hands of want. The first stories that oppressed 
 his young and tender heart were the stories of 
 the suffering of God's children living from hand 
 to mouth. He saw poverty. He heard poverty. 
 He lived poverty. Strange to say these early 
 privations left no scars upon his heart, no bitter- 
 ness within his soul. He never raised his hands 
 against authority; never faltered or complained 
 during the long, hard years of struggle and priva- 
 tion. He worked hard, and loved those for whom 
 and with whom he toiled. He grew in power and 
 influence and like splendid flowers blooming in 
 dark places, gave off from his tender heart a 
 
 Twenty-four 
 
SKETCH AND PUNER^VL ORATION 
 
 sympathy and perfume that spread fragrance all 
 about him until his coming was welcomed with 
 smiles and his going was accompanied by tears. 
 
 I have always thought it was the early im- 
 pressions of the suffering and hunger and priva- 
 tions of the poor that moulded the thought and 
 actions of his later life. He never did a selfish 
 act, he never turned his back upon the poor nor 
 left unheeded the appealing cry of want. 
 
 I have said that he loved man. Yes, he loved 
 every living creature ! He fed the birds and they 
 knew him! The fowl of the air and the beasts of 
 the field came at his call. He understood them 
 and they loved him. Not man nor beast nor bird 
 went hungry from his door! If all the birds he 
 fed with loving hands could gather at his bier 
 today, with cords of affection fastened to their 
 wings, they could bear his body to yonder eternal 
 hill to rest in peace. If all the men and women, 
 living and dead, to whom he spoke a tender word 
 or for whom he did a kindly act, could gather at 
 his side today to raise their voices in his praise, 
 a mighty chorus would ring forth that would 
 drown the ocean 's never ceasing roar. 
 
 And so our friend was not strong and great in 
 wordly goods and mortal things ; but in immortal 
 things, like love and friendship, he was strong 
 beyond the throne of kings, and rich beyond the 
 dreams of Midas ! 
 
 Dear "Daddy Dick"! Standing by your bier 
 
 Twenty-five 
 
"DADDY" DICKENSON CHAEACTER 
 
 today, I declare unto your multitude of friends 
 that your life, taken all in all, was the incarnation 
 of the Thirteenth Chapter of Paul's First Epistle 
 to the Corinthians. How often did you take a 
 fallen sister by the hand and bid her look to the 
 future and behold the beauteous star of hope! 
 How often did you put your arms around an 
 erring brother in the ditch and inspire him to try 
 again, while you guided his unsteady foosteps 
 from out the pitfalls to the broad and glorious 
 highway of a new and useful life ! I would rather 
 have your gentleness and human sympathy and 
 your all pervading love for your fellow men, than 
 to own the most costly and precious crown that 
 ever decorated the uneasy head of any king or 
 queen ! 
 
 At home he was truly a gentle, loving liege and 
 lord ; honoring and honored ; lo\dng and much be- 
 loved. Of his devoted wife, he made an equal 
 partner, sharing all with her in confidence, suc- 
 cess or failure, through the devious and imeven 
 ways of life. So tender and so kind and so gentle 
 was he to her that the flush of youth still lingers 
 on her sweet and kindly face. Of his boys he 
 made companions and shared with them their 
 youthful joys and sorrows, while he tied them to 
 him with the love of Ms noble heart, the tendrils 
 of which were softer than silk, yet stronger than 
 bands of shining steel. Today those splendid 
 boys, directed by his example and inspired by the 
 
 Twenty-six 
 
 V 
 
SKETCH AND FUNERAL ORATION 
 
 memory of his devoted soul, walk the paths of 
 righteousness and imitate his rugged virtues in 
 all the various marts and courts of men. 
 
 This kindly, gentle citizen, died when all his 
 faculties were strongest and most alert, and with 
 his popularity at its highest tide; at a time when 
 his heart, ever young, was fascinated by a cheered 
 and cheering family circle, and when his friends 
 were hoping for him higher and better things. At 
 such a time he fell in illness, and, uncomplaining 
 fought a noble fight. All that medical skill, and 
 soft, kindly, tender hands could do, could not pre- 
 vail. For days and weeks he trod alone the cold 
 and cheerless brink between two eternities. Gen- 
 tle, brave and patient, "he met his death as calmly 
 as a star meets the morning sun." Folding his 
 arms in apparent contentment, with a smile upon 
 his lips, he passed into the "undiscovered coun- 
 trj'." "What grander way to die! Certainly the 
 mind of man cannot conceive, since all must go, 
 a more pleasant method to pass from out the light 
 and to surmount the raging waves in that glorious 
 ship that sails the seas and harbors in a land 
 where death is not, and aches and pains and tears 
 are never more. 
 
 And what is life? Those who stop to think and 
 contemplate the struggles with a thoughtful mind, 
 must all declare that it is naught! At best, life 
 can be i)roclaimed but as a testing place where 
 from out the souls of men, like dross from out the 
 
 * Twenty-seven 
 
"DADDY" DICKENSON CHARACTER 
 
 gold, is drawn all imperfections by the fires of 
 trial and tribulation. So the sooner that all is 
 past, the quicker has the test been made. The 
 real, wise, thoughtful and scientific students of 
 the world, have neither feared nor dreaded death. . 
 And many of its noblest souls have courted it as 
 but a gateway — a release from bondage here — 
 into the freedom of an everlasting peace and love. 
 
 Some called our friend an atheist. It is not so ! 
 His religion as he lived it and expressed it was a 
 spiritual pantheism. He recognized no personal 
 God, but he saw his God in all about him and be- 
 lieved that the spirit of man remained to influ- 
 ence the lives of those who lived. To him God 
 was in every living, blooming, flowering, breath- 
 ing thing. He thought himself a brother to every 
 living creature, and to birds and beasts and flow- 
 ers and bees, he turned in kindness and in sym- 
 pathy. How dare we criticise his faith ! Although 
 unlearned in books, unschooled in philosophy he 
 could come as near answering that ancient ques- 
 tion — If a man die, shall he live again? — as the 
 highest robed priest of the most authentic church. 
 
 We do not believe that our good friend shall be 
 destroyed or that he shall not live again. "We 
 believe that over the battlements of Heaven he 
 is leaning and watching us here below, while 
 around him the angels gather and beckon on to 
 the unspeakable peace of the eternal stars, the 
 great chamber of the Lord's domain. Who dare 
 
 Twenty-eight 
 
"DADDY" DICKENSON'S RESIDENCE 
 
 It was from this porch that Mr. Egan delivered the funeral 
 
 oration with all rooms full of people and an immense 
 
 throng gathered on the lawn in front 
 
SKETCH AND FUNERAL ORATION 
 
 think that nothing lies beyond the grave? The 
 laws of nature and of nature's God say otherwise. 
 The law of nature is eternal change and science 
 shows that through all the cycles of endless time, 
 not one atom of matter is lost, one molecule de- 
 stroyed. Shall then the soul of man be lost, after 
 a short visit, like a royal guest from the planet 
 of the stars? If nature gives the prattling babe 
 to bind the lives and hearts of man and wife, will 
 it take the child from the mother's knee, or the 
 heroic son from the battlefield without the prom- 
 ise of another meeting where no parting comes, 
 and battle is no more? When man and wife 
 tread, for years and years the narrow way, in 
 wedlock bound, 'till each is weary and heavy 
 laden, each depending upon each, more and more 
 as the journey ends, will they be parted without 
 the hope of an eternal union, bright and glorious, 
 when the storms of winter pass? Nature and 
 nature's God make all things for good. In his 
 mighty plan, all things are part. The blade of 
 grass, the ocean's tide, the evening zephyr and 
 the mountain stream, all serve his purpose. And 
 man, imperial man, must live, and from the 
 dreamless dust must rise I 
 
 And so we know our friend is gone but not 
 destroyed. And we shall miss him much. We 
 shall count time from his departure as peas- 
 ant's do from holy days; as maidens do from 
 trysting hours, and in the silent stillness of the 
 
 Twenty-nine 
 
"DADDY" DICKENSON CHARACTER 
 
 night I will lift up my voice and with the poet 
 say: 
 
 "Thy day has come, not gone! 
 Thy sun has risen, not set; 
 Thy life is now beyond 
 The reach of death or change, 
 Not ended ■ — b^d begun. 
 0, noble soul! 0, gentle heart! Hail and farewell." 
 
 He is at peace! And now, with loving hands 
 and streaming eyes, beneath a wilderness of 
 flowers, we consign him to the hillside under the 
 budding trees midst the flowers so soon to bloom; 
 in the state of his adoption, and in the city where 
 he spent his busy life and useful days, in our 
 beautiful Woodlawn Cemetery, that silent and 
 ever-increasing city of the dead, to rest in peace, 
 and the world is sweeter, brighter and better for 
 his having lived. 
 
016 086 090 n