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About Will Maupin's weekly. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1911-1912 | View Entire Issue (March 10, 1911)
AND THE KING SAID UNTO HIS SERVANTS, KNOW YE NOT THAT THERE IS A PRINCE AND A GREAT MAN FALLEN THIS DAY IN ISRAEL? Elder William Taylor Maupin, born in Callaway county, Mo., August 30, 1831; died at Hennessey, Okla., March 2, 1911. That is the brief announcement of the birth and death of a great man and a prince who has but recently fallen in Israel. With eyes dimmed by tears, and with fingers that falter as they touch the keys, it is difficult to express even feebly the tribute that the son would pay the father now. He was even more than father; he was the playmate of my earliest boyhood, the comrade of my adolescent youth, and the kindly companion and advisor of my maturer years. Always a strict disciplinarian in his own household, the strong hand was always gloved with a warmheartedness that appealed even more than his reprimands; a minister of the gos pel, he believed in the manhood of the min ister and enjoyed life at its best; a member of the church militant, he resented any in sult to his profession with the stern decision, of a man willing to fight for the faith that was within him. By nature a peacemaker, he never failed to stand firmly for what he deemed to be his duty ; by education a cos mopolitan, he was at home in any company but never lost sight of his duty as one who preached the gospel of the Nazarene. It is hard for a son to undertake the task of writing of a father's virtues, for strive as he may to be fair and impartial he is sub ject to the charge of being biased and partial. Yet I believe I will have the corroborating testimony of thousands of witnesses when I say that it has been given to few "country ministers" to wield the influence for good that my father wielded. During the past thirty years in which I have wandered to and fro over the earth. I have seldom been in a neighborhood more than a day or two ere some one asked me : "Are you related to Elder W. T. Maupin who used to preach for the Christian church at such-and-such-a-place?" And when I replied that he was my father my questioner would tell me things of him that made me proud to be the son, though unworthy, of such a sire. Wherever he lived, he Avas a forceful character for good in that neighborhood. Men instinctively turned to him for advice and help ; his kindly nature was evidenced on every hand by the fact that he was ever a favorite with children and young people ; he radiated goodnature as the sun radiates heat, and a warm welcome awaited him in countless homes, in business circles and in the common walks of everyday life. Dur ing the last three or four days of his illness, when his loving wife and his own boys w iited for the coming of the inevitable, the whole community in which he had lived but a brief decade felt an indefinable repression, and the first thing that neighbor asked in the morning, and the last thing asked in the evening was: ''How is Elder Maup in ?" A continuous procession of people, from the lad in knickerbockers who knew him ?s a laughter-loving old gentleman, to the gray-haired fathers and mothers who loved him for his influence upon their sons and daughters, streamed constantly by the doer to ask in whispered tones: "How is he now?" And when the news went abroad that this gentle, loving soul had left its tene ment of clay, there were tears of sympathy fhed in practically every home in that splendid little community. And why not? FATHER: AN APPRECIATION By One of His Boys Had there not passed from among them a man whose every influence was for good, whose cheery greeting was an inspiration, whose varm handclasp was a beneditcion? Realizing full well that the machinery of his body was well nigh worn out, he faced death as one who had achieved a victory over the flesh ; who had fought a good fight, who had almost finished the course, and who had laid up for himself a crown of righteousness and so feeling, when his last illness came upon him he calmly and with out a tremor made every arrangement for his own funeral. The good old songs of Zion he had so often helped to sing he scanned once and again and finally selected those he wanted sung. He selected a faith ful ministerial comrade of many years to preach his funeral sermon, and repeated the verse he, would have for the text of that sermon. ' From among the close church companions he had known and loved for a few brief years he selected his pallbearers, and he asked that the fraternal order of which he was the honored chaplain be asked to take charge of the services at the little cemetery. His worldly affairs took but little time in settlement, for all his treasures had been laid up in heaven ; none upon earth. Having thus prepared himself for the end, he dozed away into a sleep from which he never awakened on this side of the sullen river where we of the flesh must bid a long farewell to the loved ones as they embark one by one for the further shore. In his death he gave a demonstration never to be forgotten by those about him of the beauti ful lines of Bryant's in "Thanitopsis" : "So live, that when thy summons comes to join The innumerable caravanv which moves To that mysterious realm, where each shall' take . . His chamber in the silent halls of death, Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night, Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed By an unfaltering trust, approach they grave, Like one who' wraps the drapery of his couch About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams." It was thus that this splendid old gentle man, this courageous warrior for righteous ness, laid himself down and with closed eyes waited for the summons. It may be that in the fulness of time the hands of his sons and his daughter may erect above his mortal remains a monument of marble. But though that marble column pierce the sky, it will have crumbled into dust ere time shall have dimmed the monu ment he erected for himself in the hearts of men. As the pebble dropped into the placid bosom of the millpond creates rip pling circles that constantly widen until the break themselves upon the near-by banks, so his kindly deeds radiated in constantly widening circles circles tliat are confined by no shores save those of eternity. For upwards of half a century he preached the gospel throughout the length and breadth of the land. He fought evil with an intensity of purpose that lighted his face, but it was not with the weapons of denun ciation but the weapons of truth that ever sought to turn men to the better way by portraying the joys and happiness of the bet ter life. Ready at all times to defend his principles, he was the most tolerant of men, liberal in his views and ever opposed to foisting opinions upon others through statuatory law. jQnce decided upon his course he pursued it without flinching, car ing nothing for censure and unswerved by praise. But woe betide the man who sought to impugn his motives. His caustic wit flashed like a rapier and cut to the very quick. A case in point : In 1888 father lived at Hastings, Ne braska, being the pastor of the Christian church. He was a life-long republican and had no patience with those who sought to make a political issue of prohibition. He was unanimously elected president of the Hastings Harrison and Morton club and made several speeches in central Nebraska for the republican national ticket. After the close of that memorable campaign the club held a big ratification meeting at the opera house, and at the close of the meeting the president was presented with a gold headed cane suitably inscribed and a hand some purse of money. His refusal to join the third party, aroused the ire of the fa natics who saw in prohibition the only issue worth while, and one of them, a physician, wrote for a prohibition organ then published in Lincoln a biased account of the presenta tion of the purse and this account was headed in big letters, "Judas Gets His Sil ver." It was a bitter attack, but it never ruffled the. goodnature of the kindly gentle man against whom it was directed. "Bob" Wahlquist, editor of the Hastings Democrat, and father's warm personal friend though ardent political opponent, offered him space in which to reply. The offer was accepted with thanks, and in the next issue of the Democrat the following appeared over father's signature: "I see by a prohibition paper published in Lincoln that Dr. calls me Judas. This is a mistake, for my name is Saul, son of Kish. I am about looking for my father's asses, and methinks I have located the lead er thereof by its bray." Dr. 's residence in Hastings was thereafter of short duration, for he was literally laughed out of town. Again : During that same campaign father attended a state meeting of the Chris tian church in Lincoln, and found practically every minister but himself wearing Fiske and Brooks hats. He was subjected to con siderable joking because he was not wearing the same kind of headgear, some of the jok ing being goodnatured, but more of it being flavored with rancor that comported ill with the Christian spirit. Finally one of the visiting ministers asked him if he would wear a Fiske and Brooks hat if one were given him. Father said he would, and his questioner agreed to buy him one during the noon hour. After dinner the two appeared at the church, father still wearing his favor ite slouch hat. Immediately he was ac-