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Tribute Whiting

Robert Green Ingersoll

A TRIBUTE TO RICHARD H. WHITING.

New York, May 21, 1888.

MY FRIENDS: The river of another life has reached the sea.

Again we are in the presence of that eternal peace that we
call death.

My life has been rich in friends, but I never had a better or
a truer one than he who lies in silence here. He was as steadfast,
as faithful, as the stars.

Richard H. Whiting was an absolutely honest man. His word was
gold -- his promise was fulfillment -- and there never has been,
there never will be, on this poor earth, any thing nobler than an
honest, loving soul.

This man was as reliable as the attraction of gravitation --
he knew no shadow of turning. He was as generous as autumn, as
hospitable as summer, and as tender as a perfect day in June. He
forgot only himself, and asked favors only for others. He begged
for the opportunity to do good -- to stand by a friend, to support
a cause, to defend what he believed to be right.

He was a lover of nature -- of the woods, the fields and
flowers. He was a home-builder. He believed in the family and the
fireside -- in the sacredness of the hearth.

He was a believer in the religion of deed, and his creed was
to do good. No man has ever slept in death who nearer lived his
creed.

I have known him for many years, and have yet to hear a word
spoken of him except in praise.

Bank of Wisdom
Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
8

A TRIBUTE TO RICHARD H. WHITING.

His life was full of honor, of kindness and of helpful deeds.
Besides all, his soul was free. He feared nothing, except to do
wrong. He was a believer in the gospel of help and hope. He knew
how much better, how much more sacred, a kind act is than any
theory the brain has wrought.

The good are the noble. His life filled the lives of others
with sunshine. He has left a legacy of glory to his children. They
can truthfully say that within their veins is right royal blood --
the blood of an honest, generous man, of a steadfast friend, of one
who was true to the very gates of death.

If there be another world, another life beyond the shore of
this, -- if the great and good who died upon this orb are there, --
then the noblest and the best, with eager hands, have welcomed him
-- the equal in honor, in generosity, of any one that ever passed
beyond the veil.

To me this world is growing poor. New friends can never fill
the places of the old.

Farewell! If this is the end, then you have left to us the
sacred memory of a noble life. If this is not the end, there is no
world in which you, my friend, will not be loved and welcomed.
Farewell!