Requiem For A Friend: Albert Pike’s Eulogy for Robert M. C. Graham.
Ex Corde Locutiones: Words from the Heart Spoken of his Dead Brethren, is a collection of speeches and eulogies delivered by Albert Pike in honor of deceased Masonic brethren. The book is noted for providing insight into the values and beliefs of the Masonic community. Originally published by the Scottish Rite, Press of J. J. Little & Co., New York, copyright, 1899.
The following text is Albert pike’s Eulogy for Brother Robert McCoskry Graham of Advance lodge in Astoria, New York City, found on page 345-348 of, EX CORDE LOCUTIONES.
In Deo Fiducia Nostra.
ORIENT OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA,
the 10th day of March, 1891, V.. E.:
Unto the Bodies and Brethren of our Obedience :
SHALOM!
SHALOM! PEACE; that comes with blessing to care-fretted, weary men, when Death's dreamless sleep ends all suffering and sorrow.
Because it may be that, after a little while, long illness will cause total disability, I must endeavor to perform, with feeble hand and confused head, this pious duty to the memory of one who was my dearest friend, and whose death is my infinite loss, and deprivation irreparable. I have too long delayed this performance, hoping to regain health and strength and be able to pay worthier tribute to the memory of the holy dead whose face I shall see and whose voice I shall hear no more; and now I must do what duty and friendship and brotherhood require, as best I may.
On the thirteenth day of December, 1890, at his residence in the City of New York, died Bro.". ROBERT MCCOSKRY GRAHAM, 33°, Active Member of the Supreme Council for the Northern Jurisdiction since 1866, and its Deputy for the State of New York since 1878 until 1889; Grand Cross Honorary of our Court of Honour, Emeritus Member of Honour of our Supreme Council, and our Grand Representative near that for the Northern Jurisdiction since 1867
During the last ten years he had regularly been present at our Sessions, feeling like one of us, and looked upon by us as one of ourselves, so much so that he sat with us in our confidential sessions, always welcome and beloved by all. He was also a member of the Grand Lodge of the Royal Order of Scotland, in Edinburgh, and Provincial Grand Treasurer of the Provincial Grand Lodge of that ancient and honorable Order for the United States.
He was born in the city of New York on the 28th day of September, 1830, and so was but little over sixty years of age when he died. Four years ago we laughingly agreed with each other to live until our Supreme Council should have completed its 100th year of being, in 1901; and now, he who showed so fair promise of outliving me, and of living until then and speaking of me, at Charleston, to those who may then assemble there, has gone away before me into the darkness and silence, and I shall never touch his hand again, nor hear his voice, nor look into his bright, frank, affectionate eyes.
He was the son of Bro.'. Nathan B. Graham, who was the great-grand-son of the Reverend John Graham, who was born in Edinburgh in 1604, being of the same family with the celebrated Colonel John Grahame of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee. At the age of fourteen Brother Graham was sent to Paris to complete his education; after three years he returned and entered the counting-house of Howland & Aspinwall. In 1854, President Pierce appointed him Navy Agent of the United States at Rio de Janeiro, where he also represented the Marine Underwriters of the United States. Subsequently, and for over twenty years thereafter, he was the manager of the New York Marine Branch of the Old Manufacturers' Insurance Company of Boston.During the latter years of his life he was President of the Equitable Gas Company of New York, to the successful management of whose affairs he devoted himself with singular diligence, assiduity, and efficiency.
Of his Masonic life outside of our Rite, I know only that some thirty-six years before his death, he was apprenticed in Arcana Lodge in the City of New York; was afterwards a member and Office-Bearer of Howard and Advance Lodge, and died a Member of Chancellor Walworth Lodge.
The Poet Holmes compares an old man to one who, in company with a few friends, clings to a spar floating in mid-ocean. From it, one after another, weakened in and weary of the struggle for life, drops off into the sea, wherein is no trace of what has been, nor foreshadow of what may come; until at last only one survives, and, with the illimitable sea around and under him, and the illimitable sky above him, is the loneliest creature that lives in all the world.
It is a cruel blow of evil fortune when one, who in his old age counts the years of his life by their losses, is suddenly thus bereft of another of his few remaining companions and friends. For to live in the joy that is past, of companionship and good offices, is to live in remembrance of a dream that faints and fades away; and there is no hope of any new joy of like companionship to come.One of the group of faces that come out of the shadows of the past to keep me company " when the sad day has gone and the sadder night come, and I lie awake, saying in my heart, “Would God it were morning!'" the face of this friend, lost last, is one of the most striking and attractive of all, best entitled of all, perhaps, to win admiration and affection.
Like that of Claverhouse, eminently handsome, it seemed to me to have been, in part, faithfully described by what is told of that as painted by Sir Peter Lely; the forehead high, broad and fair, the eyes bright, limpid, honest, the mouth and chin unmistakably indicating firmness and resolution. It was a fine intellectual face, a clear-cut, refined, patrician face, luminous with the radiance of a fine nature, a pleasant face to look upon, a joyous, winsome face, sensitive, yet with assurance of quick decision and energetic action. In it a marvelous blending of fire and gentleness, of tenderness and humor, of thoughtfulness and passion and passing shadows of sadness, which invested it with a great charm, that became greater as one came to know the man better. He was twice married, and a widow and six children survive him to lament the loss of the kindest and most loving of husbands, the most indulgent of fathers, in the bosom of his family as boyish and gleeful as his boys themselves, idolized by them and his girls, whom I have seen grow up from infancy into perfect womanhood. When I think of the desolation of his household, I am ashamed to have dwelt upon my own loss.
Our Supreme Council has lost a true friend and most faithful Representative, whose name shall never be mentioned without honor among us. Those of you who never knew him are fortunate in not knowing how much you have lost thereby; and thrice fortunate those who, having known him, are privileged to remember him. Upon the receipt of this letter by the respective bodies of our Obedience, let it be read aloud in each, and let the altar and Working-tools of each be draped in black, and each brother wear the proper badge of mourning, as for an Active Member of the Supreme Council, for the full term of sixty days there-after.
ALBERT PIKE, 33°,
Grand Commander.
