There was reason and there was justice in what she said, though they
were so chaotic in form, and Ewbert could not refuse to acquiesce.
After all, he had done what he could, and he would not abandon himself
to a useless remorse. He rather set himself to study the lesson of old
Hilbrook's life, and in the funeral sermon that he preached he urged
upon his hearers the necessity of keeping themselves alive through some
relation to the undying frame of things, which they could do only by
cherishing earthly ties; and when these were snapped in the removal of
their objects, by attaching the broken threads through an effort of the
will to yet other objects: the world could furnish these inexhaustibly.
He touched delicately upon the peculiarities, the eccentricities, of the
deceased, and he did cordial justice to his gentleness, his blameless,
harmless life, his heroism on the battlefields of his country. He
declared that he would not be the one to deny an inner piety, and
certainly not a steadfast courage, in Hilbrook's acceptance of whatever
his sincere doubts implied.
The sermon apparently made a strong impression on all who heard it. Mrs.
Ewbert was afraid that it was rather abstruse in certain passages, but
she felt sure that all the university people would appreciate these. The
university people, to testify their respect for their founder, had come
in a body to the obsequies of his kinsman; and Mrs. Ewbert augured the
best things for her husband's future usefulness from their presence.