LAST WORDS OF GREAT MEN[1]
Marshal Neil's last words were: “L'armee fran-caise!” (The French army.)—Exchange.
What a sad thing it is to see a man close a grand career with a plagiarism in his mouth. Napoleon's last words were: “Tete d'armée.” (Head of the army.) Neither of those remarks amounts to anything as “last words,” and reflect little credit upon the utterers. A distinguished man should be as particular about his last words as he is about his last breath. He should write them out on a slip of paper and take the judgment of his friends on them. He should never leave such a thing to the last hour of his life, and trust to an intellectual spirit at the last moment to enable him to say something smart with his latest gasp and launch into eternity with grandeur. No—a man is apt to be too much fagged and
- ↑ From the Buffalo Express, September 11, 1889.
132
