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Show H VICTOR CLEMENT. The news of the death of Victor Clement Is a H great shock and is most sorrowful. So strong was H he physically; so porfectly equipped for the H world's work, just at an age when all his facul- H ties were at their zenith, he gave perfect prom- M ise that there were yet long years of usefulness M c before him, and that his triumphs had hut just H begun. California-born and educated, he started H out for the conquest of the world in his chosen j H occupation. He '"became a trail-blazer and path- finder for miners. He was at home everywhere. H He could have made a map from memory of all H this west coast. He learned the alphabet which H nature left on her stony tables; he converted that H into words and sentences and" from these he B learned the history of the formation of tais part H of the world; through what convulsions it was H driven; where the earthquake had torn its crust; H where the glacier had ground its way; where the H erosion of the ages had tried to confuse the H scholar by covering up the work that the fiercer elements had performed; what the materials were H in their native state and what changes had been Hj wrought upon them through the chemistry of the H deep laboratories and the abrasions of the cen- H Then he went abroad. Down among the Zulus H and Kaffirs of South Africa; the friend of Cecil H Rhodes, the genius of Johannesburg; the Impul- H sive free American who could not bear the tryan- H nous rule of the Boer and came face to face with H death in trying to throw it off; then up among H) the snows of Siberia, mapping in his mind the H possibilities of that mysterious land; then return- H ing, accomplishing new triumphs here, and tak- H ing the Mexican trail, made in that land a trans- H formation. Just in that hour of his greatest vlc- H tory his summons came like a soldier who after H breasting the onsets of a desperate battle through H ' the day, is struck down at nightfall by a vagrant, H spent bullet. H In his death the mining and scientific world H has lost a strong support. He had that wonder- H ful discernment which enabled practical and H i scientific mining to go hand in hand he com- H polled science to hold natural mining enthusiasm H , under a steady rein; ho had the exact judgment H ' which compelled the pick and drill to follow scion- H tific land-marks, and so true was he, so careful H was he to provide against any mining delusions, Ht! s conscientious was he lest others might suffer K through his mistakes, that at last his statements came to be accepted without question and his judgment was leaned upon everywhere. He had just completed his work In a way to secure for him and his an independence; he was having his home here rehabilitated and beautified beauti-fied so that he and his devoted wife might provide pro-vide more delights for their friends, and both were looking forward to a long season of rest and enjoyment, their idea of enjoyment being to make all about them happy. That dream is over now. The brilliant, gifted, gift-ed, brave and generous soul has iled; the heart of the poor wife is buried in the narrow house with his dust. God pity the stricken woman; God rest the soul of the strong man who has died. |