The Sumter banner. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1846-1855, 1849-03-14

could contain them all tss The reader
must have seen him as the writer has
seen him, to realize fully the riches of
his character. 4 /
When thero was some monstrous case
Of wrong to attack, or some piteousyic.
tim of persecution to defend when the
forum was oyeraowing with o ses5of ex-
cited life, and tho bar flashed with words
then was the time to see and admire
1 the god-like intellect and greatness Of
the man. When his looks were more
eloquent than other mems loudest lam
guage, and his tones had q music that
dreWsaears as o lancet doth blood, and
the frown of his pale brow could blanch
tho black forehead of perjury till it grew;
spaler than his own---then no mortal
might see him and doubt his strength.
When some great moral question
was debated in the drawing.room-
when the poisoned arrow Of d sneer was
launched at religion, or the light artil-
iery of doubt was lcveled at virtue,
liberty, or equality, or a disparaging re-
mark was uttered against the masses,
or the dagger tongue of scandal darted
at female reputation---oh! then was
the time to soc him good in thought
and glorious in free speech; for of all
mankind, in common conversation, he
was perhaps tue most eloquent, and only
SO because he was the most truthful,
and paid the least tribute to the tyranny
of opinion, that most detestable of all ty-
rannies the sun ever saw. When q friend
was In distress and needed either his
voice or his money--whena o poor beggar
held out her lean hand for charity--or
rather when that victim of q Villains
wiles, whom he had formerly known in
the days of her wealth, beauty, and puri-
ty, met him in the streets of New Or
leans, aad he gave her his last cent in
the ws:rld, and thus enabled the fallen
one to ~ ain her home--aye then was
the time tohaye seen him good in deed
as we'll as in thought.
When he sat tby the fire in the long
winter evenings, and unbosomcd his
soul to companion who could under
stand him, and all his emotions and ideas
became transparent as crystal; when
his morning memories of hope and am
bition few back again out of the waste
of years, from the nnforgotten past, like
lost angels dcspoiled Of their purple
plumes; when he spoke of his youthful
plans, so lofty, faded out in dreams and
vanished into the air; how he purposcd
to win fame as wide us the world and
immortal as humanity, and oil for the
benefit of humanity in the world; how
he would exhaust his for tune when ac-
quired, and employ his renown when
won, i'll the grand work of rational re-
forms; how he would level, not by pull
ling down the high mountains, but by
elcyating the lowly valleys, so as to
make the social and political earth one
common table-land, soaring away up In
the pure ether, accessible 10 the dews
and sunshine, and much nearer the stars
and how all hope had failed him, be-
cause his body had not received an edu-
cation to match with that of his intel
lect; and then when he returned to
his wife, absent in heaven, and his voice
grew hollow and husky, and be clasped
his bony hands over his eyes, and his
hot tears fell trickling through his fng-
ers-then, oh! then was the time to see
him, and be sure he was most unhappy!
All who have seen him thus, or at
either Of those three times, or in either
of those moods, have but one opinion as
to the man-that America never pro-
duced greater or better man, had
the earth in hi5 organization only equal
led the spirit which its frailty 50 long
fcttered.
But now he is free. After death the
obscure are all free. Perhapsit is ev-
en- happier thus than had his passionate
wish been accorded, and had Fame
been given the pride of Ambition-ior
the famous arc never free. Alas! for
tho worlds reformers, after death their
very names must still serve tho unholy
task-masters Of slander, or their chafac-
ters may be misunderstood by the mas
ses for whom they labored, or the fine
gold Of ,ncir doctrines shall be coun-
terfeitcd by canting hypocrites. Fame,
instead of being always wreath of rosy
light, as credulous fancy paints it, is
too often crown of torturing fire, that
burns the brain Of the living and black
ems tho memory of the dead. But oh!
sleepinspiring Lcthe, thy soothing va
ters, never fiction, are at last the sole
cordial which cures all pain, and gives
the life-weary rest till the dawn Of
another morning!