The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1853-07-07
GENERAL OGLE-A CHARACTER.
BY DIR. WILLIAM ELDER. OF PHILADELPHIA

s. IL any questions the safety Of logic 80 II
20 cautious, he has yet to learn the virtue whic
q there is in a strong will and sound instincts
4, thinking, as well as in acting upon the rel
e affairs of life 1t is not more the material {
Il thought than the tightness of the twist whic
!, qualities the thread of reasoning, and giv,s
}, texture. There was nothing slack in warp Q
i wool of the Generals web. Ii had sone kInk
j in it. but he dropped no stitches. He had Learn
r ed all the best and most available law maxlms
9 he knew the Scriptures as he said, like book
/ and he was richly supplied with those senter
D tious oracles of wisdom and prudence whic
2 have crystallzed themselves into happy, sell
proving maxims, in form for ready and etfeC
tive USE Ii he was not scholar, and had no
the depth and difficult exactitude of systematl
learning neither had he the narrowness Incl
3 dent to formal and special requirement. Ii I
:, scholar opened his budget before him, he knew
: how to select the goods from the trinkets ant
= trumpery which mingled with them. he triet
. the worth by the use and so derived all tina
had any utility for himself, and he declined the
Q service of pack horse for the balance. Things
not clear were nothing to him; and sterling
D truths ready for use and circulation, were az
|, familiar to his ready apprehension at the first
blush as if they had been old acquaintance
{ He would have found them for himself by his
own intuitions, when nothing else would an
swer but if they were offered, he accepted
them with the pleasure of present payment on
a note not quite DUE but none the less real
debt outstanding. His resources were those
most available ones which any strong man can
employ They were found in the largest inter-
course with the notabilities of the nation, IA
miliar and responsible communion with the live
world around him. and an exhaustless stock OF
innate experiences, growing out of his own won
derfully rich and varied nature
am not attempting biography, but pre-
senting character by the method OF descrlp-
ton, rather than by instances events and &C
tons. The actual outward life in any case,
does but little more than hint the constitution
of the man. Especially where conditions re-
strain the play of extraordinary powers nara
| tive must fail to effect fair presentment.
Every incident of the Generals life was full of
him but the historical detail would involve
that Of the times, his contemporaries, and sur
roundings; besides, his report rests in oral ira
dition mainly. He died before the daguerreo-
type and daily papers undertook the hole-and-
corner gossip of the country, and no phonogra-
pher ever caught the living likeness of his
thoughts. His contemporaries are nearly all
him. He published nothing. His life got ut
terance only in voice and action. 1t was ex-
temporized on the instant, and the data which
remain to the chronicler are as meagre, con-
fused, aud inadequate, as the incidents OF
battle. a storm, or a dance | would gladly
compromise for fair report of one Of his Fourth
of July oratons. 1t would relieve the awkward
ness that there is in playing Snowman to the
lion. and 90 far to supply the defects in my per-
formance' if such an auto exhibition could be
secured. | must even attempt to reconstruct
one of those fossil ouriOsites from the fragmen-
tary remains which lie scattered in my men,
Dry.
The date is about twenty-five years ago; the
scene was laid at the Coffee Spring" mile
from our village the company, made up OF the
population of the town and neighborhood, mus
| tered en- masse. The dinner, spread upon Ia
| BILE cast into horseshoe shape, in an arbor
made with forks and poles, covered with bush
es fresh cut, and close piled to exclude the sun,
has been discussed; the military, the citizens,
and the boys refreshed by the repast, and en-
livened little more or less) with rye-whiskey,
whskey and water, whiskoy sweetened with
sap.sugar, and small beer, graduated to the
tastes and ages of the company are all brought
up standing, by an order for attention from
the Captain Of the Independent Blues,n and
the General mounts the table.
"Percizely, my fellow-citzens," waving a
red silk handkerchief at arm's-length,) "per,
cizely-as Brutus fresh from the execution OF
the tyrant Caesar, cried to his countrymen
hear me for my cause, and be silent that ye
may hear so come before you to speak the
! truth in the love of it, | stand here as Abra.
} ham, when he was returning from the slaugh.
ter of the kings, stood at the feast which Mel
3 chisedek prepared for the grand old hero, Ia
bless the name Of the Most High, who hath
. delivered all mine enemies into my hand.
1 "Chedoraomer, and julius Caesar, and that
A apostate democrat, Napoleon, all died in their
sins, for their evil works went before them Il
: judgment; Pontius Plate cut his own throat
II because he had condemned that Just One; Ju
Q das iscariot hanged himself in remorse for be-
l. traylng him; aud George the Third wilteC
}, away in his wickedness, like that old pine-tret
n there struck by the lightning of heaven-deaC
n ut the top, while the miserable old trunk still
o sticks in the earth by its roots Honor to tn,
race Of regicides; destruction to the oppressori
i of the people everywhere and n stout arm t
u match the bold heart of sound Democracy al
!. over the universe
y "My dear fellows, you don't understand il
% but it is rs clear as light to the children of light
y that the Lord reigneth, and the Devils a fool
y know it; in threescore years and ten, neve
st saw the righteous forsaken, nor his seed beg
O. glng bread Stretch yourselves up into tn
n light; swell your breasts into the upper nj,
% If you go nosing about in the dirt for living
ID and DOING in the mud for enjoyment the sha
d dow of a leaf will hide the whole heaven fror
y your sight. Pigs have no prospects The
O. grunt when they are comfortable, and saues
he when they are hurt but they don't understa an
a. the course of things. And if any fine fello
OF here feels his bristles rising, he knows who
}! mean by the parable, percizely
ly my hairs are white like the fields of Jude
* ready for the harvest of the great reaper, an
1t these stumbling shanks are beginning to shrin
~ from their duty but my soul laughs at Il
~ lengthening shadow Of my years Let tn
r. crazy frame decay shall break out of it or
OF Of these days, like sun-burst upon a mou
IS tain-top when he comes out of his chamber
Id the east to run his glorious race around Il
re, aroh OF heaven. | am not old-and when W
n bury my bones, remember that am not dea
Peter was bewildered when he proposed
o. build tabernacles for Moses and Elias on Ii
tn Mount of TRANSPORTATION. When We ha
OF done our duty here, we 90 up higher VII,
tn this frame has lost all its strength and beaut
he the kindly mother earth will sweeten and fires
IT. On il into youth again; and the limits Of
~ life will widen into glorious liberty Hallel
cd jsh! The light Of these eyes is growing di
m in the light Of Paradise!
e. idiots and driyellers, from seventeen TO Sc
ey enty, think the world is coming to an end VIII
he WORKOUT frames and worn-out things a
cy blown up; but such dotards are but tirst-co,
~ ins to the beast that perishes-all b. the bes
to ty Such cattle have about the sam, right