Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1856-04-24

Let me not conclude, my friends. without
speaking of still more endearing aspect oil
Mr.. Webster's character. I mean the
warmth and strength of bis kindly natural
affections. The great sympathies of true
generous spirit, were as strongly developed
in him as the muscular powers of his frame
or the capacities of his mighty intellect In
all the gentle humanities of his life he had
all the tenderness of woman. He honor
ed his parents, he loved brother and sister
and wife and child; he cherished friend and
neighbor, the companions of boyhood, towns.
man, aged schoolmaster, humble dependant,
faithful servant, and cultivated all the other
kindly instincts, if others there be, with the
same -sreadiness, warmth and energy of soul
with which he pursued the great secular OBJ
jects Of life. Mere social complacency may
have selfish basis, but Mr.. Webster's heart
was full of pure disinterested love. Re-
ligious conviction is an act of the under
standing, but he bowed to the Infinite with
the submssiveness of a child. With what
tenderness he contemplated the place of his
birth; how fondly he poin'ed to the site Of
the humble cottage where he first drew the
breath of life; how he valued the paternal
trees that shaded it; how his heart melted
through life at the thought of the sacrifices
made by his aged parent-the hard working
veteran Of two wars--to procure him an
educa,ion; how he himself toiled to secure
the advantage to his older brother; how he
cherished the fond sympathies of hu band
and father; how he sorrowed o.er the de-
parted how he TAINTED his grief if may
say so, in the soil OF Marshfield in designat-
ing the trees by the names Of his beloved
son and daughter, How beautiful the dedi-
catioos in which he has C nsisned his lren =
ships and his loves TO immortality, How
sublime and touching the pathcs of his last
fareweIls: how saint-like the meditations of
his departing spirit! How can attempt to
do justice to topics, like these, whose sa-
credness shrinks from the most distant ap-
proach to public discussion! These were
the pure fountains from which he drew not
merely the beuu'y. but the strength OF his
character, every faculty of his mind and
every purpose Of his viii deriving new
strength and fervor from the warmth OF his
heart.
But some one may ask, were there no
shadows upon this bright picture-no spots
upon the disc Of this meridian sun! Was he
at length
That fauItless monster which the world ne'er sawi
or did he partake of the inirmities of our
common humanity! Did this great intellec-
tual, emotional, and physical organization,
anids, the strong action and reaction of its
vast energies, its intense consciousness of
power, its soaring aspirations, its hard strug-
giles with fortune in early life, its vehement
antagonisms OF later period, the exhilara-
lions o triumph, The lass tudes of exertien,
cid it never, under the urgent pressure Of the
interests, the passions, the exigencies of the
hour, dive-ge in the i ghtest degree from the
golden mean in which clustered philosophy
places alb olt, moral peri ction! To this
questi n, which 70 one has right to put bit
an angel, whose serene vision no mC,e dis
tempers; 10 which no one will expect mega
tive answer but Pharisee, with a beam IN
his eye big entus h fer the cross-tree Of
synagogue, make no response. | confine
myself to two reflections: first, that, while
merit is fer the most part grudg-
ingly estimated, the faults of very great men,
placed as they are upon an emnence where
nothing can be concealed, ard objects Of the
nj st scrutinizing hostility, personal and Po-
litical, are, like the spots on the sun, to
which have compared them, seen for the
most part through telescopes that magnify a
hundred, a thousand times; and, second, that
not seldom, in reference to questions that
strongly excite the public mind, the imputed
error is on the side of the observer. We
learn from the Ear Of Rossc that she NEST
difficult problem in practical science is to
construct lens which will not dstort the
body it reflects. The slightest sberration
from the true curve of the specular mirror is
enough to queuch the fire Of Sirius aud break
the club of Hercules. The motives aud
conduct, the prime p o, and characters OF men
are not less likely to be mistaken than the
lines and angles Of materiol bodies. The
Of individuals and parties