Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1870-04-20
General Thomas.

Grace Greenwood, the spirited corre-
spondent of the New York Tribune from
Washington, always furnishes readable,
pointed personal items, which are read with
great interest
OF the memorial meetings and speeches
in respect to the memory of Gen. Thomas,
she writes thus:
The address of the Chairman, Mr.. Sec
rotary Cox, was notable for its perfect taste
and felicitous phrasing and for its fine, full
tinguishing qualities of its subject. 1t was
the clear, dispassionate, judicial estimate Of
a peer. The Secretary was also especially
happy I'm his remarks when introducing
the successive speakers. He draped and
decorated special niche for each one, Civ
ing him, as it were, the key to the occasion
and the subject. As presiding officer he
is distinguished for dignity, grace and tact
"The remarks of Gen. McCook, intro
ductory to the resolutions of the meeting
were in good taste and feeling, and the res
olutions admirable.
"The speech of General Sherman went
home TO every heart. 1t was right SOL
earnest, affectionate. The picture of the
young soldiers of thirty years ago, in their
everyday happy companionship, in Flori-
da and at Fort Moultrie, was very beauti-
full, because SO simple and natural. This
strain of tender recollection touched with
a sort of sad humor, surprised some of us,
who had only half known the stern soldier,
who opened with fire and sword Freedom's
pathway to the sea. Out of the strong
came forth sweetness There was in this
speech no slightest effort at display, no am
bilious use of figures, no fine writing of
any sort-and yet 1t was not too plain in
style to be spirited, and even picturesque"
OF the second meeting at Masonic Hall,
Washington, she says:
The second speech of Secretary Cox sur
passed his first, in beauty of arrangement
and finish of style. 1t was charming bit
of portraiture and biography, clear and con-
else, yet vivid and poetical. 1t seemed ut
terly unstudied, yet, as piece of compost
ton, was almost faultless. 1t had the SIM
plicity of talk, and the dignity of history.
The speeches and addresses of Mr. Cox
never strike one as labored or learned, but
the spirit of a careful, almost dainty, schol-
arship pervades his simplest efforts. In
the use of figures he never undertakes to
ride two-horse act lis never forgetful
or careless. The one metaphor or illustra-
ton he makes choice of, at the beginning
| of a sentence, he goes on with to the end
The number of tropes and SMILES suffered
to struggle, or thoughtlessly abandoned, by
| some marching columns of speech that
night, showed, | must say, a great lack Of
discipline.
The Vice President, in giving his de-
| lightful personal recollections, uttered one
peculiarly happy sentence. While de-
scribing the emotion of General Thomas on
being introduced to the House of Repre-
sentatives, he said: Il noticed, as he stood
beside me, that his hand trembled like al
aspen leaf. He could bear the shock of bat
tie, but he shrank before the storm of APP
plause' Gov. Fairchild gave to the mem
DRY of the purest, most self-abnegating
lovable hero of the great war; his sorrow
full tribute, his " one-armed blessing" ant
then, with funeral music which was lik'
the closing of the coffin-lid, the fall of eartl
| to earth all was Over.p