The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1871-06-15
MORSE STATUE AND OVATION.


the statue were crowded, and it's sesti
mated that at least $4,000 persons were
within twenty rods Of the speakers
stand. Governor Hoffman presided.
The ceremonies began with. music by
1.-THE United States Band from Fort Col
umbus
The Governor delivered brief intro
ductory address, during which he said:
"ln the most conspicuous and most
beautiful of the public grounds of tire
chief city OF the western hemisphere, the
statue of Samuel T. B Morse shall stand
for ages The enduring material of which
it is made may, in the long lapse of time,
Icrumble, yet his name will not be lost to
the memory Of man. By his own works
he has secured for if immortality. So long
as language Lasts 1t will be spoken and
h0n0fedn
The event Of the hour, the nnvciIine
or The statue, was performed by Governor
! Clat1in, of Massachusetts, and Hon VIM
] Orion, who raised the national banner
from it, revealing the figure Of THE
Lightning Controller" Music and cheers
greeted iGa appearance. When they had
subsidized, the inaugural address was pro
nounced by William Cullen Bryant, who
;, said lr
There are two line in the poem by
johnson on the Vanity of Human Wishes,
which have passed into provtrb:
See nations slowly wise and meanly just
To buried merit raise the tardy bust.
1T is our good fortune to escape the
censure implied III these line. We come
together on the occasion of raising
statue not to buried but to living merit !;
to great dlscOverer, who yet sits among
us, q witness TO h0n0rs which are but the
first fruits Of that ample harvest, which
his memory will gather in the long train
OF seasons yet to come Yet we cannot
& congratulate ourselves on having set an
example OF alacrity In this manifestation
Of public gratitude It our iIlustrious
friend, to whom we now gladly pay these
: h0nors, had rot lived beyond the com.
: mon age Of man, we should have SORROW
fully laid them on his grave"
Mr.. Bryant then gave at some length,
an account of the life of Professor Morse,
r and continued as follows:
$ cit may be said, [ know, that the civil
lied world. is already full of memorials
which speak the merits of our friend and
the grandeur and utility of his invention.
Every Geographic station is such mem
orial every message sent from one Of
! these stations to another may be counted
: among the honors paid to his name
Every telegraph wire strung from post to
post, as it huns in the wind, murmurs
| his eulogy. Every sheaf of wires laid
down IN the deep sea, occupying the bot
tom Of the soundless abysses to- which the
human sight has never penetrated, and
carrying the electric pulse charged with
the burden of human thought from con
tinent to continent, from the Old World
to the New, is testimonial to his great
| ness. But our national instincts are not
! thus satisfied. 1t is not the name of our
benefactor merely; it is the person that
we cherish, and We require, whenever 1t
> is possible, q visible presentment of his
face and form, to aid US in Keeping the
e idea Of his worth before our minds We
e insist upon seeing the form of that brow,
beneath which, an active, restless, crea-
tive brain devised the mechanism that
was to subdue the most maynard of the
a elements to the service of man, land make
1t his obedicnt servant We require to
J see the eye that glittered with thous-
: and lofty hopes when the great discovery
was made, and the lips that curled with a
smile of triumph when it became certain
! that the lightning of the clouds wouldlbe-
d come tractable to the most delicate touch.
We demand the hand which first strung
the wire by whose means the currents OF
: electric fluid were taught the alphabet OF
) every language the hand which pointed
}. them to the spot to where they were
to inscribe and leave their messages. ALI
L this We have ON the statue, which has
this day been unveiled to the eager gaze
q of the public, and the artist has so faith
e fully and skillfully fulfilled his task as to
satisfy those who are hardest to please
u the most intimate friends of the original
P But long may it be, my friends, very long
o before any such resemblance of our illus
trious friends shall be needed by those
e who have the advantage of his acquaint-
o ance, to refresh the image Of his form
4 and bearing as it exists in their minds
: Long may we keep with us what is bet
= ter than the statue, the noble original
B. Long may he remain among us, in health.
J full and serene old age Late, very late
may he who gave the mind to which we
owe the grand discovery to-day commem-
) grated, recall it to his immediate pres.
/ ence, that it may be employed in a high
s er sphere and IN still more beneficial
: activity"
After Mr.. Bryant's Grafton was ended
Mayor Hall made an address, letter
from President Grant was read regretting
} inability to be present, prayer was
: made by Rev. Stephen II. Tying, D. D.,
and the Doxology was sung by the assem-
blage, to the accompaniment of the band
In the evening the ovation to Professor