Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1872-11-28

OUR AARTKRED PnESIDENT.
An Eloquens Tribute 70 IIis memory.
Mayor John Hay, Presidents Lin
coins private secretary, closed his lee
ture in Chicago on "Phases Of life in
Washington" with this eloquent and
thrilling peroration: 8 si
"On that Good Friday morning,
when for the first time in four years
the sound of hostile guns was silent, and
the fighting men had turned the toes
of their army shoes homeward, the
best and most powerful friends the
South had 10 the world were the Pres.
ident and hischief Secretary. Yet we
may be sure that the most precious OF
sacrifice was IN that great, fated put-
pose which takes the world in its
scope. The nation was welded again
into one mind by the death and burial
Of its prophet leader, Just ~ Il was BY
the first shot against the nag. A Pc
ter, the Hermit, preaching ! holy war
with that fiery tongue Of his, was not
more eloquent than the dumb sc0rpso
Of Lincoln, moving h0Me in triumph.
In the princely palaco sof L.eichtenstein.
ct Vienna, there ID . great CANVASS Of
Rubenss called the Triumph Of Deciue,'
The warrior lies dead NJ his ear, his
white face staring sternly at the sky,
around him the golden spoils Of sack
and battle and the sacred laure1s Of
victory; and bound to his chariot
wheels, throng princes md leaders, the
.clanking Of whose fetters soothe the
fierce soul of the hero on his wayl to
the Shades. It was superblv impress
sive. The very spirit Of the old glory
Of force and violence Was there. Bat
l could only think how vastly fuller
Of the better grandeur Of q freet ago
was that funeral march Of Lincoln to
those sunset pralries I of his love-
Around his catsfalqne thronged the
mourning people he had served 90
purely. The fearful benedictions u
ransomed millions called forever down
upon him the cherished smile OF God.
In the Ginning Of the siIver-throated
bells you might hear the echoing chorus
Well done! and almost fancy fl the
solemn hush of the midnight pauses
the awful rushing of unseen wings as
Of the conveying legions Of the just
made perfect. That was the apothe-
osis of the hero. He had fought the
good fight. He had kept the faith.
He had become q spiritual force and
essence. His great character and ex-
ample went abroad on the wind that
blew. The men of France, By
one cent subscriptions, made grea,
gold medal for him. a friend Of mine
found family In Hartx Mountains
crying like children over the news of
his death. A member Of the Auetrian
Reichsrath said to me: Already he
hass become myth, . demigod, 4 type
OF ideal democracy" 1t needed not
even his death to give him this super
natural character 4aaH0Me the humble
people Of his own land.
"This IL the true tOuchetOno or tho
heroic man and the heroic age---if liv-
ing he is . toiler,. and ii dead he 10 a
principle. Lincoln needed NO lapse
of years to become immortal. In one
flash of binding light he became pan.
oplied into the religion of the peoples.
Az in the old tragedies, after the fall
of the hero came the fanfare Of the
trumpets and the entry of the forces,
SO after Lincoln had gone from WASH
ingtcn came in the victorious soldiers.
1t seems to me no such touching pa
geant was ever seen. There was not
regiment with half its supplement of
men. There was scarcely soldier or
an officer with whole uniform. There
was scarcely banner but was black.
ened with smoke and riddled with the
fiery hail of fight. Yet as II marched
past the reviewing Generate, past
Grant, and Shermaib and Stanton, and
the representatives of the Old World
all in gala dress, no one doubted any
more that this was the greatest army
that ever went to war. AS in that
colossal and inspiring picture of Kaul-
hack, which shows the legendary fight
of Atilla, there are two fields and two
contests, one between the soldiers
striving in deadly conflict on the turf,
and the other shadowy battle, set in
the upper air, among the ghosts Of the
heroes slain below, go all hearts that
day were divided In reverence and
gratitude between our two armies, the
one on its way homeward, crowned
with love and laurels, preparing it's
own unselfish disarmament, and it's re-
turn to the peaceful interests Of the
country 1t had saved; and the men OF
the other, invisible forever in those
wasted columns who had gained their
promotion on the battle field to high.
er and wider sphere of duty, fulfilling
now the scheme Of the Lord of Hosts
in some activity above the clouds.
Thus they passed ON, the victors and
the martyrs. Out Of the army into
peace, out of sorrow into holy memo
ries. And with the sweet and thrill
ling sound Of the bugles, and the ris-
ing lust Of the columns smitten into
golden glory by the sun setting over
Georgetown Heights, passed away the
Heroic Age from Washington.
The great natural revolutionist, Carl
Schurz, has been to Burlington and
delivered himself, Ofthe effort the