New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-11-26
warded by Mr.. Reade, but has not yet reached

activity still linger about him. The easy
attitude in which first saw him, was that OF
n man who could spring across the room i'll
moment, from where he stood.
In manner he is two men ; sometimes grave,
slow, and thoughtful sometimes fiery ana
yiyacious; and the changes are well timed
for he relates his feats with French viyacity'
INT makes his reflections in slow. thought
ful way that is Scotch all over. 1t is just
possible that Grace" may have a hand in his
yivacious half, for he admits a French pro-
eepitor. and Lambert" is a French name
I have not known him long enough to draw
his whole character; but to what is revealed
in his recorded acts | can add one trait: he
is a man without bile. | offer one example
after describing with great spirit how he saved
a respectable acquaintance, he told me that
the said individual had afterward avoided
him /; and then he stopped and went in mo-
ment from his French manner to his Scotch.
"And-I hae-obsairved, sir, that the mair
part-of them haze saved-shuns me-"
Straight l exploded with ire at their base
ness. But could not convey my spleen into
this heroic bosom void of bile.
"Na, sir" said he with the same measured
ereat-a debt-to awe to ony man; and they
feel it a burden"
Almost any other man, finding, in certain
base biped, vanity too strong for gratitude
would have vented the discovery III tones,
either of wrath, or Of pitcOus complaint; but
this man sounded like a patient, inquiring
philosophers certainly a FAINT tone of regret
pierced through, but no more than became a
philosopher, gently disappointed in mankind.
To me who have seen so much storming, and
blubbering over trifes, this thoughtful, I'M
complaining dignity was as pathetic as 1t was
noble.
If the man seems egOtistical, his discourse
being all about himself, you must remember
that | kept drawing him out, and that the
true balance of the dialogue is not presented,
since / have suppressed the greater part of
my questions, as not worth printing.
| ought also to tell you that his manner of
relating his exploits had no touch of vanity,
nor Boosting, nor self-gratulation. 1t was
thing both strange and fine to see how he was
carried away out of the dark present into
those glowing scenes, relighted by the sun of
memory. AS he related, the whole man
quivered with excitement. When he was tell
ing me how he dived for the little boy, OppO-
site " the dead house." | took his hand, and
under cover of sympathy, being q prying
scoundrel-l furtively felt his pulse, 1t was
beating about one hundred and ten to the
minute, his heart pds once more doing the deed,
and his Door blind face shOne with angelic
goodness, and cleaned with heroic fire.
This hero and martyr has a foiblc, not an
uncommon one in Glasgow; but still sad
fault He is too fond of whsky-much.
Bookmakers' morality will say, Why reveal
the infirmity of such a mani" I'll tell YOU;
because in less than 200 years the first stone
of honesty in biography will have to be laid;
so, not to waste the worlds time, | lay ii now.
Since in this best of all possible worlds,
much is done for moderately good killers of
men, yOu may be curious to know what man
has done for this incompatible saver of men.
He has earned the gold medal of the Humane
Society twice, and the silver about twelve
times.
He has never received either.
He better deserves every order and dec
Grafton the State or the Sovereign can
bestow, than does any gentleman or no.
bIelnan in this land, whose bosom is
constellation. Yet not a cross nor
q ribbon has assembled from the vulgar levels,
where they grow like buttercups, to the breast
of this immortal hero. And why he is but
a saver Of men, not killer; he Is only n
Christian hero; and, in the distribution Of
glory, the world, including the very preachers
of the gospel, is as rank heather as ever in
spite of Christ and fool in spite of Vol
taire.
The Que public honor paid him is this {: A
suspension bridge has been built over the
CLYDE where he saved more than twenty lives
that one dark night and over this bridge two
men pass gratis TILL they die-Bailey Harvey
and Hero Lambert. The rest of mankind pays
q half-penny.
So much for his decorations. Then for his
pensions He has but one; and that is local,
not imperial, though the places the man adOrns
are the empire, and the world. The BarOny
Parish, Glasgow, allows him three and six pence
a week. But he was earning twenty-five to
thirty when he fell blind So that his local al
lowance for benefits to mankind, does not COM
pensate him for his calamity, by fvesxths 4;
and his heroic and phianthropic feats are left
out of the arithmetic altogether.
| propose, then, to those who govern this
country, to depart from the stiff precedents of
savages, and to take wider and more enlig-
thened views of heroism, beginning with James
Lambert, since they cannot begin better. They
have the example of France she bestows
civic honOrs on the heroes who save, as well
az on the heroes who kill.
propose to the Humane Society to bestow
their gold medal. Anything less would be no
compliment to this great Saver.
As for the English public, that needs no
spur. When this narrative appears in an in
influential journal, hundreds will desire to