The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1875-08-12
Did lie Succeed {!

DIR. Holland, in ,Scribner's, says that
somewhat less than forty years ago there
moved among the students of Yale Col
lege young man. poorly dressed, but
princely in bearing and in mind. H.
was bred in the country, among humble
surroundings, but he was gentleman
from the crown of his head to the solef
of his feet, and III every fiber of his
body and mind. Slender, tall, hand
some, with an intellectual brow, a fine
voice and a Christian spirit, he had every
possession of nature and culture neces-
sary to win admiration, respect and af-
fection. This man was poor; SO, before
his educational course was completed,
he was obliged to leave college, and to
resort to teaching for livelihood but,
wherever he moved, he won the strong
est personal friends. Men named theiI
boys after him. Women regarded him
as model man, and the name of Still
man A. Clemens stood in high honor in
all the little communities in which it was
known.
He was particularly fond of mechanics
and mathematics born inventor, with
more than the ordinary culture of the
American inventor. He had an exquisite
literary faculty, rare wit, fine appre-
citation of humor, and good conversa-
tional powers. Indeed he seemed to be
furnished with all desirable powers and
accomplishments except those which
were necessary to enable him to "get on
in the world" He was born poor, and,
the other day, after life of dreams and
disappointments, he died poor. The
brown head and beard had grown gray,
the spare figure was bowed, and the end
of his life was accompanied by circum-
stances of torture which need not be de-
tailed here. The life which, for thirty
years, had been an unbroken struggle
with adversely, went out, and the weary
worker was at rest.
The inventors dreams were always
large. They all had "millions in them. :"
First, in an arrangement of centrifugal
force for the development of motive
power then in machine or process
for detaching the manila fiber then in
cotton-press of unique construction,
for cOmpressing cotton so completely at
the gin that it wouldneed no further treat
ment for shipping ; then in q flax dress
ing machine and last in rollway which
was to displace forever the present rail
way system, and solve the problem of
cheap transportation. In the cotton
pressing machine he made an incidental
invention, to which he attached no spe-
cial Importance, out of which others
have since made the fortune which, dur
ing all his life, was denied to him. He
strewed his way all along with ideas of
immense value to all around him. 1t is
not year since he read his paper before
an association of engineers at Chicago,
exposing in detail his rollway invention;
and it is said that on the morning of his
death he was called upon by a capitalist.
with reference to SublectlnB JnlS lnven-
ton to practical test. 1t was n magniti
cent project, and we hope that it may
yet be tried, though he in whose fertile
brain it originated is beyond tho salts
faction of success and the shame of
failure.
Well, did our friend succeed, or did
he fail? There were mean men around
him who became rich. There were sor-
did mon in the large community in which
his later years were spent whose money
flowed i'll upon them by millions. There
were brokers and spectators, and mer
chants and hotel proprietors, and manu-
facturers, who won more wealth than
they knew how to use, while he was toll
ing for the beggarly pittance that gave
him bread, or floundering in the new
disappointments with which each year
was freighted. They succeeded" as
tho world would say, but let us see what
this man did. He used every faculty he
possessed for forwarding the worlds
great interests. He put all his vitality,
all his ingenuity, all his knowledge, into
the country's service. The outcome is
not yet, but the outcome is just as sure
us the sprouting of sound seed in good
soil. The wealth he did not win will go
into the Golfers of others. lie never
sacrificed his manhood. He kept him
self spotless. He did not repine or whine.
The ma4 whe saw him in his last years
| found him still the courteous Christian
gentleman, bearing his trials with pa
tience, trusting in the Infinite goodness,
accepting his discipline with more
equanimity, and still hopeful and per-
sistent.
He maintained his courage and his
self-respect. He won and kept his
personal friends. He went to his grave
with clean hands, and his soul ready for
the welcome exchange of worlds. He
left behind him the memory of charac-
ter which money cannot build and can
not buy. 1t was an honor to be affec-
tionately associated with him. 1t is q
high honor to be called upon to. record
the lesson of his life, and high duty to
command it.
Did he succeed? Yes, he did and
the community in which rest his
precious remains could do itself no
higher honor than to erect over them q
stone bearing the inscription "Here
lies Stillman A. Clemens, who died pool
in this worlds goods and poor in spirit,
but rich in faith, rich in mind and heart,
rich in character and in all the graces ol
a Christian gentleman, and rich i'll the
affection of all who knew him and wert
worthy of his acquaintance"
That he wanted wealth to bestow upoI
those whom he loved we do not doubt
That he wanted it to prove that hi
dreams We're not baseless, is true, w
presume. That he dreamed of it among
his other dreams would be very natural
The dream has come true.
"That dream he carried in hopeful spirit,
Until in death his patient eye grew dim,
And the Hedeemer called him to inherit
The heaven of wealth long garnered up TO
him