Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1875-07-30
Did he succeed?

Did he Succeed2
Somewhat less than forty years
ago there moved among the students
of Yale College a young man poor
| ly dressed, but princely in bearing
and in mind. He was bred IN the
country, among the humble sur
roundings, but he was a gentleman
from the crown of his head to the
soles of his feet, and in every fibre
of his body and mind. Slender, tall,
handsome, with an intellectual brow,
a fine voice and a Christian spirit,
he had every possession7aof nature
and culture necessary to win admit
alton, respect, and affection. This
man was poor; so, before his educa-
tional course was completed, he was
obliged to leave college, and to re-
sort TO teaching for a livelihood; !;
but, wherever he moved, he won the
strongest personal friends. Men
named their boys after him. Wo-
men regarded him as model man,
and the name of StilIman A. Glenn
ems stood in high honor in all the
communities in which it was known.
He was particularly fond of me-
chanics and mathematics-a born
inventor, with more than the ordina-
ry culture of the American Inventor.
He had an exquisite literary faculty,
rare wit, fine appreciation of hu-
NOR, and good conversational pow
ers. Indeed he seemed to be fur
nished with all desirable powers and
accomplishments except those which
are 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 fig
ure was bowed, and the end of his
life was Accompanied by circum-
stances of torture which need not be
detailed 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 al
ways large. They all had "millions
in them" First in the arrangement
of centrifugal force for the devel-
opment of motive power; then in a
machine or process for detaching the
manila fiber; then in a cotton press
of unique construction, for compress
sing cotton SO completely at the gin
that it would need no further treat
ment for shipping; then in fax
dressing machine; at last in a roll
way which was to displace forever
the present railway system, and
solve the problem of cheap transpor-
tation. In the cotton-pressing ma
chine he made an incidental inven-
tion, to-which he attached no spe-
cial Importance, out of which others
have made the fortune which, du-
ring 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 cap
italist, with reference to subject
ing this invention to practical test.
1t was magnificent project, and we
hope it may yet be tried, though he
in whose fertile brain it originated
is beyond the satisfaction 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. sordid men in the large com
munity in which his latter years
were spent whose money flowed in
upon them by millions. They were
brokers and spectators, and mer.
chants and hotel proprietors, and
manufacturers, who won more
wealth than they can know how to
use, while he was toiling for the
beggarly pittance that gave him
bread, or foundering in the new
disappointments with which each
year was freighted. They Succeed
ed" as the world would say, but let
US see what this man did. He used
every faculty he possessed for for
warding the worlds great interests.
He put all his vitality, all his inge-
nuity, all his knowledge, into the
country's service. The outcome is |
not yet, but the income is just las
sure as the sprouting of sound seed
in good soil. The wealth he did not
win will go into the Golfers of 9th
ers. He never sacrificed his man
hood. He kept himself spotless.-
He did not repine or whine. The
man who saw him IN his last years
found him still the courteous Chris
tian gentleman, bearing his trials
with patience, trusting in the inf
mite goodness, accepting his disci-
pline with more than equanimity,
and still hopeful and persistent. He
maintained his courage and his self
respect. He won and kept his per-
sonal 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
a character which money cannot
build and cannot buy. 1t was an
honor to be affectionately associated
with him. 1t is high honor to be |
called upon to record the lesson of |
his life, and high duty to commend
it. Ft#k5f
Did he succeedP Yes, he did; and |
the community in which rest bis |
precious remains conld do itself no
higher honor than to erect over
them stone bearing the inscription:
"Here lies Stillman, A. Clemens,
who died poor in the worlds goods,
and poor in spirit, but rich in faith,
rich in mind and heart, rich in char
acter and in all the graces of Chris
tian gentleman, and rich in the at
fectien of all who knew and were
worthy of his acquaintance"
That he wanted wealth to besto w
upon those whom he loved, we do
not doubt. That he wanted 1t to
,,,o,,o +bot his dreams were not /