Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1876-06-09

anu allies, anu udU Cuc same cneulleS.
But at the first bloodshed of his
countrymen the thrifty Franklin
threw away promotion and patronage
and cut the acquaintance of his best
British friends, while Galloway slid
into the British lines and died an
alien. So must it be when men
make the great mistake of century,
from Judas to Bazaine. Mr.. Blu
chanan cultivated proud strangers,
and did not know his neighbors.-
Requiescat IN pace.
Stevens grave is in the heart Of
Lancaster, in small, neat cemetery
Of social look, where death has
lively neighbors and dogs and wa
gons go past. 1t is a substantial
tomb, disfigured by mourning orna-
ments, heavy granite, with what l
suppose to be his autograph at the
end.
II repose in this quiet aud secluded spot,
Not from any natural love Of solitude;
But finding that other cemeteries were limited
have chosen this, that might illustrate
In my death
The principles have main aimed through long
Equality of man before his Creator"
This inscription, which is also an
epitaph, is not only lucid and indi-
vidual, but it is prettily picturesque.
Being in the first person, the vault
itself and the dead appear to address
the visitor without the intervention
of any apologist. The opening lines
are descriptive of the spot and near
ly poetical, and the disclaimer Of an
unsocial reason for hiding away like
a Selkirktouches the sympathy cheer
lily. No reference to color, black or
white, is made to turn into prose and
prejudice the ripply current of the one
harmonious sentence; he uses the
word race finely, and it relates with
out offence to the old mans softened
combativness. "Cemcteries" is the
one jarring word, a Latinization,
altogether worse in association and
sound than the word "graveyard."-
A supple sort of firmness and de-
ferential strength is in the posthum-
GUS assertion of what is, the broad
est principle of humanity and con-
summation of our destiny; for If the
epic be true, we shall resume the
unity whence we were derived and
there our Creator will close our pain
full experiment. Stevens way of
stating his thesis. in the last line, is
the least disputable form, and is
carried ap to the climax of the Crea-
tor, as if he propelled his principle
as far as the limits of thought and
stopped only at the feet of Him who
is the custodian of our mystery
Jefferson expressed it one hundred
years ago, with more dogmatlsm and
with no piety. The epitaph over
this old satyr is nearly reverential,
yet manly. felt a sort of slow
growing warmth as l stood before
this grave, and it must have come
out of that inscription. Some violcts
and dandelions were growing in the
grass, and 1 folded three of them in
the leaves Of a book l carried, al
though | do not recollect ever hay
ing behaved so before. A touch Of
kin, l suppose, makes the whole
world nature. Stevens loved some
thing, else he would not have been
the genial old bachelor he was. In
the rugged fssures of his life a sort
Of nesty warmth abided; his friends,
if few, were real. He rejected no re-
ligion, and the simple nuns who
closed his eyes thought he died in
their faith. He was indeed Catho-
lie, and yet perhaps, not wholly in
corruptible, for he valued certain
ideas more than propriety or even
rectitude. He was not wise man,
and queer notions, which almost
seemed to be affectations cropped
out in HIM. He valued the assertion
of anything too much. He was vim
dictive. His mental views were of.
ten failures, like the tape-worm rail
road. But he was never timid and
he had oroad tread. Purely Yam
kee, he still had wonderful power
over the crudest German elements,
and with these he neutralized the
dominant Pennsylvania classes, and
carried the Presidents homestead
year after year. The reason was
plain enough; the Pennsylvanians
were divided into factions as they
always were, and Stevens directed
his heavy German column upon
their broken lines, himself a most
radical, yet having the con-
fidence of these simple religionaries
Dunkers, and what
not. lie leaves portrait. He was
an individual; what was of him was
rock. 1t would be well for this
State if 1t would give such individual |
character more chance; for, after all,
the chief products of State are
neither coal nor iron nor lumber, but
earnest men working for their kind
however quaint the course they take.
A Baby's Way.
St. Louis Republican.
1t was Just aoout sunset, the street
had been sprinkled, and the residents
Of the neighborhood were grouped
on piazzas aud doorsteps, enjoying
in chat and in Watching
the motions of the children playing
on the sidewalk. Along the walk