New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1876-01-01
4 sToRY FoR THE NEW YEAR.

of RESOLUTIONS rs 10 our lutuiO "'"Oi''''
is not the place of THE TRIBUNE to preach
sermon concerning these things; but tue
bret account of life which ended In 1910
may prove suggestive story with much dilect
bearing on these motives and plans OF ours
It was hardly what you could call On obscure
life; the man from his earliest boyhoOd mad
both the purpose and lracb of keeping himself
before the public. lie was by 10 means,
be it understood. fraud or dlssem-
bier: he had keen sense or JUS
tice and of human rights, and never
espoused n cause which did not advance both.
He first made himself known as the advocate
of the public school system in one OF the Dor
der Slave States where education was as the
lowest ebb. He was a young fellow-not
eighteen at the tme-wOrlling at the anvil by
day, and studying Latin, the. Constitution,
and Dugald Stewart, at night. In
New England village he could have run
easily in the ordinary groove up the NH
of knowledge; The track is there ready lald
tho LATEST passenger is dragged up almost
against his will. But in this neigh0orhood OF
well-fed planters, whose stables were illled
with the best racing stock IN the States, ana
whose book shelves VIII The Spectator, Burke,
Beaumont and Fletcher he was not
likely TO find much help from out
side, or to have any clear llca
of how best to help himself. The one thing
he did know was that he meant to win fame,
power, and money. His only capital was ms
brains As for these ColOnels and Majors
whose horses he sbod, who loaned him books,
who patronizcd and boosted of him as species
of Blind Tom or Learned Pig, he hated them
all with the virulcnce andn force which
heavy iawed. fat, Emphatic man puts
into his hate. If he had been one OF
them, he would have been a Conservative,
holding to every atom Of his power; as it w s,
he was a radical, believer in public schools,
newspapers, Abolitionism, anything which
should turn the wheel, lift him and his con-
gcners. and grind his patrons in the dust.
His articles Gin behalf of the public schools
reused fury OF debate in tho country, but
they somehow did not help the cause
whit.
The war gave him n chance to reach the
surface. He was member OF the State Legs
lature, spoke often and vchemently; nobody
denied his weight and force. but somehow his
own party distrusted him. 1t was time
when every man became judge, his own
life and property being iii the balance;
leaders wcro put to sharp, decisive trial;
there was something rotten, ever body felt,
below all of this mans courage aud love OF
liberty. The measures which he urged were
the best measures; nobody brought such logic
or elo0uence to their defense yet when they
were adopted, lac was left in the lurch,
without Office or cmolu peEt. Ho went
Il. n
mel, brigadier- general. Titles were cheap.
lie deserved them too, probably. No volun-
teer officer had better knowledge Of tactics,
or cooler courage in the field. But his men
did not follow him :eadily. There was no
sense Of kinshp between him and them he
lacked the magnetism of generous pur-
pose; of any purpose. indeed, outside
of himself. 1t was soon discovered thai
no was not efficient in the field, and
he was sholycd and after the war was over
his brief military record was forgotten. lie
came to New-York, went into NGll-st. with
but little capital but keennesS Of judgment
and foresight that approached intuition.
He made money hand over hand, and then
suddenly Withdrew from the market. His
aims were not to be simply rich
man. He became u member OF leading
Christian sect his name was forever bazoned
in the papers as foremost n every good word
and work and there can be no doubt that the
man was faithful to the doctrines he protested
as far n he understood them. The trouble
was that he understood them solely
by tho light of his own tremendous
cgotism. Christianity was a fitting COM
pletion-a polish to his public charac-
e nj no
have done Mohammcdansm. For the same
reason he was known as an eminent HUMANE
tartan he founded libraries, endowed 10
male school for the blacks in q Southern city,
used the Sunday school. Missionary and Young
Mems Christian works and enginery for his own
advancement end success as he had used Wall
st. or his military oii'e.
Now comes the odd part of the story. lie
never advanced or achieved any success be-
yond that glare of putlefy of which everybody
knows tho wortlcsSncsS. Ills library and col
lego were conducted not in the mode to help
tho beneiicaricS, but rs advertisements oil the
public-spritcd donor People looked sus-
pciously mt every benevolent society or under
taking which crried his name as flag
of triumph. Quiet. devOut believers reminded
each other that the Great Master did not sound
a trumpet in the streets. Meantime this great
philanthropst had no personal friends lntol-
Grant selishncss always throws of the cloak of
religion by the hearth ut homo or at the table.
One child after another left his roof to shift
for themselves with sense OF indignant
wrong, his wife subsidized into n dull, silent
woman, perple> ed perhaps with the strange
aspect which honcr and life, and even
God himself put on, through the medium Of this