The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1877-03-01
Amongst the remarkable men who hay

Amongst the remarkable men VINO nave
passed away within very recent PERIOD we
may name DR.. NJ. 81. HOUSTON, who died at
Ashland on Monday in his SEVENTEEN year.
He was native Of Rockbridge county, and
member OF the same family with the late
Governor SAM HOUSTON, who in his day was
| 8 man of national fame. DR.. HOUSTON went
+ to Wheeling to practice his profession, and
there secured for himself position OF
honor and success. He was an eminent
physician, and soon acquired that independ-
ence and consideration in the community
that conferred upon him about all that ls
needed to human happiness, in the world.
Excess of wealth could not have added eX-
cess OF happiness; for mans heart and soul
are, like water, incapable OF holding, In so
luton more than certain amount OF things
soluble-i. e., in their case, riches.
DR.. HousToN was one Of those phiosophlc
and sincere men whose ambition does not
aspire to unreasonable qualifications. His
tastes were natural and simple and his dis
position gentle and cordial. Under an eX-
preston somewhat austere, he wore as
amiable and genial a nature as ever ami
mated any mans heart. ,a'.5
"A very strong trait OF his was his unset
fshness. All who knew him knew how
strongly was this trait impressed upon his
character. The unselfishness OF man is
seen always in readiness to assist others,
to minister relief to the distressed, to COM
fort the afflicted; and no class OF men have
finer opportunities for these exploits of hui
manity than the practitioners OF medicine.
DR.. Houston was distinguished for seeking
rather than avoiding such opportunities.
The highest display OF the unselfshnesS
of man is in his love Of country, and in this
respect DR.. HoUsToN gave the finest exam
pie. He gave up home, and friends, ane
position, and peace, and prosperity, ant
came to this city Immediately after thu
national rupture to share the fortune ane
fate OF his native State. He gave his ser
vices to her cause, and would have laid dowr
his life for her at any time that it was de
manded by the public exlgency. He wa!
ready to sacrifice all he possessed, and him
self besides, for her good. This is the acme
OF unselishness. Men, in the classic idea
become nearest the gods when they are mos
ready to devote themselves, their property
and their lives to the public good.
DR.. HOUSTON had his trials, as had tht
thousands who sacrificed their private in
terests to their sense OF public duty. He
hoped with his country, and despondet
with her. He bore the public trials as ;
true man should, and deported himself al
all times as one who was unconscious of ar
error in obeying his public sense of duty
and as one who firmly accepted any of the
consequences that followed such loyalty tt
the noblest sentiment that can fire the breast
OF man next to loyalty to the King Of
i Heaven. -...,....s....
| Like his companions in disappointment
he had long grieved over the needless op
lpressions and the sorrows these have pro
duced III the South; but, like hero in ad
versity, he seemed but more nearly allied to
fhis comrades by sharing their troubles, and
cheered himself by comparing hrs sorrows
with theirs. All, the world knows little Of
the deep agitation of the southern heart TO,
years past, yelled by a stern manhood thai
4 nothing could subdue. 1t is no vain figure
OF speech that we employ when we say that
to many thousands OF pure-minded and gen
tie people the prosecutions Of the needless
rulers OF the nation have diminished the ties
that bound them to earthand strewed with
flowers the paths that led, the way to escape
from 1t. X ..t'fs:,5iE1stl'f or a':>fH.fstA
! One by one the recruits that came from
other sections to cast their lots with thu
South have been passing away, and we
mourn one OF the truest and noblest of then
in the death Of DR.. HOUSTON. .ss