Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1879-06-12

| helper after helper to his side. l marvd
at the miraculous boy. You must remem-
| ber that all these years IL was an Immature
youth who had never had any training.
l any administrative experience, never had
| anything but an ambition to launch him
| iatO the columns Of the press. He had no
means. Where he got. whence he sum-
| ssaed, how he created the elements which
changed 1924 into 1885. that even made
America mob him Ia every great city. IL
| marvel which none but older men than
can adequately anaiyze and explain. He
said to . friend who demonstrated with him
on the energy Of his utferances. 'Iook. I
am surrounded aud overwhelmed with ice
bergs. What language can choose sutfi-
cieatly hot TO melt Q single soul into sym
pathyw Well. that dungeon OF 1924, that
universal apathy. that desdness OF soul.
that conteesSt OF intellect, In ten years he
changed into the whole country aname. He
made every single home, press, pulpit and
Senate chamber a debating society, with
his right and wrong for the subject. Fast
eped on that daily life was q malignant at
tentlon and criticism such as no American
citizen has ever endured. | will no, cAil Il
q criticism Of hate; that Is not strong
enough. Maligrity searched him with eau
dies from the moment that he uttered that
God given solution OF the problem TO the
moment when he took the hand OF the ma
tion and wrote out the statute that made II
law. Mslignity searched those forty dreary
years with candles, and yet it Is on record
that even ,hs, never lsped q suspicion.
much less a charce-never llsped q susplc-
Ion, OF anything mean. dishonorable, dis
houest. No man. however mad with hate.
kswever impe,uous In assault. ever dared
TO Amt that there could be q touch on his
escutcheon, unutterabiy bright, without
siaia.
Now. II you will contemplate this boy
entering the arena, confronting a nation
and all IT'S forces, utterly poor. with no
sympathy from any quarter. conducting
widespread and profound agitation for ten.
twenty thirty years. amid the hate Of every
thing strong in American life and the con-
tempt otherwise Of everything influential,
and no stain. not the slightest shadow of
one rests on his escntcheon! summon me
the public men. the men who have put
their hands To the helm OF the vessel OF
State since 1889, and of whom can that be
said although love and admiration that
almost eliminated in worship attended the
steps OF soma OF them? Theu look at the
work he did. Nv friends have spoken OF
his Influence. What American ever held
bis hand so long aud SO powerfully on the
belm OF social. intellectual and moral
AHerica' There have been giants In our
day. Great men God has granted In wide
~ Aifereut spheres; eArnes, men, men
whom public admiration lifted esrly into
glad power shall venture to name some
~ then. Perhaps you will say u Is not
usual on an occasion like this. but long
waiting truth needs to be uttered In an hour
when this great example is still absolutely
Indispensable to inspire the effort. to guide
the motive. To cheer the hope o! the nation
not yet In the promised land. / want 10
show you the vast breadth and depth that
this mans name signifies. We have had
Webster In the Senate we have hal Lyman
Beecher Ia the pulpit; We have had Cal
houn az the head OF section. we have had
spiratlon thar penetrated the Young ur01, !,
OF the Northern States. They are the four
men that history perhaps will mention
somewhere near the great force whose
closing In this scene we commemorate To-
day. And vet. IL any one remembers, not
the inadequate means merely ., this mans
control, not the bitter hate simply that he
confronted. not the vast work that he must
be allowed TO have done, measured by the
opposition he encountered, and the strength
he held In his hands, but dismlssing all
these considerations, measuring nothing
bot the breadth and depth Of his hold. his
y
change, general progress. what mans sig
net has been set so deep. planted so forever
on the thoughts OF his epoch9 Trace home
diligently, trace home TO their sources
the changes that have come ever us 10 hfty
years. social. political. intellectual and re-
liglous, aud you will hni close at the
sources Of the Mis- slssippl this boy with his
proclamation!
The great party that put on record the
statute OF freedom was made up Of the men
whose conscience be qulckened and whose
Intellect he inspired. and they stood so
long the tools OF = public opinion that he
manufactured. The grandest name be-
side his In American history is that OF John
Brown. Brown stood on the platform That
Garrison had built; and Mrs. Stowe her
self charmed the audience that he gathered
for her with words that he Inspired. with
q heart that ne kipdled. Sitting At his feet
are .he leaders born OF the Liberator. who
are the guides OF public sentiment | know
whereof affirm. II was the favorite boast
OF Charles Sumner that he read the Liber-
stor four years before did, and among the
great men that followed his lead and held
up his hands In Massachusetts, where Is the
intellect, where Is the heart that does not
trace TO this printer boy the first pulse that
bid him serve the slave, Well. he is only
great roll Of the washingtons and Hamp-
dens, whose root is not ability but eharae-
Ter; that influence which, like the great
Masters OF Judea, spreading through the
centuries. exhibits the great truth that the
world suffers its grandest changes not by
genius but by the more potent control OF
character. 1t Was an earnestness that would
take no denial. that consumed opposition
ln the intensity OF its convictions. that
knew nothing but right As friend after
friend gathered slowly. one by One. TO his
side, in that very meeting of a dozen. IL !
was his compelling hand, his utter unwil.
llngness to temper or qualify the utterauce
that finally dedicated the first organized
movement, the Massachusetts, Anti-Siavery |
Society, TO the doctrine Of immediate eman-
cipstiOn. He seems 70 have understood
that boy without .experience-he seems TO
have understood by instinct that righteous
meas Is the only thing that will finally com
pei submission: that one 10 always major
ity with God. He ssems 70 have knownit
At the very outset. taught OF God, the herald
and champion. God endowed and God=sent
to arouse q nation
And then look at the unquaillng cour-
age with which he faced the successive
obstacles that confronted him! Modest.
believing At the outset that America could
herself, he waits OF the door OF the
churches. kneels to leading clergymen. be-
seeches q voice from the sanctuary, a con- |
secrated protest from the pulpit. TO his
utter amazement. confounded. he learns,
BY probing 1t, that the Church can give him
no help. bat, on the contrary. surges into
the movenen. in opposition. Serene. this
boy In his youth aud conviction, sstonished
perbaps, by the unexpected revelation.
simply turns his footsteps. and announces
"a Church. a Christianity that keeps peace
with the OppressOr is no Christianity" and
goes on his way To supplement the relig-
ious element which the Church had gotten
int al alliance with sin by q deeper relig-
iona faith, by . grander Christian educa-
lion. Sets himself 70 work. the solitary
evangelist, to make Christians Of nftesn
millions of people! am not exsggerst.
Ins. You know, older men, who can 60
back TO that period. know. that when one,
kindred 70 voice that yoa have heard to.
day. whose pathway 0arrison's bloody feet
had made easier for his treading. 10 the
few years that preceded his coalition,