The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1879-03-25
PosthumOus H0nors.

The saying that "the evil men do lives
after them and the good is often inferred
with their bones" would seem To con-
tain far more of truth than poetry, judg-
ing by the want Of respect paid 10 the
last resting places of many whom the
world delighted Ia honor when living.
There is an unfinished monument pur-
posed To glorify the great father of the
country i'm the city named after him,
which better had never been commenced
than TO stand rs il does disgrace 10 the
American nation. The remains of
Thomas Jefferson, the author Of the inn
mortal Declaration Of Independence, and
advocate of religious freedom, has long
remained without fitting monument.
and, though tardy justice is talked of.
II Is not yet accomplished. SO too is
II with many another hero of tie past
who might be named. Great i'm their
day and generation, honored with
a nations tears when passing To the
tomb, but next 10 forgotten when hid
den there from sight. With the grow
ing Of the first grass above, their MEM
Ories began TO fade, To be only recalled
spasmodically at times, and looking
down from the centuries, they might
we'll exclaim in the bitterness of disgust
at the treatment their poor bones nave
received 1t the hands OF those for whom
they pledged life, fortune and sacred
honor and dared the gibbet's rope and
the headsmans axe in the days when
courage and nerve were tried as by fire
The great Of Yesterday are showed
aside by those who have stepped into
shoes which they were unworthy TO
unlOOsc - the seeker after place and
r
The past as useless cobwebs, and the
monumental marble is suffered to black
en- in storm, and decay as IL the names
engraved thereon were not holy, and
the memory il would perpetuate the
dearest that can ever be given to any
country.
II would seem as if the gigantic minds
that stood between bondage To foreign
crown and liberty of body and con-
science that isuniyersal in its welcoming
and protection, died with the age that
called them into being. Their places
are but little filled, and We look around
in vain for those who could DO 80; the
places remain, but where are the Anaks
Of mind and craftsmanship and pure
patriotism. We eneed not make mention
Of "A single one. They readily rccur, aud
in the doing comes the blush 10 honest
faces that their remains have not been
better cherished, aud that mankind so
much ignore great deeds and great men
in the changes Of the present.
Call the long roll of a century ago. and
the bones OF how few appear To have
been properly cared for, as they had
right 10 expect when liying--as would
have been 10 our credit when gone.
The heroes Of the Revolution, where are
they Upon the tips Of our fingers can
almost Ice counted the names perpetu-
atcd beyond the devastation Of the
c,cmcnts. save as shrined by the pen Of
the historian and the ink of the printer.
We look for the towering marble and
the massive bust, and save IN few in
stances, find them not Washington
and Lafayette and few, very few
Others, have been 80 embalmed, but for
the rest they sleep i'm unknown grave
yards, and decay has made the place its
own.
II is not that the public or republic
are ungrateful; is more on account Of
thoughtlessness than for any other rea-
son for no nation gives as literally As
America. Yet 30 il is, and the truth an
unpalatable one aye, more, II is asternly
bitter lesson how little even the greatest
will be- remembered, and how much bet
ter for the man To carve ont his own
cpitaph a. we'll as his own destiny while
living If he would have fitting monu-
meni build tiff lac would 90 down
honored TO future generations to write
his name high upon the pages ofdllstory,
and 80 be independent q the busy world
that will follow.
Somebody - one OF another land,
we believe - has remarked that i'm
America when great man dies, the first
thing is To hold a meeting and resolve Ia
,uild a monument for him, and the next
thing is not 10 do IL. There is a san
truth in this. We have become in this
fast rushing age people rather Of re-
solves than execution, and for the most
part those who die might well have ex-
claimed, Here lies one whose name was
written in water" Ii is a lasting shame
and disgrace that the monument gro
tesque and inartistic as il would be- has
never been finished; "A shame and dis
grace that Jefferson should 30 long have
remained unremembered but is il any
more 80 than that others who have
passed on through the dark valley have
never n sign 30 tell who they were, how
they lived, what great good accomplished
and when they died2 tWhen my coun-
try said Emmett, takes her piace
among the nations OF the world. then,
and not until then, let NY epitaph lie
written" Has not America yet taken
her place? Are the honors due 10 the
great minds and sterling patriotism TO
wait until she does2 Heaven be praised,
the heart Of humanity IL better than
brass and marble, and upon il is written
"the immortal names that were not born
to die