The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1881-11-30

But wheeling homeward when his course
is run,
Curbs the red yoke and mingles with the
sun.
Not that your correspondent
would liken himself to the
Fiery giant careering fast and far
On bickeriu wheels and adamantine car;
Only that he has been a traveller
Of earth with wings unfasted to
come back again from his wander
ings to the grand centre, Boston.
Nor is the first occasion for sending
letter from Boston inappropriate
to this somewhat exaggerated
smile. have just returned in COM
pany with a special train load of
solid men and a few solid women,
from North EaSton, a pretty town
of about 5000 people, most of whom
are employed in the works of the
Messrs .Ames, where we were invited
by the sons of its chief founder to
assist at the dedication of the town
hail, a superb building termed Me
mortal" in token of their filial love.
No more fitting tribute could have
| been paid to the character of man
whose first efforts were directed to
the advancement of the people Of
his native town, and whose last
great work was undertaken with
competent self-reliance amidst SCOTS
and doubts, carried on under clouds
and storms and atlast perfected and
gilded by. the sunshine Of success.
That was an enterprise the value
of which the whole country ac-
knowledges, and the people of North
Easton acknowledge his early and
continued benefactionS. Day after
day l had been viewing the monu-
ment which he did not erect to-
ward the skies for his own profit,
but which he spread out over more
than thousand miles Of ground for
the benefit of the nation, as he
came towards the city from which
our best and most hOnored railroad
enterprises have animated and was
therefore prepared to enter into the
spirit of this meeting. 1t may have
been somewhat OverdOne, net in so
far as the memory of Mr.. Ames
was touched, but in the propensity
of the speakers to magnify them
selves on account of their connec-
ton with him. Nor was it neces-
sary that eXtraneous topics should
be introduced, as they were when
Mr.. E. E. Hale galvanized into life
the dead issues of anti-slavery and
butted his head against newspapers.
Besides the letters from eminent
men that were read, we had adj
dresses from the governor and
other gentlemen of high official sta
ton, whose sincerity cannot be
questioned, SO laudatOry of Mr..
AmeS that it must have been a
source of the greatest satisfaction
to his sons who were visibly af-
fected by this complete vindication
of his memory. For my own part,
[ would, if time and space permitted,
tell the story Of days when we were
boys of neighborirg towns, of my
knowledge of him as years advan-
ced, of the time when we were to-
gether in Washington, when he had
to bear the brunt of the offenSes of
those whom he was accused Of cor
rupting, but who were offenders not
in being corrupted but in menda-
ciously endeavOring to throw the
blame upon him, through all of
which he was true to his honest
convictions, perseVering in enforc-
ing them, and all the time he was a
child in his simplicity-buta man in
his determination to carry out his
purposes. The last time I saw him
was III Boston about a month before
his death, when he said: 81 have
done with the railroad. If |
had never touched it, [ would
have been a richer man than [ am.
Never mind, l have accomplished
what [ started in to do, and the
country will have the good of it. [
have done with Washington, too. |
have come home to my own people
to stay. They know me p He did
not understand Washington. He
had not studied political tactics. He
was no time-serYer in log-rolling;
no Indirect giver Of brides. He was
a maker Of spades, and he had the
simplicity and the courage to call a
spade spade, and when he wanted
a shovel, he fitted it with a handle
so that he could use it. Time has
already sOftened the harsh verdict
Of his Pharasaical contemporaries,
and the future will confirm the JUS
LITIGATION now accorded to his mem
DRY.
There may be among your readers
those who, not having known Mr..
Ames personally, will differ from
me in their estimate of his charac-
ter but if they read the speeches
delivered at North EastOn to-day,
they may be led to different con-
clusiOn. If, as one of them said,
Abraham Lincoln could put his arm
around his neck and tell the man
whom he himself rivalled in mod
esty, that "his name would be re-
membered when his own was for
gotten" surely his countrymen
may credit Cakes Ames at least
with good intentions when he ''put
the money where it would do the
most good, into everybody's pockets
but his own. J. &.