The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1881-12-08
JOHN BROWN.

Twenty-Five years ego Friday John
Brown was hung at Charleston, Virgin
ia. The incidents which led to the
hanging are too familiar TO need repeat
ing. What an evcntful history this
country has had since that day. and how
diferentIy the general public regards
the event now in comparison with the
feeling about it then. The following
most admirable article on this subj ect is
from the pen of Capt. Henry King, in
this mornings Capital.
They called him traitor, then, and
mailman we salute his memory, now,
as Chat of a martyr and saint. Thus
does time, with its revelations of the Sc
cret of things, its fulfillment of prophe-
cies and its yindication of dreams, bring
about true and just Judgment on The
earth. The Harper's Ferry raid, esti-
mated by ordinary standards, seemed
mistake aud folly In an appeal like
that, success alone can redeem it from
such charge, so shortsighted are we,
and so practical. Napoleon said, you
remember, that Leonidas was no doubt
fine and brave fellow, "but he let him.
self be turned at Thermopyle." So the
world admired the courage and high
purpose. of Old Osawatomie; but he was
rash, they made haste to add, and rushed
bllndly upon his cruel and pathetic fate.
His motives were good, it was conceded,
and he took grave chances with splendid
ihtrepidity: but he should have escaped
the scaffold.
We know more about 1t cow. The
hidden purpose, the subtle and deep
meaning of this mans venture and sac
81 yra tn 6aV aC We
light and the coming out of the stars.
His name is no longer thing TO scott at
on the one hand, or to hide with charity
on the other. The unerring course of that
vital and underlying force of conscience
which is the philosophy of history has
proclaimed him famous and set his
death apart as an event To be claSsed
with facts that denote epochs and mark
civilization and progress, God needs
| good men, Luther declared. as much as
good men need God. That is the com
quering point in the strange, sad. haunt
ing story of John Brown. He was
working not for himself, but for others
mot in obedience TO an everyday sense
of duty, merely, but under spell OF n call
that was an inspiration. 1t was the idea
that he represented that gave bent to his
| lie, and urged him resistlessly to his
end and the same power made him, at
last, like the giant judge of Israel, to
compass more by his death than by his
life.
This quaint, gnarled character has
come TO be rather sentiment than a
parsonage in the thoughts of makind.
| Familiar as he was TO many people,
recently as he moved among US,
ton or figure in some old
classic niche; and we recall him as we
! recall Brutus and RienZi and Winkel-
reid. He stands for climax. 1t was his
sorrOwful taking off that stirred to
flame feeling which had been slowly,
but surely, growing for twenty years.
Our poets, orators and preachers had
mathematical slavery until it was felt
TO be national stain and shame but the
task OF removing it was still untried
and unsuggested. Then came John
Brown, like dispensation of Provi.
denee, and struck the monstrous wrong
with his sword, and it reeled and stag
gered and tottered to its fall. He lost
his life; but he gained his object They
tied a rope about his neck, and dangled
his poor worn and SCARED old body be
tween heaven and earth; but his mem
DRY lived, and his soul, escaped tri
umphant, went marching on.
Let the prejudiced and unreflecting
say what they may about old Osawa
tomie's fanaticism and want of fore
sight, the downfall of slavery dates from
the day he met death on that Virgins
gallOws. The influence of that scene
was the leaven that leavened the whole
lump; the simple hymn that bore hi.
name and made his fame a fire
side legend, was more terrible thar
an army with banners, for it no
Only put soldiers in the field, bu
conscience into politics. 1t was JohI
Browns fanaticism thatroused the north
ern heart, and swept away timid con
servatisln, and overcame the reluctance
of Lincoln, and made the war for thu
Union crusade for emancipation. TIT
contest had to come, sooner or later, anG
II was this mans privilege and honor u
sound the onset and make sure tn
course of the battle. And the BATH
was won as he desired, and as God in
tended-at what 4 cost of life and treas
5 ure, of heartbreak and rooted grief, W
shrink from counting. But il was won
and this singular Lone figure, sent to hi
account as q felon and an enemy of hi
country, was its prophet, stoned in hi
own day, to be enshrined in this her
and a conqueror.
To the people of Kansas this da,
comes clothed with peculiar and solemn
: Significance John Brown belongs I
' Kansas. It was here that he really eE
, tered upon his mission. Here he di,
his first fighting, endured much of hi
7 suffering, won many of his triumphs
= and here was planned the movemen
!. that finally carried him to his grave. j
becomes us, at such a time, to refres
our minds with the interesting and in
s pressive story of his career-a stoE
rich in details that arc at once ten
der and tragic, pitiful and Irt
mendous. Above all, should we thin
Q upon how. at the close OF his pi
r grimage, he went hence so content an
; so strong in the faith that he was RICH
and had nothing to regret In oneof hi
q last letters. he likeled his situation I
@ that OF character in Bunyan's wondel
n full aliegory. Tbe thought was q happ
one, and ihe passage he had in min
= may fitly stand for all the rest that nee
; be said AMER this" relates Bunyal
sit was noised abroad that Mr.. Valian