The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1883-02-02

field and march, amidst the shock of battle
and IN the councils of the state, make il
peculiarly appropriate that l should beg
the indulgence at this time not for the pur-
pose OF expressing any private erlef-for al
the tomb OF an honored friend the anguish
OF genuine friendship finds no voice-but
that may contribute in crystalizing IN the
history OF the state he served so long and
well evidences of his merits as 3 soldier,
statesman ana patriot.
knew Colonel Reeves during the darkest
hours of our civil strife. knew him when
the land was filled With battle-cries and
blood-when the very stars seemed 10 shut
their eyes and the sun hung blind and
biackening in the moonless air; when the
challce OF Mars swung over this fair land,
smoking with the hravest blood of the
south, when thousands of our noblest and
best marched out from the waving fields of
Ceres into the harvest of death.
He was every inch a soldier and gentle
man. The war over, when | had left my
own native blue grass hills to follow the
star OF Texas empire, the first face met on
this generous soil to recognize was that Of
George Il. Reeves. He mad in truth
turned his good sword into pruning
hook" and whilst tilling the virgin soft
sang IN contentment the song the shep'
herds | 500 years ago echoed into the ears
of an infant God; Peace on cath, good
will toward men,"
Again | knew him in the councils of the
state, serving with him in the seventeenth
legislature, of which he was the honored
speaker.
Until knew George Reeves as repre-
sentative and speaker in the Texas legisla-
ture, | had formed no proper estimate Of
the high qualities of his mental structure.
He brought to the discharge of his duties q
clear head, sound heart, an impartial
Judgment and most resolute will. lie was
as transformations as he was wise, honest
and truthful. He was made OF the stuff of
the staunch speakers who upheld the priv
ileges of the British parliament and made
the bill of rights OF free people para
mount to the thunders OF the throne.
lie was i'll verify a man OF exalted courage.
lie followed his honest convictions to
their Legitimate results, His opinions
were never controlled by purely selfish
considerations; they were new er measured
by the stoc k market or colored by the per-
sistency OF lobby. Ever guided by honest
purposes and good principles, when the
end was reached, whatever the result, he
felt that he had not sWeryed from the cause
OF his country, his God and truth
will give no further analysis of his no.
BILE character. 1t stands out in the midst
of his compeers Doric column symmetri-
cal in its solidity, beautiful in the absence
of all meretricious ornament, immaculate
in the material Of which it is reared. Ills
aims were unseliish, his hands were clean,
his life was pure and full of affection. In
contemplating such character do we not
prepare ourselves to think better of our
kind and fix higher standard for our
selves? In giving credit for the goodness
and unselfishness we find in the world are
we not the better prepared to sit down on
our own hearth-stones and watch the ashes
OF our lives grow grey and cold2
1t would be almost cruel to speak of the
suiierings of this noble man during the sad
hours which sealed his fate. Racked with
more than mortal anguish in these last ter
rible hours, his manly form swollen and
distorted beyond the proud semblance in
which kind nature had moulded it, his
spirit was yet as calm and gentle as still
sweet morning, as it rises over the azure
prairie where nestles the once happy home
in which he died. No man was ever more
loved by his neighbors and constituents,
and the dropping plumes above his funeral
car were followed by griei-strcken multi.
tude whose manifest sorrow emphasized the
solemn fact that those who knew George
Reeves had indeed lost friend. Until the
last flower fades from the earth around his
home loving friends will not cease to make
their pilgrimages there and lay, with their
sympathy, immortelles on his grave,
ITO live with Fame
The gods allow - many. but TO die
With equal lustre Is a blessing Heaven
Selects from all her choicest BOGUS of Fate.
And, with sparing hand, gu few best )ws "
In the very hour when his triumph was
complete; when he had scaled the heights
and reached the goal of his ambition, he
was sud ienly summoned to the dread con
tliot with tho last enemy, one in which W,
must all engage, and i'll which no morta
may triumph.
Farewell, faithful representative ant
tribune of the people, Husband, father
colleague and friend, "all hail, and fare
WE'LL"