Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1885-10-23
AN ELOQUENT, MAsTERLY GRAFTON
Listened TO by an Immense IhrOag
at the Memorial Meeting in
Boston Yesterday.
TRACING A GREAT CHARACTER

thoee wnom the Worid VIII NOT ulinDx Aot
die. A few years since. stOrm-lsden clouds
filed his heaven and oblequy, SANDER and
bitter lies rained down upon him. The
clouds are all blown away; under serene
sky he laid down his life and
the nation Wept The path to his
tomb is worn by the feet Of innumera-
BILE pilgrims. The mildewed lips Of slsnd-
er are silent, and even criticism htsitstes
| lest some incautious word should mar the
history of the modest, gentle, magnani'
nous warrior. The whole nation watched
bis passage through humiliation and mis-
fortunes with unfeigned sympathy; the
whole world sighed when his ffe ended.
At his burial the unsworded hands Of those
whom he had fought lifted his bier and
bore him 10 his tomb with love and rev.
erence.
! Grant
MADE NO CLAIM TO sARTsHIP.
He was a man of like passions and with
as marked limitations as other men. Moth
ing could be more distssteful to his hon
est, modest soul while living, nothing more
unbecomIng to his memory than lying ex
sggerations, fulsome batteries. Men with
out faults are apt TO be men without force
| A round diamond has no brilliancy. Lights
aud shadows, hills and valleys give
beauty to the landscape. The
faults of great and generous natures
are often over-ripe goodness, or the
shadows which their virtues cast. Three
elements enter into the career of great
citizen; that which bis his ancestry gives;
that which opportunity gives; that which
his viii develops. Grant came from a
sturdy New England stock; New England
derived it from Scotland; Scotland bred it
at q time when Covenanters and Puritans
were made-men of iron conscience ham
mered out upon the anvil Of adversely.
From New England the stream flowed 10
the Ohio, where it enriched the soil till it
brought ftr.h abundant harves,s Of great
men.
When it was Grants time to be born he
came forth without celestial parents, and
HIS YOUTH
had in it no prophecy of his manhood. His
boyhood was wholesome, robust, with q
vigorous frame. With a heart susceptible
of tender love, he yet was not social. He
vas patient and persistent he loved
torses, and could master them. That is 9
good sign. Grant had no art Of creating
circumstances opportunity must seek
him, or else he would plod
through life without disclosing the
gifts which God had in him. The
gold in the hills cannot disclose ITSELF 1t
must be sought ard dug. A sharp and
wiry politician for some reasons OF Provi-
dence performed generous deed in send
ing young Grant to West Point: He fn-
ished his course there, distinguished as q
skillfal and bold rider, with an inclination
to mathematics, but with little taste for the
theory and literature of war, but with sym
psthy for the external and material devel-
opuents. In boyhood and youth he was
marked by simplicity candor, veracity and
silence.
HIS EARLY SERVICE.
After leaving the Academy be saw ser.
vice in Mexico and AfterwHrd in California.
but without conspicuous results. Then
came q clouded period, o sad life Of irreso-
lutte vibrations between self-indulgence
and aspiration. Through intemperance
be resigned from the army, and at that |
time one would have feared that his life |
would end in an eclipse. 1t was later in
his life that Grant destroyed the enemy
that biteth ike serpent and stingeth
like an adder" At length he
struck at the root of the matter. Others
agree not to driok, which is good. Grant |
oYercsme the wish to drink, which is bet
ter But the cloud hung over his reputs.
ton for many years, and threatened his
sscendency when better days came. Of all
his victories, many and great, this was the
greatest, that he conquered himself He
was a good subaltern, poor farmer, q
worse tanner, q worthless traficer. With
out civil experience, without literary gifts. !
too difficult to be ambitious, too mod |
est to put himseh forward, too honest
to be q politician, he was OF all
men the least likely to attain eninence
and absolutely untitled apparently for pre-.
eminence. Yet Gods providence selected
him.
Ordained was Grant with the ointment |
of war-black and sulphurous His op-
portupity was coming. Already the clouds
sfar of were gathering. He saw them
not. Foe figures we're seen upon the dim
horizon of the already near future. The
Insulted Hsg; the garments rolled in blood;
a million men in arms; the sulphurous
smoke of battle; CORY heaps upon desper-
ate ba.tle6elds; an army OF slowly moving |
crippled horses; grave yards populo1s as
cities; they ere all in the clouded horizon,
though he saw them not.
Let rs look upon the scene. The cont. |
uent lay waiting for ages for the seed Of
CIVILIZATION.
At length Q sowef came tosth 10 SOW
While he soWed the good seed Of liberty
and Christian civilization, an enemy,
darkhpg, soWed tsres. They sprung up
and grew together. The constitution
cradled both slavery and liberty. While
vet uugrown they dWelt together in peace.
They snarled in youth, quarreled when
halt grown and fought WheE Of full age.
The catastrophe was inevitable. The
South, ike q queenIy beauty, grew impe
rious and exactipg; the North,
like an obsequious gutter. knelt at
her feet, only to receive con-
| tempt and mockery. Both parties Wing
and Denocrat-drsnk Of the cup Of her
sorcery. 1t killed the Wing party. The
Democrat was tougher, and was only be-
sotted II o wise moderation had possessed
the South, if they had cencihsted the
North, if they had met the iust scruples Of
honest men, who hating slavery dreaded
the dishoDor of breaking the compact Of
the Constitution. the South might have
held control tor another hundred years.
! Il was not to be, God sent strong de,
lusion upon them. They we,e seeking to
medicate volcanoes and stop earthquakes
By administering political quinine.
wzp Cn,rrrf. Wan