Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1885-07-25
OUR HERO DEAD.
General Robcrts's Address at the Grant
Memorial Meeting, In this City.


rLENEN: What shall l say of him
his hero dead? What words OF mine G
could add lustre to a name that, were {
al the world silent, would be trump
sted by Fame down all the ages yet to
be? Not Columbus, from his brazen
door; not DeSoto, planting his Cross
upon the Mississippi; not Pocahontas;
not Miles Standish in the Mayaower,
nor William Penn making peace with
the Indians; not Benjamin Franklin,
in his philosophy; not the fiery Pat
rick Henry, as he CIRCULATED his war.
cry in the Virginia House Of Dele
gates, nor John Adams, as he shouted
it in Boston; not Washington with
his sword, nor Jefferson with his pen,
nor Perry, the Sea King of 1912,
riding on pillows Of blood through
line OF blazing ships; not Jackson,
with his triple triumph ever savage,
and Briton, and incipient treason
not one was more worthy the genius
of the poet, the painter, the sculptor
and the orator than the simple, Spar
mike, magnanimous soldier whose
death the nation mourns.
Like Lincoln, Grant seemed made
for the times. There are moments
which involve IN themselves eternities.
There are instants which seem to con-
tain germs which shall develop and
bloom forever. A moment like this
came in the tide Of time to our land,
and to him whose name was Grant!
The new pilot was called to the helm
in a tornado! What an occasion is
the whirlwind of war! In four years
the four years Of battle.days-his
endurance, his fertility of resources,
his magnanimity, were sorely tried,
and never found wanting.
He stood, the heroic figure in an he
roic age! Yes, it was an heroic age;
but it has gone-20 years ago. The
men Of to-day were babies in their
cradles when we marched away in 81.
We are of another age and genera
ton, passing swiftly away. Our old
Commander looks benignantly down
upon us tonight, and smiles as he
thinks how soon, how very soon, the
last of his old comrades will be gath
cred about him in the great beyond.
Aye, the last one mustered OUTLET
us hope, honorablv discharged-with
honorable scars it may be, received on
Lies great le-6elds.
Poor Grant! How his heart must
1 have bled at the cruel stabs his noble,
generous nature received! How many
gained his confidence only to betray
it! But, then. ingrat:tude revengea
itself on the hideous nature of the in.
CRATE; and as envy and malice shot
their poisoned darts, he reallzed-tha'
noble, generous, magnanimous, loving
old man realized what Shakespeare
: meant when he said, in his "Measure
for Measure":
No might nor greatness in mortality
Can censure 'scapa. Back-wounding calumny
The whitest virtue strikes. What king 81 stron
{ Can tic the 6, Ii up in the sanderous tongue?
But he is dead! No sound Cal
awake him to glory again! He die'
within sight of Ticonderoga and Ston
Point, where his ancestors died TO
Liberty in '1G. He died within sigh
of West Point, where the nation edu
i Gated him for its great need. Tha
O great heart ceased to beat while
9 might nation, choking back Its sob:
counted the last splash of lifc's ebbin
, tide.
lr Dead! But the nation rises up a
It his coming. Cities and States will b
q his pail. bearers, and cannon will bes
the hours with solemn precision
. Dead! Dead! Dead! He yet speal
eth. Is Washington dead? Is HamF
!? ton dead? Is Lincoln dead? NJ
disenthralled Of flesh, and risen
the unrestricted sphere where passio
never comes, he begins his illimitab
As work. Your sorrows, O! people, al
N his peans. Your bells, and band
and muffled drums sound in his ear
a triumph. A quarter of Il century ag
o! Illinois, we took him from yo
midst, an almost unknown man. B
hold! We return him mighty co
queror! From the breaking out
the rebellion his career is thrice-to
% tale. The world knows it by hea
50 When the flag sank at Sumter, he d
80 not wait to be called. Without col
30 mission, command, uniform or shol
80 der.straps, he started tor the field, al
70 grasping the stars and stripes, he c;
ried them through blaze of victor
. such as no mortal before him had VIC
Behold! then, we return HIM nigh
conqueror! Not thine, Illinois,
the nations - not ours - but
OF worlds! Give him room, We prairie
&C.. IL the midst Of the continent his d,
nv shall rest-a sacred treasure to N
..n hons who shall pilgrim to that shri
H., to kindle anew their zeal and pat
~ otism. Ye winds that move DER
- mighty spaces of the West, chs
his requiem! Blow! Buglers of
air; blow his funeral dirge! We p'