The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-08-09
GENERAL GRANT.

GENERAL GRANT,
The last sad rites in honor of the memory
OF General Grant have been performed, and
the grave has received all that is left of the
nlnstrious dead, the indulgent father, the
great soldier and generous victor. The tramp
Ing thousands that but yesterday thronged the
streets to share in or witness the grand pa
raas of his funeral have gone their many
wars. The door of his sepulchre is locked,
the guard is mounted there, and the days
entae and go. The fruit in the orchards, the
sma in the valleys, the harvests all
eEeg the land will ripen and be
gaznered, for the land is at peace. Through
long months world Of peoples suffered with
the sufferings of the stricken soldier. For
m$aths the wires were burdened with the
tiAings of the gradual failing of the patient
snEerer. Rallying with somewhat of his old
time determination, only to falter in way
that he never faltered before stricken by the
fatal malady, the people everywhere watched
the unequal contest with hearts that
aehed in warmest sympathy. Besieged
for the first time in his life,
the situation seemed to bewilder him
for time. The citadel of his life invested
Oh every side, with the insidious foe creeping
eyer nearer and nearer, it was situation that
tried his soldierly soul. He was not long in
+bo +oblo o,&oop,a nf +ba nm
eqGa1 struggle; but without lowering his flag
or changing his battle-p plan he fought it out
On that line, and fell at last with his last life
Wogk well done.
No eulogy from mortal man can in
erase his fame nor add to the
glSyy of his achievements. We can
only stand in the presence of his memory
with uncovered heads while in silent thought
we vainly try to measure him, and to under
stsnd how it was possible for a man subject
TO all the foibles of humanity to be so
wei poised, so rounded in all that constitutes
memory of the mistakes he made as we'll as
fos his victories. The latter saved the Nation,
while the former establish his kinship with all
mankind. His character has the majesty of a
mountain; the very scars and gashes
Inst but add to its rugged grandeur, while at
tbe distance necessary to view it in its en-
tirsty, the man but proclaims his own little
ness who would attempt to point out blem-
ishss.
As soldier alone Grant would not have
been complete man. He would have gone
into history simply as fighter, a man abnor-
naIIy developed in one direction. But the
twenty years that interviewed between Apo
naHttox and the closing scene at Mount
MsGregor served to unveil the other
hail Of his character, and it was
found to possess the same majestic proper
tioas. His patriotic magnanimity to General
Leo and his beaten followers won for him the
admiration of every honorable soldier who
fought on the Southern side. From that day
10 this his every act bespoke the man anxious
I0f perpetual peace. AS IN war; so IN peace,
he was foremost among those who strove for a
united country. No honest man can recall
his memory with bitterness not one but must
confess that he was honest in all things,
patriotic in all things patient in all things.
May his ashes rest in peace The world
perforce turns to never ending duties. Mill
ions will never be able to pay personal tribute
at his grave but all in thought can visit it,
and from the lessons there recalled teach wis
dom, and patience, and patriotic generosity to
the oncoming generations, so that peace may
prevail and the people make war no more