Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-11-06
GREAT MEN.
The difficulties of Including Famous Feo-
pie in This Category.

WOl1tu w Nv UIC UlC SLSNp fS11oNAA
properly be granted in history was
! rather Il favorite diversion some time
ago among the large class of the public
who crave such futile occupation. How
, very few persons have lived within all
| the ICONS of human memory whom
| mankind with one accord p%ronoupces
to have been great! The parson. the
! doctor, the soldier and the lawyer, il
they be devoted to their professions.
| will each furnish a list. Greed will
| betrav itself. Fancies and cranks and
! pedantries innumerable will assert their
| Supremacy. But in the result, if choice
! were limited to a of names,
selected in all lands and ages, it is like
" that two alone, or three at most,
would be found in every list if a score
| OF persons competed. No greater APP
| proach to unanimity could be looked
for.
OF those who, by hypothesis, are de-
ciared on all hands to be worthy of
| respect and admiration for all time,
| every one, it is probable, will be Il war
rior. but not a warrior and nothing
else. For instance, neither Marlbor-
ough nor Wellington would be found in
the list of the accepted. nor even Fred
crick of Prussia. though in the opinion
of experts they showed military genius
a s\grcat as Bonaparte's, and their
livds We're certainly o useful to man.
kind. But certain faculties or
| semblances are needed beyond pre-
eminence in any special art to
win the abiding enthusiasm of the
human race. If the followers of each
profession were sole judges, they would
eSalt the memory of certain specialists
quite unfamiliar to the public. But in
a civilized society not every man is a
soldier, still less a doctor or a theolo-
gian; and the multitude is by no means
impressed with the greatness that over
whelms a learned society. His mind.
his fame, his actions must all be great
to bear scrutiny. The public takes a
large view of a man before recognize
ing him to be supremelv close. Henri
Quatre seldom won a battle, and the
elder Due de Guisc seldom lost one.
Each vas called grand in his lifetime,
but the popular voice speedily decided.
Timour was no savage maraudcr, as
the school-books used to teach, but
history reserved its distinction for his
successor in the fifth generation,
though Achbcr did not rival him in
conquests: but there is no sound reason
why the public choice should settle
upon warriors. Great deeds over
shadow the small Weaknesses of
humanity. Three men, it may be said,
have conquered the world within his
toric times. Scholars find evidence
enough that Alexander's mind was ILL
balanced, his moods often childish, his
vanity grotcsqne, his temper unregu-
lated. his disposition coarse. Every
schoolboy, to use the c~onsecrated
phrase, is aware that Julius Caesar
was false. vicious and desperate,
even beyond rival in his abandoned
age. OF Napoleon, who is ignorant
that his Stiffness and were
almost equal to his grandeur? But VIC
admit the greatness of these men ''all
the same" The glow that surrounds
their public achievements hides the
folly, sin. or pettishness of their indi-
vidual character. Ii Cromwell had
run his careerin France or Germany he
would have been reckoncd among the
grandest of mankind, but in the COM
petition of lists suggested he would
hardly have a place among the half
dozen, though every voter was an
Englishman. Ignorance and enthusi-
asm combined would have woven
legends and romance around him.
idcalizing. magnifying, suppressing and
i%nventing until the plain, straightfor-
ward squire was transformed into an
epic hero. Something akin to this was
done in Ireland. though in the reverse;
but Cromwell's countrymen were too
well informed. They or their repre-
sentatives who transmitted the report
had watched the member for Cam
bridge, session after session, during,
sixteen years, before he sprang into
worldwide repown at Marston Moor.
The description which Sir Philip War
wick wrote, Oh others like it, had cir
culated far and wide while his fame was
growing in the House. Not members
only. but their constituents, knew the
gentleman, very ordinarily appareled,
for it was a plain cloth suit, which
seemed to have been made by an i'll
country tailor. His linen was plain
and not very clean: and | remember a
SpSNN VI wv VI DloCu upon HIS llUIlc
band. which was not much larger than
his collar. His hat was without a hat
band. His stature was of good size;
his sword stuck close to his side; his
conntenance swollen and reddish; his
voice sharp and untunab}e. and his
%eloquence full Of fcrvor." An excel
lent sketch, Invaluable to us now, but
killing to popular enthusiasm. Our
historians have almost ceased to call
Alfred ''the great since he and his
works have been better understood.
Most admirable they were. but people
feel that the best Saxon king belonged
to the class of specialists" So long
as the world accredited to him all the
grand principles of English freedom
and government no one disputed his
title; but one by one those legends
have been questioned or disproved.
The figure Of Alfred remains a gallant
soldier, a devoted patriot. a most intel
ligent philanthropist, but especially
bourgeoise in the tone of his mind, in
terested in narrow matters, cheerfullv
inquisitive, anxious to do all the good
in his power after the conventional
model and by conventional means;