St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-07-24
THE LESSON OF GRANTS LIFE,


Gen. GRANT is dead. In the midst of the
rushing and stormy scenes of life the Amer
can people pause and, withdrawing their
minds from the cankering cares and duties
of the hour, pay mOunful tribute to their
illustrious dead. The sounds of strife, the
voice of bitterness, the cry of hate, are all
lost to the ear which is listening at the por-
tails of the tomb. The task we are per-
forming is one of sorrow and tears, but it is
task from which the soul rises refreshed
and purified.
at is not all of life to live nor all of
death to die" The wasted body of the
nations hero lies dead. But the example
of his life survives andwill never perish.
1t is so much of added treasure
to the true wealth of the world.
No man ever lived for himself,
or drew after him into the grave, when he
died. the results of his life. The channels
of influence for good or for evil, once
started, flow forever. We cannot. if we
would, trammel up the consequences of
having lived. We are living to-day in the
midst of the accumulated influences of an
endless past. Brass and marble are endur-
ing monuments and glowing epitaphs trans
nit from age to age the meritOriOus deeds
of the worthy dead; but the perpetual in
fluence of human conduct, never ceasing
until time itself shall cease, survives all
that skill or affection can bring to the tomb
to rescue the dead from oblivion. Gen.
GRANTS life and example are part of the
nations history, and now, that he has fallen
asleep by the wayside, it is the part of wis
dom to study the lessons that his life and
example impaired.
We do not propose to discuss his
political career. While we might
be able to give it that impartial
discussion it merits, this is not
the time to do it. We only propose to
speak of him as man who rose from OBJ
security to the highest eminence of fame.
and to talk of those admirable traits of
character which brought him into promi-
hence. He did not rise as some great men
do by the dash of genius. His fame was
not acquired in a single day. But by sue
cessiye steps he rose until he reached the
proudest position allotted to human ambi-
ton Each promotion was the result of
personal merit. The chief characteristics
which contributed TO GRANTS success were
persistency of purpose and a strict adher-
ence to duty. The first was the secret of
his successful military career. GRANT
won battles where other generals would
have failed. simply because he would not
let go. What people called bulldog
tenacity was strategy with him. While this
trait brought him success his real greatness
lay in his supreme fidelity to duty.
This trait was forcibly illustrated
at the outbreak of the war when
he quietly said to his brother, 81 think
that l ought to go into the service" 1t
found a still more beautiful expression i'm
his second inaugural when, after reviewing
in a modest way the services he had rem
dered the country, he said: Il performed a
conscientious duty without asking promo
ton, and without revengeful feeling to-
ward any section or individual. And 1.-The
goodness of the mans nature had still a
more lovely eXemplification when, but
few days ago, he talked over the war with
the Confederate general, BUCKNER, at the
cottage on Mt. McGregor, and expressed
devout thankfulness that the bitterness of
sectional strife was over, and that an era
of harmony and genuine fraternal feeling
had been restored to the two sections.
Americans who love their country and
desire to perpetuate its happiness and pros
perity should treasure up these patriotic
words of the dying hero. There are those
of us who believe that it would have
been better for Gen. GRANT and the
place he is to occupy in history had he es-
chewed partisan politics. Even his most
devoted personal and political friends adj
init that he was betrayed into relations
with unfortunate events which initiated
against his fame. Yet from out all the
lnists which shrouded his political and
financial ventures the light of those char