Mexico weekly ledger., 1885-12-10

$50 9
More loved than greatness. of 8 stainless life.
Methinks it a grand thing to be a
man. The world is full of counter
feits-full of the baser metal that |
lacks the clear, metallic ring of the
genuine article. Nearly q century
ago the great Corsican Emperor, Ma
poleon, was heard to exclaim, "Great
God! How scarce men are. There
are two million human beings in Italy
and I have with difficulty found two
men," The Grecian philosopher,
Diogenes, was once e e walking the
streets Of Athens under a meridian
sun with a lighted torch in his hand.
When his strange action was ques-
toned he replied, IT am looking for
a man, a nun, sirr' Thomas Hem
bricks, the great Indiana statesman,
was a man, and we almost blush to
say it when we look at the long list
of liars, thieves, cheats, frauds,
sneaks that have borne the name.
We hesitate to classify Hendricks,
the great American commoner, by
the name man when we think of the
blightlng curse mar has been to the
world; of the beauty that he has
married, of the innocence he has
crushed, of the weakness that he has
trampIed without remorse under the
iron heel of ambition. The first
Eden was trodden down by him of
the cloven foot; but now when we
see in our Edens the marks of DESC
lation we may look around for the
impress of the cloven-hoof but see
only the print of a mans foot.
We do not wonder that Robinson
Crusoe was filled with CONSERVATION
as he bent over the man Fridays
track on the sand. Man, the self.
styled protector of woman-her be-
trayer; man, the first murderer, his
hand in every age red with the blood
of brothers man, just spoiled for 6
iend by the brute that is in him,
Does this gate harshly upon ysul
ears? Do you ask for proof? Reat
history, that terrible record of crime
blood, fendishness and brutality
You have observed your own times
have seen the oppressors of widow
and orphans calling themselves pa
triots, the dudes of fashion and ape
!, of carnallty calling themselves mer
But Hendricks was a man, and we ar
iglad we can turn from this darke
, picture to those masterpieces of ms
ture, of whom she boasts that the
are men, to a Hendricks in whof
"the elements were so mixed tina
nature might stand up and say to a
, the world, this was a man." W. liv
in a fast age, al age of endless sham:
of remorseless greed, OF sordid sell
ishness. It must indeed be q tower
, ing tree of strength whose root
strike deep into the earth that ca
, stand mistaken amid the fierce s.
e noon of the rottening demagoguer
r of the present times. In the vast fol
. est of manhood Hendricks was
lgnarled oak; and whether amid tn
A peaceful scenes of a quiet home, th
walks Of private life or the mad tut
q MOL of political caucuses he was eve
the same inflexible rule of courage
honesty and fidelity. Though fo
s years his every action has been assid
uously weighed in the balance of
, partisan press, yet not n deed ca
we remember that was found wan
e ing. And though the disc of hi
character has been under the tell
scope of public opinion for a score {
years. yet no spot or blemish lbs
ever been discovered. Hendricl
# was o staunch friend of the America
laborer and through the course of a
eventful life was always found benin
e the bulwark of eternal justice doin
Il battle for the rights OF the great pr
ducing element. In league with 1
" giant corporation, the tool Of 1
% moneyed aristocracy. no tear vi
lever dampen the cheek of unpa
. labor by any act Oh influence of hi
i Few are the public men of to-dl
who once find themselves upon q
10 surface of the political sea. who 10 n
drift rapidly eastward, but Hendric
~ remained q western man, with weste
X ideas to the end. No fawning al
sr trickling subserviency in his graz
OF makeup, to do obeisance to co-op'
ate greed; no Wanting and over lea
i. ing ambition TO crafty, he stood fiji
od as the rocks of Gibraltar for t
principles of equity and justice. !
other image but God to worship,
grappled with the horns of eve
evil, and lent his influence to eve
good. A mind clear. honest a
C. decisive and a will of sufficit
&c strength and purpose to carry out
lis convictions, marked the outlines
this grand mans life. Bright us
at sunbeam and keen as a Dalnase
Us blade his well poised mind c,
sought to find the right, and to do
'ss whole duty towards all men. Hold
ne steadfast to the great Democra
las principles IS taught by Jefferson d
'ss ~practiced by jackson, he walked
right through the corridors of pull
7 life, a synonym of honesty and
tegrity, and q reproactl to frau