Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1885-08-13

the people, a man, silent, thonghtfully
poised, calm, stepped forward, and with
the lips of prophecy. voiced the Nations
first and last demand: unconditional
and immediate surrender" From that
moment the end was known. That was
the first declaration of real war, and 10
accordance with the dramatic writers OF
mighty events the soldier who made it
received the final sword OF the rebellion. I"
have no patience with those people
who assert that the career of Gen. Grant
was largely matter of circumstance;
his fame an accident. II ii be go, then
was Napoleon Bonapartc, young man
who one day was starving in the streets
of Paris for the want of dinner, and the
next held France in the palm Of his hand,
An accident. Circumstances have made
small men enough, but great men make
circumstances Men like Gen. Grant
rarely stop to write histories, their task
rather Is to create the events out Of which
histories are written. Their thoughts and
acts spring out of Themselves as Minerva
out of the head of Jupiter; thoughts still
and vast, and solemn, like the midnight
OF the stars; thoughts that rise and set
like suns, that burn and blaze, and ava
lanchc along the world until their mighty
roar blends with the music Of eternity.
After all the history of the world is but
record Of the few great men that have
been here, at least In one view see it
thus. In history the ynasses are nothing.
Whatever great sacred thing they may
be IN the ever tolllng fact of existence,
they have no name on earth beyond their
living, breathing hour. The poetry,
chivalry, science of the world, what have
we had to do with these except 10 sing
the songs, fight the battles, and read the
discoveries of the few great masters
Ask these members Of the Grand Army
of the Republic that see before me, the
men who bravely faced the death storm
at Donelson, at Shiloh, at Vicksburg. if
the herolsm and gallsntry OF their COM
mandcr was a matter of circumstance,
an accident? But 1t Is folly to argue this
matter. Every person capable OF form
ing an intelligent opinion on so great q
subject knows that the man whose death
we mourn today ntver had superior IN
all the annals of military history. lie
was man Of whom it has been SAID that
he never Stunned and never lost battle
to his foes. And now today, his last bat
tie over, he sleeps beneath the flag he did
so much to save, his honors and his an
gu,sh alike forgotten. For the unexam-
pied service which he performed for this
country IN her time Of need, this country,
which IS the last refuge of human free
dom on Gnd's green earth, we shall al
ways love him, and we must remember
that that grave yondcr in Riverside Park
is bat the reception room to heaven,
drcary though it seem. Our old COM
mander is not really dead, only gone
home, out into what Tennyson calls fhe
dream beyond. On his cold brow we
drop no tear. for since the world began 1t
has been the fate OF hearts like his 10
1.-Two, end h. eal., and die and when the
flowers bloom over his grave the angels
of God will kiss them and fling their fra
GRANGE like blessings on the summer air.
ADDRESS BY W. DODGE,
Life is a battle field where humanity
contends, while journeylng from the era
die TO the grave. the worlds dwarfs and
giants alike participate in ceaselcss strife
upon one common plane and in one COM
mon cause while ever and anon one
stronger than the rest and made of nobler
stuff rises above the level of his kind,
assumes command and leads to victory,
cheerfully enduring the hardships and
p1ivatlons o: life's biltercst experience,
he faces grim despair and laughs at death
that he may thereby win the plaudlts of
his fellow men and the priceless inherit
ance of Nations grateful memory after
death. Who would not live to be thus
honored and approved? Who would not
die TO be thus cherished and revered?
The history of nations ls but record
of the deeds Of great and noble men,
whose self sacrificing lives have been de-
voted to the task of lifting humanity
above its level, and thereby Gaming for
themselves monument. rs enduring as
eternity.
Once more the journal of a Nations
memory has been unclasped and the Re-
cordlng Angel has written upon the
golden tablets the history and epitaph of
| >1,o N,,;oo,e ho~o ,pd Tho voor1o.o frand
When centuries shall have rolled away,
and the future generations of liberty's
sons and daughters, resting moment
from the ceaseless cares of life, shall turn
back the pages of this log book Of their
conntry's prosperous voyage, there to
find the story of how the grand old
ship of sts te rode triumphant through
the tempest of rebellion and withstood
the blllows of oppression, the shoals of
treachery and the thunderbolts of seces-
sion, and through storm and over rock
bore with unfaultering hand, steady
helm ana flying colors the heritage Of the
fathers to a haven Of safety and security.
They will find there written side by side
in characters OF living light the names of
her commanders, and her pilot. He who,
when the nation was lowed down with
weight of woe, when the clouds hung the
thickest and darkest and the thunders
pealed the loudest, was sent by God to
take command Of the grand old ship,
protect her cargo and save her crew, put
down the curse of human traffic, keep
our country unit and save our flag from
dishonor, the name of immortal Lincoln,
and that other silent, man, brave and firm
in every storm as oak and rock, who kept
the helm with steady hand and loyal
heart and faithfully discharged every
| v,,blio d,fy pho o;doI NTH the Woak