The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1885-07-31
FRIDAY, JULY 81, 1885.

record of his hopeless death-struggle, it
was finely said of him, in the language
of Kent asking mercy for Lear
"vex not his ghost 0, let him pass
lie hates him that upon the rack of this tough
world
Would stretch him out longer"
That feeling has been the thought of
his aflectionate countrymen ever since
they knew the dire nature of his disease
and the severity of his suflerings, and
vet this respite from what seemed immc-
diate death four months ago has been
blessed boon both to the dying hero and
the country he loved and served so well.
The romance of Grants career was COM
pleted in the last sad chapter, where he
fairly tasted of death and then was tran
silently restored to have his heart warmed
by the eloquent words of love and pane
gyric that are seldom spoken in the ears
of the living. In these four months of
respite his dying hours have been soothed
by the knowledge that the nation, North
and South. sincerely admired, loved and
respected him; and the nation. too has
learned something of the simple strength
and sweetness of Grants character that
it had not known before. That he was
great soldier we all knew, for Lee as
warmly eulogized his genius as Sherman,
Sheridan and Hancock; that he was
great man, of kindly and noble nature,
was not so clearly manifest until sick
nd ,,Yth1io Inv me 10
the grim soldier drop something of the
reserve in which he habitually held his
speech and his soul. lie has not suffered
more than Napoleon. who died of cancer
of the stomach; he has not oeen more
patient or genial during his long agony
than was the hero of AusterltZ. but he
dies guiltess of having shed drop of
blood for the sake of personal glory or
self-aggrandisement he is the hero of the
greatest battle for the pelpetuity of free
institutions that the world ever saw We
have called his career romantic; there is
nothing in military annals equal to it
since Cromwell, when we consider that
Grant was nearly forty years of age be-
fore he. as colonel of the 2lst Illinois reg
iment, started for the front, in June, 1861,
an utter obscurity, destined to return the
greatest soldier of American history and
the greatest soldier of the century save
Napoleon And this he attained without
family or political influence, without
wealth. without personal graces or social
hor - whom
that there is no soldier since Cromwell
that seems to have conquered circum-
stances so completely by pure native
genius for war:
In seed of laurel in the earth,
The blossom OF his fame was blown,
And somewhere, waiting for its birth,
The shaft was in the stone.
The news of Grant death did not take
the nation at all by surprise, for the peo-
pie since April last have been affection
ately whispering to him
"'Stay: stay with US, rest,
Thou art weary and worn,
And tain was our war-broken soldier to stay,
But sorrow returned with the dawning ofmorn
As his voice on our dreaming ear melted away"
Among the pathetic things of Grant
last days were his resolute efforts to fin
ish his book, not so much that he cared
to write a record of his fame as he was
anxious to recoup the broken fortunes of
his children. 1t recalls the great novel
list, Scott, sick and broken, toiling like a
hero to pay off his debts and finally dy-
ing of softening of the brain after wiping
out $3.50, 900 of his burden. Personally,
General Grant was supplemented,
manly, magnanimous man; magnani-
nous alike to friend and foe; magnani-
nous in his famous letter to Sherman,
where he ascribes his success to the 10y
atty of Mcpherson and himself; mag
unanimous to Lee in defeat; mqgnani-
nous to Hancock when he sent in his
name for promotion with a splendid en-
dorsement on the heels of personal rup-
ture between them. As a husband and
father he was tender and true; as a
friend he was loyal to the verge of fanati-
cism; in his early military career before
the war he was sometimes Incorporate,
but in his after life he rose above this in
trinity and bore himself with dignity and
self-restraiDt. Reported to be silent
man, because he was not platform or
after-dnner orator, Gen. Grant was once
described by Senator Edmunds and
Judge Poland as one of the finest takers
in America; and his ablest enemy, Dana
of the Sun, warmly praises Grants ex-
ceptional ability as writer, calling him
a master of clearness and simplicity of
statement. Senator Edmunds describes
Grant as generous man, who spent his
private income freely while President in
charity for the impecunious widows,
daughters and sisters of his old comrades
in arms. His best epitaph is that placed
upon foreign medal struck in his honor
at Geneva in 1865. The diverse is a fine
raised military bust; the reverse has il