The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1886-02-03


those who have risked their lives in defense
of their countrys rights and honor. Is
there any reason why equal recognition
should not be made of valuable and distin-
guished services in civil life, and equal hon
ors perpetuate the memory of statesmen
who have served their country with no less
fidelity and zeal for its honor and welfare?
Senator Evarts had this to say in de-
Tense of partisanship:
Something has been said about his being
partisan. know by no instruction of my
observation, nor by anything that 1 can
draw from history, any other mode of con-
Quoting the debates of great and free peo-
pie except by means of great and firm par
ties. I believe, therefore, that steadfast
and intrepid adhesion to party is merit,
and 1 believe that political contests fail
much of their service to the country when
steadfast and intrepid adherence to politi-
cal leaders is neglected on the part of the
mass of a party.
His views of the King of Terrors "
are of especial interest:
However frequently brought to the notice
of mortals, death is never formal and never
commonplace. However men may lead
their lives-in the market-place, In the
courts, in the senate, at the head of armies,
in the crowds of popular applause-a man
must always die alone. Whether death
shall approach us in the form of sudden
summons, a tragic fate or by slow progress,
sensibly to ourselves, visibly to those around
us, the eye shall grow dim and the natural
force abate, death is a fearful visitor
Whether his intrusion overtakes one in the
towers of kings or in the cabins of the poor,
the supreme event wherein this mortal puts
on immortality swallows up all incidents
and circumstances as trivial and imperti-
nent. From these CONCENTRATIONS, Mr..
President, whether in the close chamber Of
the dying, or on the wide scene of public be-
reavement and national lamentaton, the
wisest may learn new wisdom and the bold
est feel the mastery of an invincible antag-
onist.
Senator Ransom INDUCED in this ora
.torical flight:
He did not stand among men like some
majestic mountain with its proud head in
the clouds wrapt in snow, an object of Won
der and establishment to all who behold it,
but his life resembled the beautiful plain be-
MEATH studded with cities, villages and happy
homes, refreshed by cooling streams, abound
ing in fruitful fields and bearing on its
bosom the comforts and the blessings of
men. While yet in the full matll-
rity and undiminished vigor of his faculties,
with not one ray of his remarkable intelli-
gence obscured or dimmed honored among
all men, in the early autumn, in the beauti-
full month of October, before cruel winter
has laid icy hand upon the bosom of nature
at the season when the fields are rendering
up their richest harvests, at his own home
in the bosom of those whom he loved and
who loved him, he passed without a pang
from this world, with hallowed accents on
his lips of the reality of that perfect " free.
dom which is the aspiration of good men
everywhere. How beautiful is the sunset
of autumn, when twilight gently fingers be.
tween day and night and the glory of the
sun does not retire until the curtain is softly
lifted and the glory of the stars appears
Fitting crown to the life of a Christian
statesman in government whose vital fire
is religious liberty.
The manner of the vice-president's
death was thus sketched by Senator
Vest:
He died suddenly, as falls a chieftain OF
some stricken field; and it was we'll. Better
one pang, one throb, than weeks of pain ant
slow decay. Better to fall like the strucl
eagle, whose full-stretched wing droops il
mid-heaven above the mountain-top thai
to writhe through weary days and sleeples
nights, waiting " the inevitable hour"
Senator Spooner also found "melan
choly comfort" in the manner of hi
death:
He died as one might wish to die who wa
as well prepared to die. In his own home
in the midst of the friends and neighbors o
many years, at the capital of the state whicl
loved him and which he loved, in the tende
care of her who was nearest and dearest
without premonition or pain of parting
Goods finger touched him and he slept"