The Big Sandy news. [volume] (Louisa, Ky.) 1885-1929, 1888-05-17

| w. tul1 puts wreath OF glory on MS tomb.
From that vote 10 the last moment OF his
life he was a champion OF equal rights. stanch
and stalwart. From that moment he stood In
The front rank. He mover waverod and he
mover swerved. BY his devotion q
principle, his courage, the spiendor OF
his diction, by his varied and profound
knowledge, his conscientious devotion 10 the
great cause, and by his intellectual scope and
grasp he won and held the admiration OF his
fellow men. Disasters In the field. reverses at
the polls did not and could not shake his cour-
/ age or his faith He knew tho CHASTITY meaning
| OF defeat He knew that the great ship that
slavery sought TO strand and wreck was
frcighted with the worlds sublimost hope He
battled for n Nations life. for the rights of
slaves. the dignity OF labor and the liberty OF
| all He guarded with fathers care the rights
| OF the hunted, the hated and despised. He
| attacked the savage statutes OF the recon-
structed States with torrent OF invective,
scorn and execration. He was not satisfied
| until the freedman was an American citizen
clothed with every civil right until the consti-
tuition was his shield, until the ballot was his
sword, and long after we are dead the colored
man in this and other lands will speak his
name in reverence aud love. Others wayered,
but he stood firm; some were false, but he
was proudly true-fearlessly faithful unto
death. He gladly, proudly grasped the
hands of colorod men who stood with
him as makers OF our laws and treated them
as equals aud us friends. The cry of social
| equality" coined aud uttered by tho cruel and
the base, was TO him the expression OF a great
and splendid truth. He knew that no man
can be the equal Of the one he robs; that
the intelligent and unjust are not the superiors
| and proudly felt that II he was not too great TO
| reach the hand OF help and recognition to tho
slave no other Senator could rightfully refuse
We rise by raising othors, and he who stoops
above the fallen stands erect. .
Roscoe Conkling was an absolutely honest
| man. Honesty is the oak around which all
other virtues cling. Without that they fall,
and grovelng die in weeds and dust He be-
| lieved that o Nation should discharge its obi
cations. He knew that promise could not Be
made often enough or emphatic enough to take
| the place OF payment He felt that the
promise OF the Government was the
promise OF every citizen-that National
obligation was personal debt and
that no possible combination OF words and
| pictures could take the place of coin. He ut
| tered the splendid truth that 1.-THE higher OBJ
| legations among men are not set down in
| writing signed and sealed, but reside
in honor He knew that Reputation was
| the sacrifice of honor, the death OF the
National soul. He knew that without
character, without integrity, there is no
| wealth. and that below poverty, below bank
| ruptcy, is the rayless abyss OF reputation. He
| upheld the sacredness OF contracts OF plighted
Nation faith, aud helped to save and keep the
honor OF his native land. This adds another
/ laurel to his brow. He was the ideal repre-
sentative faithful and inoorruptibe. He be-
| llcved that his constituents aud his country
were entitled TO the fruit OF his experience, TO
HIS best ana highest thought. No man ever
held the standard OF responsibility higher than
he. He voted according to his judgment, his
conscience. He made no bargains-he neither
hon ewlae rr.Nl l..lNa
abuses and inaugurate reforms, he believed
was not only the duty but the privilege OF a
Legislators. He neither sold nor mort
gagged himself He was in Congress dur
ing the years OF vast expenditure, OF war and
waste, when the credit OF the Nation was
loaned to individuals, when claims were thick
as leaves in June, when the amendment OF
statute, the change Of o single word meant
millions, and when empires were given
TO corporations. He stood at the sum
init OF his power-peer OF the greatest
n leader tried and trusted. He had
tho tastes OF a Prince, the fortune OF peas
ant, and yet he never swerved. No corpora
ton was great enough or rich enough TO pur-
chase him. His vote could not be bought "for
all the sun sees, or the close earth wonibs,
or the profound seas hide.n His hand was
never touched by any bride, and on his
soul there never was sordid stain.
Poverty was his priceless crown. Above
his marvellous intellectual gifts, above all place
he ever reached, above the ermine he refused,
rises his integrity like some great m ountain
peak, and there it stands, firm as the earth be-
meath, pure as the stars above.
The speaker then spoke OF Mr.. Conkling as q
lawyer and an orator in both OF which chnrac-
tiers he declared him TO be without peer. Con-
tinuing, he said:
He abhorred the Pharisee and loathed all
fraud. He had profound aversion for those
good deeds OF others. He wore no mask.
He knew his friends; his enemies knew
HIN. He had no patience with pre-
tense, with patriotic reasons for I'M
manly acts. He did his work aud bravely
spoke his thought. Sensitive TO the last
degree, he keenly felt the blows and stabs OF
the envious and obscure OF the smallest OF
the weakest, but the greatest could not drive
him from convictions field. He would not
stoop 10 ask or give an explanation. He left
his words and deeds to justify themselves. He
held in light esteem q friend who heard with
half believing ears the SANDER OF foe. He
walked highway OF his own, and kept the
company OF his self-respect He would not turn
aside to avoid foe, TO greet or gain friend. In
his nature there was no compromise. To him
there were but two paths-the right and wrong.
He was maligned misrepresented and misun-
derstood but he would not answer He knew
that character speaks louder far than any
words. He was as silent then as he is now, and
his silence better than any form OF speech, re-
futed every charge.
He was an American-proud OF his country,
that was and ever will be proud OF him. He did
not find perfection only in other lands He did
not grow small and shrunken, withered and
apologeticin the presence OF those upon whom
greatness had been thrust by chance. He could
not be overawed by Dukes or Lords, nor fiattered
into yertebrateless subserviency by the patron
ling smiles OF Kings. In the midst OF conven-
tonalities he had the feeling of suiocation.
He believed in the royalty Of man, in the SOW
ereignty OF the citizen, and in the matchless
greatness OF this republic. He was OF the
classic mold-a figure from the antique world.
He had the pose OF the great statues, the pride
and bearing OF the intellectual Greek, OF the
conquerlng Roman, and he stood in the wide,
free air as though within his veins there flowed
the blood OF hundred Kings.
AS he lived he died. Proudly he entered the
darlsness-or the dawn-that we call death.
Unshrinkingly he passed beyond our horizon,
beyond the twiights purple hills, beyond the ut
most reach of human harm or help, TO that
vast realm Of silence or Of joy where the innu-
merable dwell, and he has left with us his
wealth OF thought and deed-the memory OF q
brave, imperious, honest man, who bowed
alone 10 death.
After the address General Hustled said
few words and the memorial services ended.