Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1888-05-18
INGHRSOLL ON CONKLING.
An Eloquent Tribute to the Dead
Statesman's Worth and Work.
MEMORIAL ADDRESS BEFORE THE
NEW YORK CONGRATULATIONS
COE CONRLING A GREAT MAN,
AN ORATOR. A STATESMAN, A
LAWYER, A DISTINGUISHED CIT
IZEN.
By United Press to the Wing.


livered a memorial address on the
late Roscoe COnkling. lie SAID
"toscoe Conkling-a great man,
an orator, stategman, lawyer, "a
distinguished citizen Of the Repub-
lie, in the zenith of his fame and
pOwer-has reached his journeys
end, and we have met here IN the
city Of his birth to pay our tribute
to his worth and work. He earn
ed and held a proud position in the
public thought. He stood for in
dependence, for courage, and
above all tor absolute integrity,
and his name was known and
HONORED BY MANY MILLIONS
OF his fellowmen. The literature OF
many lands is rich with the tributes
that gratitude, admiration, and
love have paid to the great and
hOnored dead. These tributes dis
close the character of nations, the
ideals of the human race. In
them we find the estimates OF
greatness-the deeds and lives
that challenged praise and thrilled
the hearts of men. In the pres
ence Of death the good man judges
as he would be judged. He knows
that men are only fragments-that
the greatest walk IN shadows, and
that faults and failures mingle in
the lives of all. In the grave
should be buried the preiudices
and passions born of conflict.
Charity should hold the scales in
which are weighed the deeds of
men.
Peculiarities, traits born OF local
iGy and snrroundings-these are
but the dust of the race-these are
accidents, drapery, clothes, fash
ions. that have nothing to do with
the man except to hide his charac.
ter. They are the clouds that cling
to the mountains. Time gives us
clearer vision. That which was
merely local fades away. The
words of envy are forgotten and
all there is or sterling worth re-
mains. He who was called par.
tisan Is a patriot. The revolution
ist and the outlaw are the found.
ers of nations, and he who was re.
garded as scheming, selfish
sycophant becomes a statesman-a
philosopher, whose words and
deeds shed light.
Fortunate is that man great
enough to know the great. When a
great man dles-one who has no.
bly, fought the battle OF a life, who
has been faithful to every trust,
and has uttered his highest, no.
blest thoughts, one who has stood
proudly by the right IN spite of
jeer and taunt, neither stopped by
foe nor swerved by friend in hon
oring him, in speaking words OF
praise and love above his dust, we
pay a tribute to ourselves. How
poor this world would be without
its grayes, without the memories
OF its mighty dead. Only
THE voICELEss SPEAK FOREVER.
Intelligence, integrity, and cour-
age are the great pillars that sup
port the state. Above all, the
citizens of a free nation should
honor the brave and independent
man-the man of stainless integ-
rity, of will, and intellectual force.
Such men are the atalases on
whose mighty shoulders rest the
great fabric of the republic. Flat
terers, crlngers, crowIers, time
servers, are the dangerous citizens
of a democracy. They who gain
applause and power by pandering
to the mistakes, the prejudices, aud |
passions of the multitude, are the |
enemies of liberty. When the in.
telligent submit to the clamor of
the many, anarchy begins and the I
republic reaches the age of chaos.
Medrocrity, touched with ambition,
hatters the base and eliminates
the great, while the true patriot,
who will do neither, is often sacri-
feed.
Ina government of the people a
leader should be a teacher; he
should carry the torch of truth
Most people are the slaves OF habit;
followers OF custom; believers in
the wisdom Of the past and were
it not for brave and splendid souls,
the dust of antique time would lie
unswept, and mountainous error
be too highly heaped for truth to
overpeer.
CUSTOM IS A PRISON,
locked and barred by those who
long ago where dust, the keys of
which are in the keeping OF the
dead.
Nothing is grander than when a
strong, intrepid man breaks chains,
levels walls, and breasts the many
headed mob like some great cllh
that meets and mocks the innumer'
able bIllows of the sea.
The politician hastens to agree
with the majority, insists that their
ignorance IL wisdom not that he
loves them, but because he loves
himself. The statesman, the real
reformer, points out the. mistakes
of the multitude, attacks the preju-
dlces of his countrymen, laughs at
their follles, denounces their
-IA..- .-l..Ikono onH anlarnQQ /