The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1888-05-17
COLONEL INGERsoLL's GRAFTON.


Roscoe Conkling:
COLONEL INGERsoLL's GRAFTON.
Roscoe Conkling; great man, an ora
tor, statesman, lawyer, disting ulshed
ni tizen of the republic; in the zenith of
MS fame and power has reached his jour
,y's end, and we are met here in the city
o his birth to pay our tribute to MS
worth and work. He earned and held a
:oud position in public throughout. he
stood for independence, for courage,
and, above all, for absolute IN
taprity, and his name was known and
honored by many millions of his fellow
men. The literature of many lands is
,ich with the tributes that gratitude, ad-
riration and love have paid the great
md 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 touched
the hearts of men. In the
presence of death the good
man Judges as he would be
judged. He knows that there are hu-
iuan frailties; that the great walk in
shadows, and that faults and failures
uingle with the lives of all. In the grave
mould be buried the prejudices and the
passions born of conflict. Charity should
sold the scales in which are weighed the
deeds of men. Peculiarities-trials born
OF locality and surroundings-the are
lut the dust of the race; these are acci-
dents, the drapery cloths; the fashions
nat have nothing to do with the man,
exeept to hide his character. They
are the clouds that cling to the mountains.
Tine gives us clearer vision. That which
was merely local fades away. The words
# envy are forgotten and all there is of
sberling worth remains. He who was
called partisan is patriot. The revo-
lutionist and the outlaw are the founders
If nations, and he who was regarded as
scheming, selfish politician, becomes a
statesman, whose words and deeds shed
ght. Fortunate is that nation which is
reat enough to know the great. When
great man dies, one who has nobly
Ought the battle of life, who has been
faithful to every trust and who has uttered
lis highest, noblest thought; one who has
stood proudly by the right, in spite of
eer and taunt, neither stopped by foe or
swerved by friend; in honoring him, in
apeaking words of praise and love about
lis duties is always tribute to ourselves.
Row poor this world would be without its
Graves; without the memories of its dead!
fniy the voiceless speak forever. lntel-
igsnce, integrity and courage are the
g .eat pillars that support the state.
Aoove all, the citizens of free nation
should honor the brave and indepen-
don't man; the man of stainless
integrlty; of will and intellectual
,oH 10
whose mighty shoulders rest the
great fabric of the republic. Flatterers,
oringers, crawlers, timeservers are the
dangerous citizens of a democracy. They
who gam applause and power; panderlng
TO the mistakes, the prejudices aud the
passions of the multitude-are the enemies
of liberty. When, the intelligent submit
70 the clamor of many, anarchy begins and
The republic reaches the edge of chaos.
Most people are the slaves of habit, the
followers of custom, the believers in the
wisdom of the past and, were it not for
the brave and splendid souls, the dust of
antiquity would be unswept, and noun
'ainous error be too high for us to ever
peer over it. Custom is o prison, locked
and barred by those who long ago were
dust-the keys of which are in the
keeping, of the dead. Nothing
il grander than when a strong minded
u IN breaks the chains, levels the wall and
breasts the many headed mob, like some
Great cliff that meets and mocks innumer'
able billows of the sea. The politician
hastens to agree with the majority; in
5ists that their prejudice is patriotism
thas their interference is wisdom-not
that he loves them, but because
he loves himself. The statesman
me reformer, points out the
mist axes of the multitude, attacks the
pre- ldices of his countrymen, laughs al
thei. follies, denounces their absurdltles
eulip htens and enlarges their minds, and
siur ates the conscience-not because he
love himself, but because he loves anc
serves the right and wishes to make his
country great and free. With him defeat
is b1t spur to further effort. He who
refuses to stoop; who cannot be bribed b!
the promise of success or the fear o
faiiore; who walks the highway of th'
right and in disaster stands erect the onl,
victor. Nothing is more despicable thai
10 reach fame by crawling to position b,
bringing. When real history shall b
written by the truthful and the wise-thes
men, these kneelers, at the shrines
slzaI l.