The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1889-06-06

TlSuG Ol private JuuS1IeHl, eIS., lIe Nl'
not arrogate to himself, but with mag
nanimity toward all men, yielded grace
fully, and was ever tolerant of the
opinions of Others. AS a true knight
he would sometimes WELD the battle
axe with fearful force. Yet not with :
spirit of revenge.
The brilliant, versatile, conservative
staff with which he had surrounded
himself, is in itself conspicuous trib
ute to his ability, sagacity and pow
er of discipline. His selfdiscipline was
seen at its very best, perhaps, in the
peril and alarm of the moments when
his devoted city trembled as it were
upoo the verge of a dying world. When
in the horror of that hour he sent his
paper forth with graphic editorials
of faultless rhetoric and elegant diction
infinitely describing the thrilling incl
dents of the earthquake.
The inspiration, training and nerve
of his accomplished force was most
manifest in the darkness of the day
whose setting sun had heralded the de-
parture Of their chief. During the
blackness of that fateful night they
kept their posts with aching heart and
quivering nerve, yet never a sign or
word of despair, or revenge, could
be traced between the lines as the
paper came forth with the rising sun in
its usual fullness and eXcellence-tell-
ing, with quiet dignity yet touching
pathos, the startling story Of its bitter
bereavement.
Captain Dawson had both phenom-
email mind and unique character. The
very largesse Of natures gifts was ap-
pareutly poured upon him. To splendid
physical health and personal attrac-
tiveness was added volume of moral
and intellectual strength. Seeking no
model he mapped out for himselfa nat
ural path of rare beauty and renown.
The imperishable traits of his charac-
ter were moral heroism and transparent
truth. He did not ''use language to
conceal his thoughts" To an iron will,
dauntless nerve, and quick eye and
ear, were united thoughtful, cheerful
mind of rapid concentration, grasp, de-
cision and action. His prescience was
remarkable.
| He knew neither fear nor delay, and
being always we'll up with his work was
ever ready. His life was beautiful in
its symmetry. With no ''lost motion"
or friction in his mental machinery,
nor undue exhaustion Of his nervous
energy, his fruitful mind was always
buoyant, elastic and properly toned.
Hence it is no wonder he achieved so
much. Hewas q man for the surprises
and crises that come of great key
moments, whether Of revolution or con-
vulsion, and he crowded into the forty
nine eventful years of his life the work
Of century!
We can truly apply his own lines
"Only Private" to himself, for thus
came he to US as he leaped from his
ship to join the jackets Of gray:
"Only private! his jacket of gray
| Is stained by the smoke and the dust;
AS Bayard, he's brave; as Rupert, he's
gay;
Reckless as Murat in heat of the fray,
But in God is his only trust"
Of the same blood and lineage, he
was Carolinian in all things save his
nativity. By adoption and association,
and in sympathy and sentiment he
loved South Carolina "from the centre
all around to the sea-" "He did not
love Caesar less because he loved Rome
more" His home was in the metropo-
| lis but he was anxious to see the illu-
sive lines that disturbed the State dis
PEELED by spirit of unity that would
have been coternlinous with the bounds
of the State. -
He came to Virginia and the Carroll
mas and ate salt and brake bread and
bled with the bravest of the flower and
! the chivalry of the South. Cavalier
and Huguenot alike locked shields
with him in the thick of the fight.
And when the shock of battle was over
and valiant people found themselves
without bank and almost thrown
from affiuence to penury and woe,
moral courage was needed for the wal
of the interregnu1n. The South must
be rehabifitated, for, fguratively, "its
world had come to an end" The noble
sires had lost all save their manhood.
The proud prestige, born of their homo
geneity and conservative social system,
was well-nigh crushed, and they
were almost ready to accept despair
and death; but the sons must live in
the dawn of new day. And only g
Carolinian not "native and to the man
ner born," yet with the courage of 8
Ceur de Lion and the excellence of 8
Hampden could ,"heat back the just in
dignation and forgive" while assisting
with herculean effort in bravely bridg.
ing the chasm that long, dark, pitiless
night. In this he was sometimes
misunderstood and, pioneer-like, suf'
fered; yet he is "a hero not without the
laurel and conqueror not without the
triumphn'
Wea are persuaded that wherever men
"count time by heart-beats, and live in
noble thought and generous action
Francis Warrington Dawson will be
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