The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1889-01-19
THE DEAD OF 1888.
Few Very Great Names, Hut Many
UnIque ones In tue List.

many uleu WITHIN 1eW weeks oi each
other and the attending circumstances
form an extraordinary chapter i'll the
history Of dynasties. The chief figures
in the highest court of the United
States and the chief officer of the
American army are among the year
dead. The man whose moral courage
and enlightened intelligence are re-
sponsible for every law on the statue
books of the United States intended to
protect dumb beasts from cruelty, is
among the dead who, while they lived,
were unique. The American novelist,
whose books were more widely. read
than those of any other; all actor OF
distinguished theatrical lineage, whose
place on the stage 30 fitted him that no
successor attempts to ill il "a dramatist,
whose rise to the pinnacle of pOpulari- |
ty was almost as sudden as his physical
and mental collapse, al time when /
hard-earned prosperity was within his |
grasp: an Anglo o-American who was
the most versatile man i'll public life,
whose active brain gave forth ideas
upon every subject from draw poker !
to astronomy .and whose cosmopolitan
ism asserted itself even in his death, !
for he died in New York from a dis |
ease peculiar to the SOUTH the builder
of the largest stationary engine in the
world; the man who was the foremost
American botanjst; a famous philoso-
pher whose philosophy was mere,
non-productive dreaming, and who
was go far removed from prac.
tical affairs that lie had 10 reliza.
ton of the value OF money; the last Ct
the once numerous school OF humoris ts
who found bad spelling an attractive
medium for satire; the tallest promi-
nent citizen OF Chicago; one OF the
founders of the foremost American col
lege for girls; the most venerable figure
on the Boston stage; the most promi-
nent female doctor in the United
States; the foremost social critic OF
England, whose death, singularly
enough, was exactly contempOraneous
with storm of Indignation that fol-
lowed his last structures upon Ameri-
can institutions ;the most influential re.
tired politician in this country; one of
the two or three strongest class players
of the world; the leading fish.cultur-
ist California millionaire-a lot of
familiar names 90 with these brief out
lines of character or accomplishment,
and those names are all upon the scroll
that was sealed in 1883 Emperor
William /, and Emperor Frederick Ill,
Phil Sheridan, Morrison R. Waite,
Henry Bergh, E. P. Roe, Lester
Wallack, BARLEY Campbell, Richard A.
Proctor, George IL. Corliss, Professor
Asa Gray, Bronson AlcOtt, petroleum
V. Nasby," Long John" Wentworth,
John Guy Vassar, William Warren,
Mrs. Clemence s. Lozier, Matthew
Arnold, Roscoe Conkling, D. Zuker.
tort, Seth Green and Charles Crocker,
each no doubt had some elements OF
greatness in his competition. The
range of efforts is broad one. One
ruled all empire, another swayed au-
diences; one fought battles on the
field, another on chess board; one
told tales, another built railways "a third
befriended beasts-all, at any rate be-
came individuals seen above the heads
OF the average millions. Each had a
distinct place in society and progress /;
many of them seem to have been even
necessary, but history will know few
of them and those, perhaps, not for
long. This is not the age for rearing
immortals. Intelligence is so wide.
spread and progress so swift and inter-
lacing that no one person is gigantic
enough to Overpower the multitude of
stong men and become the maker of an
epoch. If society absorbs a mans
genius and exalts him for brief sea-
son, he has had recognition and re-
ward. Hereafter he will be classified
remembrance-a name in a particular
category, preserved by specialists, lead.
ing up toward the consummation OF
| linn nj fhnnnhf nia-
tinct, popular posthumous fame is not
tor hun. He was born too late.
The distinguished and familiar names
of last years dead is not complete with
the representative list given above.
There are others that have gladdened
or beitered the world by their presence,
or who haye at aimed personal success
or prominence. Among them are
these:
W. w. Corcoran, philanthropist and
art patron; Louisa M. Alcott, author
of children's books that were, perhaps,
never surpassed; DR.. james Freeman
Clarke, distinguished theOlogian; A.
s. Abel, founder of the Baltimore
Sun, and Joseph M. Levy Lawson,
chief owner of the London Telegraph
, General d. II. Strother, whose "Porte
Crayon" sketches OF Southern Life
amused the early readers of Hsrper's
f. 0. q. barley, once the foremost
} American illustrator; Benjamin H
Brewster, ex-attorney general of the
United States; Cardinal Martinelli
Joseph w. Drexel, head of the richest
banking house in America; William
Dorsheimer, prominent New York
politician and journalist; Laurance
Oliphant, citizen of the world, author
and diplomat; Edward Lear, mos
genial of humorists, inventor of "non
sense jingles" and author of Innumera-
BILE children's books; William Chip.
pendale and William Davidge, veteran
comedians; Cornelius Agnew and Ii
, Il. Sands, eminent physicians; Emms
Lazarus, q poet whose genius neve
fully ripened; Bonamy Price, scientist
Kathleen O'Meara, an author who's,
Z work was just attaining celebrity
+ Frank Bellew, for many years the frs
; of American comic artists, whose son
/ "a chip off the old block" is content t,
4 carry forward his fathers fame by sign
: ing his pictures simply "Chip;" Hiram
3 Sibley, first president of the Western
Union Telegraphcompauy; Dr. Rober
a Morris, poet laurate of Masonry; Geo
Weber. German historian; the mothe
r of James A. Garfield; and the wife O
# Oliver Wendell Holmes, the wife o
: General Sherman and the widow O
# "Barry Cornwall;" Marshal Bazine
the famous French soldier; Mar
: Hewitt, novelist; A. S. Barnes, pub
r Usher; Q. q. Memminger, secretary G
It the confederate states treasury; Sydne
d Howard Gay, poet and journalist; tn
: sultan OF Zanzibar; Ex-Governor Fair
banks of Vermont; Ex-Governor Hof
l. man, of New York; ex-Governo
Q Carney, of Kansas; Ex-Governor Pai
= ker, of New Jersey; ex-President Sale
e mon, of Hayti; Philip Henry Gosse
e English naturalist; Mrs. Annie Seguii
opera singer; Frank Hall, Englis
Is artist; Lawrence Jerome, Courtlau
Palmer and Wright Sanford.
These lists, beginning with an EN-
peror and ending with mere "goo
fellow" comprise nearly all the men
orable names that were added to tn
silent majority in 1888. They al
u scarcely seventy in number and mo-
l. of them had limited regulations. 81
= of them had lived less than fit
u =, years. Five sevenths had passed g.