Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1889-09-19

with the glimpse Of tho Hon In Their depths:
the firm set franc that marks the man Of long
enduring blood The Arabs OF the Nile have .
saying: Tho pyramids are never afraid"
Something like their majestic strength was In
him; something Of that eternal poise which
keeps its appointed place unvexed by doubt
an undisturbed by fear. It Is hard to speak
the language of mere praise. Such words are
kept for tho children Of genius; these meteors
that flame in the sky to dazzle the eye and NIL
the world with wonder. But what was hee A
General who never lost q battle; . leader who
never Quailed in any presence; commander
whose supreme hour was always now. He
knew the homespun word. duty. By the light
OF that sublime word he moved on Donelson in
the dead of winter and wrested from the enemy
its most important fortress and m army larger
than his own. BY its light he drew the lines
round Vicksburg's fated garrison and held them
with deadly grip until another army yielded
up its arms By its light he grappled in the
Wilderness and in that desperate hour saw the
dark woods grow white with the radiance OF the
coming triumph. A genius perhaps he was not.
But he had that largeness. of comprehension.
that mastery of self that relentless vigor Of
action which, If it does not always win the bat
tle never loses it. They said he was not always
true to military rule; but the time viii come
when his campaigns win be studied by students
of war those OF Marlborough and Fred
erick. Men talk of luck as if the keys OF des-
tiny were thrown around careiessly for any
hand to grasp True it is there is mysterious,
indefnable something compounded of time and
opportunity which makes success. But mark
how scOrnfully 1t passe. by the slothful ana
the timorous to set its seal upon the brow OF
him who answers to the call of fate. Il doubted
that it was right to set the flag little closer to
the enemy" He never walked in primrose
paths War as he understood 1t meant hard
rough blows, the cruelty of battle. the hammer
and the anvil now, peace and her mercies when
God shall appoint the hour. In his memoirs he
has told us how little taste he had for military
life. Nature formed him of gentle mould and
tempered him also with the resolute will, the
iron nerve ito true occasion true"
How plain and simple he was. The feverish
vision that disturbs the souls of SO many great
soldiers never troubled him. The ambition
that bubbles of glory and whispers sometimes
Of thrones and diadems found him deaf to every
voice. save that which bade him go forward to
the duty that lay nearest. Icall him great not
forgetting that greatness commonly needs the
perspective OF years. 1t is the antique that
seems colossal You wreathe the name Of
Pericles with glory. but his contemporaries
deemed him worthy of fines and punishment
English hands exhumed the bones OF Oliver
Cromwell and hung them on a gibbet To-day
history has named him incomparabiy the great
est of English soldiers and of English rulers.
Washington, Lincoln and Grant tasted the
bitterness that gathers in the cup of the worlds
greatest men.
Who hath lived without blame? II Grant had
words-he loved his friends and did not hate
his enemies His nature was simple and his
very faults made him more easy to deceive.
But I. for one. would not have it otherwise. I
would not take from that noble life one little
flaw through which the real brightness OF his
character shins more plain. Victory Is sweet
to soldiers heart When Lee surrendered the
measure of success, SO far as that can go, was
heaped and crowded for q. S. Grant. He had
won for ali time the fame of a great General
But he was something more than great Cen
eral when that hour he babe the weary soldiers
he had fought so long go back to their farms and
cotton fields and build up their b. oxen fortunes
in the peace he had won for them and for us
all. It was an act such poets love. When
they sing to Arthur and the table round or of
the tabled Cid, whose gentle hands bound up
the wounds his own right arm had made What
ever it meant to Others. to Grant Appomattox
meant only peace. Some blossoms from the
famous apple tree dropped into the old COM
mander's heart and filled it with the sweetness
ofrhe spring. But why dwell on these things!
The great leader is at rest. How widely diff
fused have been his acts and his example. In
quiet wales, in thronging cities and out upon
the uttermost land men speak Of Grant and
find in his very name omens OF security and
peace. The armies he led-vanishing now with
the vanishing years-share his fame. This
statue, and all the monuments q grateful people
raised to him, attest equally the every day hero
ism of the common soldier. The good cause Is
well concentrated. In the old days-old and
grim as they seem nOW-we thought OF mlRnty
and puissant nation, that has to be. We
thought OF it as free, as great, noble powerful,
unanimous. To help on the coming OF such a
nation we thought it worth while to fight and
some-who were of the best and bravest-
| thought it almost a priv eye to die. And now
the dream has come true. The statue is his.
tory in bronze. 1t means all that the war &C
complished-peace, freedom and the inviolable
sections of National unity to you; and the les
son it teaches? Grasp the meaning of the word
duty, and you have the answer. For glorified
is that homespun word in Wordsworth's immor-
tai line
'.Thou dost preserve the stars from wrong"
The very universe is but the obedient re-
Spouse to an omnipotent thought. 1t is only
duty that holds systems together, and fills all
space with the melody Of order and of law.
Here let the statue stand the tribute of gen.
erous hearts to a high ideal You will come
with reverent steps to look upon it, and when
the air is loud with the noise and turbulence of
faction, they will hear above it all of the solemn
words of the old commander, Let US have