The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1890-03-13
vALMAGE h ON GRADY.
THE BROOKLYN PREACHER EULO-
GIZES THE DEAD EDITOR.

don't of tho Piedmont Cbautauqun.
The subject Of DR.. Talmage's Sunday
sermon was: "The Life and Death oil
Henry W. Grady, the Editor and Orator.
he took for his text Isaiah viii, 1: "Takt
thee q great roll, and write in it with 6
mans pen." The preacher said:
To Isaiah, with Royal blood in his
veins and habilant Of palaces, does this
divine order come. He is to take roll
largo roll, and write on it with o pen
God honored the pen and so He hon
ored manuscript. In our day the
mightiest roll is the religious and
secular newspaper, aud the mightiest
pen is the editors pen whether for good
or evil. And God says now to every
literary man, and especially to every
journalist: Take thee great roll and
write in it with q mans pen"
Within few weeks one of the strong
est, most vivid and most brilliant of
those pens was laid down on the editor
ial desk in Atlanta, never again to be
resumed. was far away at the time.
We had been sailing up from the Medi.
tersancan sea through the Dardauellcs,
which region is unlike anything ever
saw for beauty. There is no. any other
water scenery on earth where God has
done so many picturesque things with
islands. They are somewhat like the
Thousand Islands of our American st.
Lawrence, but more like boaven. Indeed
we had just passed Patmos, the place
from which John had his apocalyplic
vision. Constantinople had seemed to
come out to greet us, for your approach
fn 10 RI ~ hnr
city. Other cities, as you approached
them, seem to retire, but this city, with
it's glttering minarets and pinnacles,
soems almoot to step into the water to
greet you. But my landing there, that
would have boen to me an cXhilaration,
was suddenly stunned with the tidings
Of the death Of my intimate friend, Hen
ry w. Grady. l could hardly believe
the tidinss, for had left on my study
table at hsma letters and tclegrams from
him--,hose letters and kilograms having
warmth and geni :lty, and wit such
as he only could express. The de-
parturc of no pnblic man for many years
has so affected me. For days I walked
about as in a dream, and resolved that,
getting home. would, for the sake of
mis- bereaved pre- fcss;on, and for the sake
tinue to be as log as memory lasts,
would speak a word in appreciation Of
him, the most promising Of Americans,
and learn some Of the salient lessons OF
his departure.
have no doubt that he had enemies.
for no mau can live such al active life
as he liz ed, or l." so far in advance of
his time, without making enemies, some
hoN ha 1nfn tod nd
some because he outshone them. Owls
and bats never did like the rising sun.
But I shall tell you how he ap-
psared to me, and am glad
glad that told him while he was in full
health what thought OF him. Memorial
orations and gravestone epitaphs are Of.
ten mean enough, for they say of man
after he is dead that which ought to
have been said of him while living. One
garland for living brow is worth more
lilies heaped en- a funeral casket By a
little black volume of fifty pages con-
tanning the eulogiums and poems utter
Webster and Calhoun and Lincoln and
Sumner, the world tried to pay for the
forty years of ob!oquy it heaped upon
j.
praise of man while he lives I will
keep silent when he is dad. Myrtle
and weeping willow can never do what
ought to have been done by amaranth
and palm branch. No amount of "Dead
March Saul" rum5ling ON big organs
at the obsequies can atone for non.ap-
probation Of the nan before he fell on
sIesp. The hearse cannot do what ought
to have been done by chariot. But there
are important things that need to be
said about our friend, who was a prophet
in h merican journalism and who only a
few years ago heard the command of my
text: "rako thee great roll, and write
in it with mans pen."
His father dead, Henry w. Grady, 2
boy IA years Of nge, took up the battle
Of life. 1t wonld require long chapter
to record the names of orphans who have
como to the top. When God takes away
the head Of this household he very often
gives to some lad in that household q
special qualification. Christ remeu bsra
how that bis own father died early, leav-
ing him to support himself and his moth.
or and bis brothers in the carpenter'a
shop at Nazareth, and he il in sympathy
with all boys and all young men in the
struggle. You say: ooh, if my father
had only lived would have bad bet
ter education and I would have had 9
more promising start, and there are some
wrinkles on my brow that would moi
have been there" But have noticed
that God makes Especial way for orphans
You would not have been half the mar
you are il you had not been obliged from
your early days to fight your own bat
ties What other boys got cut Of Yal,
or Harvard you cot in the university o
Hard Knocks. Go among successful
merchants, lawyers, physicians and mel
of all occupations and professions, ant
there are many of them who will tel
you: "Atten or twelve, or fifteen year
OF age I started for mysclf; father wa
sick, or father was dead" But some
how they got through and got up.
account for it by the fact that there is
special dispensation of God for orphan
All hail, thefetherless and the mother
less! Tho Lord Almighty will see 20,
through. Early obstacles for Mr.. Grad,
were only the means for development O
his intellect and heart. And 10! wha,
at 80 years Of age he put down his pei
and closed his lips for the perpetual 81
lance, he had done q work which man,
man who lives on to sixty and sevent
and eighty years never accomplished