The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-05-15
SENATOR John ]. INGALLS,.

Dr
! SENATOR JOHN ]. INGALLS,.
name Is John James Ingalls,. He is as
truly a representative Of all that is
aesthetic of people who aspire to an
ideal civilization, as his colleague is an
embodiment of that peoples logical and
! philosophical convictions. If the wife
/ nagemote OF eastern conservatism and of
southern febrile precipitation have
dreaded for the past decade any
one thing more than another it has
been the tongue, impelIed by the
spOntaneity of genius and trained to
the periods of the classics, wagged by
the brilliant son Of the realm
of sunflowers. To alleviate the pain Of
many stings, to soften the feverish men
tai dolour of years, the sufferers named
have at last resOrted to strategy. Fail
ing of a defense, and finding no suffi-
Gent fortress Of protection, they are seek
ing surcease, in a dead run, and by cry
ing in their fight that the wounds with
with which they have been wounded were
made by stolen weapons, and that there
fore the thrusts of the Kansas legionary
do not hurt
A son of the partner of the fiayed
Wabash Hoosier, a mere boy, a babe
and sucking, is made the i'm
potent tool for charging plagiarism
to many of Ingalls, brilliant things.
The Kansas City Times becomes
the muzzle-loaded, touch-hole ordinance
for proprelling this infantile wad of inn
becility into the notice of the world. In
gals panegyric over the body of his dead
friend, Burns. is declared to have been
stolen from Massillion.
Two thousand years ago and more the
wisest of the wise declared that there
was nothing new under the sun. 1t has
been said by sages innumerabIe that a
new thought or a new expression are
among the very rare things to be found
in the utterances of even the greatest.
So far as the corpse is concerned
it makes little difference whether
the messenger of death was the
instrument of friend or foe. The
effect of the result, even, is Ofminor or of
no Importance to sit" If Ingalls, weap-
ons Of Offense are borrowed or stolen he
handles them inimitably and with fatal
precision.
How plain statement. and one whose
simplicity bears truth upon its face,
leaves his assassins disarmed, Inundated
and helpless. On being Intercepted
Mr. Ingalls, settles the whole affair in
these words:
Il was advised several weeks ago that
this publication was to be made and that
the manuscript was for sale at $500. The
price seemed to me to be excessive. In
my youth | began the study of French
without master and in a volume of
exercises found this with other extracts
credited to no one, which | translated
and copied into commonplace book
more than thirty years ago. 1 was struck
by the stately and somber eloqUence. 1t
seemed to me then, as it has always
seemed 10 me since, the most forcible
and impreSSiEe presentation of the
strongest argument in support Of the I'M
mortality of the soul.
i never had the sermons Of Nassillon
in my possession and never read one of
them knowingly, either in the original Or
in translation.
Il have used the same line of thought /
and the language of my paraphrase, a
hundred times. have no doubt. in my
conversation. in speeches and in letters
whenever | have had occasion to dwell
upon the mystery of existence beyond
the grave. and shall continue to do so
whenever occasion serves. The writer
and orator who repeats and preserves /
such thoughts and reScUeS them from
the dusty oblivion of forgotten centuries /
conferS an inestimable benefit upon man
kind. The language Is my own; the
ideas are the priceless heritage and COM .
mon possession of the human race.
My lamented friend Colonel Burnes. /
was a Democrat. in my brief and hum I
bic tribute 10 his memory. which was
delivered at the request of his family, !
endeavored 10 portray his virtues and to
console the bereft by the hope that the
separation was not eternal 1t was a
labor Of love and not for gain of fame. .
His political associates, considering it T.
becoming and appropriate to resort to T.
his grave, which Is green with the .
verdure of returning spring. for the oC-
CasIon 10 cenSure me. l leave them to
the Judgment of the living and the con /
tempt of the dead.