Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1890-02-28

ana platform anu all hpplOhShes W the puiiu-
ing were, as usual thronged at the preaching
service OF the Rev. T. De Witt Talmage, d.
D., today. Many hundreds of persons did
not gain admittanco. After an exposition by
DIR. Talmage of passages of Scripture de-
scriptive of the influence of the pen, James
Montgomery's hymn was sung;
who are these in bright array,
This innumerable throng
Round the altar night and day
Tuning one triumphant songl
The subject of DR.. Talmaga's sermon was
1.-THE Life and Death of Henry w. Grady,
the Editor and Orator" He took for his text
Isaiah viii, /; Take thee a great roll, and
write in it with mans pen" The preacher
said:
To Isaiah, with royal blood in his veins and
a habitaut of palaces, does this divine order
come. He is to take u roll, large roll, and
write on it with pen, not an angels pen, but
a mans pen. So God honored the pen and so
he honored manuscript In our day the
mightiest roll is the religious and secular
newspaper and the mightiest pen is the ed
itor's pen, whether for good or evil. And
God says now to every literary man and espe-
cially to every journalist: Take thee great
roll, and write in it with mans pen"
Within a few weeks one of the strongest,
most vivid and most brilliant of those pens
was laid down ON the editorial desk in Allan
ia, never again to be resumed. | was far
away at the time. We had been sailing up
from the Mediterranean sea, through the
DardGnclles, which region is unlike anything
! ever saw for beauty. There is not 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
heaven. Indeed, we had just passed Patmos,
the place from which John had his apocalyp-
tic vision. Constantinope had seemed to
come out to greet us, for your approach to
that city is different from any other city.
Other cities as you approach them seem to
retire, but this city, with its glittering nina
rets and pinnaces, seems almost to step into
the water to greet you. But my landing
there, that would have been to me
an exhilaration, was suddenly stunned
with the tidings of the death of
my intimate friend, Henry w. Grady.
! could hardly believe the tidings
for l had left on my study table at home let
tiers and kilograms from him, those letters
and kilograms having warmth and genality
and wit such as he only could express. The
departure of no public man for many years
has SO affected me. For days | walked about
as in a dream, and | resolved that, getting
home, would, for the sake of his bereaved
household and for the sake Of his bereaved
profession and for the sake of what he had
been to me and shall continue to be as long as
memory lasts | would speak a word in APP
probation of him. the most promising of
Americans, and learn some of the salient les
sons of his departure.
SPEAK WELL OF THE LIVING ALSO.
| have no doubt that he had enemies, for
no man can live such an active life as he
lived or be so far in advance of his time with
out making euelnies-some because he defeat
ed their projects and some because he out
shone them. Owls and bats never did like
the rising sun But shall tell you how he
appeared to ME, and | am glad that told
him while he was in full health what
thought of him. Memorial oratons and
GravcstOne eptaphs are often mean enough,
for they say of a man after he is dead that
which ought to have been said of him while
living. One garland for u living brow i:
worth more than mountain of japonica>
and Gala lilies heaped funeral casiet
BY little black volume of fifty pages, con
tanning the eulogiums and poems uttered and
written at the demise of Clay and Webster
and Calhoun and Lincoln and Sumner, tn,
guy it heaped upon those living giants. If say
nothing in praise of man while he lives
will keep silent when he is dead. Myrtle ant
weeping willow can never do what ought L
have been done by amaranth and palm
branch. No amount Of Dead March il
Sauln rumbling from big organs at the obse
quies can atone for on-appreciation of tnt
man before he fell on sleep The hearse can
not do what ought to have been done by
chariot. But there are important thing
that need to be said about our friend, whc
was prophet in American journalism anC
who only u few years ago heard the com
mand Of my text: Take thee n great roll
and write in it with mans pen"
His father dead Henry W. Grady, boz
fourteen years of age, took up the battle of life
1t would require a long chapter to record tn
names of orphans who have come to the top
When God takes away tho head of the house
hold he very often gives TO some lad in tina
household a special qualification. Chris
remembers how that his own father die
early, leaving him to support himself an
hls mother and his brothers in the carper
tors shop at Nazareth, and he is in sympath
with all boys ana all young men in til
Struggle. You say: "Oh, if my 6ther ha
only lived would have had better educi
tiIu, and | would have had a more prom
isng start, and there are some wrinkles o
my brow that would not have been there.
Bat have noticed that God makes a specie
way for orphans, You would not hay
been half the man you are if you had nc
been obliged from your early days
fight your own battles. What othe
boys got ont of Yale or Harvar
YOU got III the University Of Hard Knock
Go among successful merchants, lawyer
physicians and men Of all occupations ali
professions, and there are many Of them WI
will tell you, AT ten, or twelve, or flftee
years of age, started for myself father wa
sick, or father was dead" But somehow the
got through and got up. l account for it
the fact that there is special dispensation
God for orphans. All hail, the fatherless an
the motheress The Lord Almighty will 5,
you through. Early obstacles for Mr.. Grad
were only the means for development of h
intellect and heart And lol when at thirt
nine years Of age he put down his pen ar
closed his lips for the perpetual silence,
had done a work which many a man wi
lives on to sixty and seventy and eighty yea
never accomplishes.
GREAT WORK OF SHORT LIVED MEN.
rTnt.. =, Il col Of Cal.