The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1890-03-12
THE PEN.
Words Of Wisdom Brought Down
Through Centuries BY 1t,
Conveying Messages of Light, Liberty ana
Kindness to tho Life and
Death OF Heniy W. Grady, by Rev. T.
Dewitt Talmage, ID. -.

Dewitt Talmaee, ID. ID
The great Academy OF Music, its main
floors and its two galleries and plat
form and all approaches to tho building
were, as usual, thronged at the preach
ing service of Rev. Il. Dewitt Talmage,
D. D., last Sunday. Many hundreds OF
persons did not gain admittancc.
The subject Of DR.. Talmage's sermon
was: "The Life and Death Of Henry
W. Grady, the Editor and Orator" He
took for his text, Isaiah viii, 1: Take
thee great roll, and write in it with
mans PEN" The preacher said:
To Isaiah, with royal blood in his
veins and habitant of palaces, does
this divine order come. He is to take
roll, large roll, and write on 1t with
pen, not an angels pen, but mans
pen. So God honored the pen, and so
IIo honored manuscript. In our day
the mightiest roll is the religious and
secular newspaper, and the mightiest
,cn is the editors pen, whether for good
or evil. And God says now to every lit
erary man, and especially to every jour-
nalist: sect thee great roll and write
in it with mans PEN"
Within fow weeks one OF tho strong
est, most vivid and most brilliant OF
those pens was laid down on the editorial
desk in Atlanta, never again to be re-
Sumed. was far away at the time. we
had been sailing up from the Medlter-
ranean Sea. through the Dardanelles.
which region is unlike any thing ever
saw for beauty. There is not any other
water scenery on, earth where God has
1one 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
apocalyptic vision. Constantinople had
seemed to come out to greet us, for your
approach to that city IS different from
any other city. Other cities as you APP
proach them seem to retire. but this
city, with its glittcring minareta and
pinnacles, seems almost to step into the
water to greet you. But my landing
there, that would have been to me an
exhiliaration, was suddenly stunned
with the tidings of the death Of my in
Innate friend, Henry w. Grady. could
hardly believe tho tidings, for had left
on my study table at home letters and
kilograms from him, those letters and
kilograms having warmth and genial
ity and a Wit such as he only could ex'
press. The departure OF no public man
for many years has so affected me. Fol
days I walked about as in dream, and
resolved that, getting homo, would, fol
the sake of his bereaved household, and
for the sake of his bereaved profession,
and for the sake of what he had been tC
me and shall continue to be as long as
memory lasts, would speak word Of
appreciation of him, the most promis
ing of Americans, and learn some of the
salient lessons Of his departure.
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 without making enemies, some be
cause he defeated their projects, and
some because he outshone them. Owls
and bats never did like the rising sun
But l shall tell you how he appeared t.
me, and l am glad that l told him while
he was in full health what thought o
him. Memorial orations and gravestont
n~tfn,,hc nftnn annnuh fn
they say of man after he is dead tina
which ought to have been said of hin
while living. One garland for living
brow is worth more than mountain o
iaponicas and Gala lilies heavcd on
funeral casket. BY little blacl
volume of fifty pages containing
the eulogiums and poems uttered ant
| written at the demise of Clay ant
| Webster and Calhoun and Lincoln ant
Sumner, the world tried to pay for thu
Forty years of obloquy it heaped upol
those living giants If say nothing il
praise of q man while he lives ! vii
keep silent when he is dead. Myrtl
and weeping willow can never do wha
ought to have been done by amarantl
and palm branch. No amount of "Dea,
March in Saul" rumbling from big or
gaus at obsequies can atone for non-aI
probation of the man before he fell o,
sleep. The hearse can not do what ough
to have been done by chariot. But ther
are important things that need to be SAT-
about our friend, who was a prophet i
American journalism, and who only
few years ago heard the command of m
text: Take thee great roll, and writ
in it with mans PEN"
His father dead, Henry w. Grady,
boy fourteen years of age, took up tn
battle of life. 1t would require lon,
chapter to record the names of orphan
who have come to the top. When CO.
takes away the head of tho househol,
he very often gives some lad in tina
household special qualification.
Christ remembers how that His owl
father died early, leaving Him to SUP
port Himself and His mother and Hi
brothers in the carpenters shop at MAJ
areth, and He is in sympathy with al
boys and all young men in the struggle
You say: ''Oh, if my father had onl
lived ! would have had better educa
ton, and would have had a more prom
Using start, and there are some wrinkle
on my brow that would not have bee
there" But I have noticed that Go
makes special way for orphans. Yo
would not have been half the man 70
are if you had not been oblige
from your early days to fight you
own battles. What other boys got on
of Yale or Harvard you got in tn
University of Hard Knocks. Go anon