The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1890-03-07
wHENRY w. GRADY
An Eloquent Memorial Ser.
mon Preached by DR..
Talmage.
He Reviews the Life Of the
Great Orator and
Editor.

The subject OF DIR. Talmage's sermon was
1.-THE Life and Death OF Henry W. Grady, the
Editor and Orator" He took 70: his text
isaiah viii, L: Take thee great roll, and
write in it with mans pen." The preacher
said:
To Isaiah, with royal blood in his veins and
a hsbitant of palaces, does this devine order
come. He is to take a roll great roll, and
write on it with a pen, not an angels pen, but
a mans pen So God honorcd the pen, and
90 he honored manuscript. In our day the
migA Hest roll is in the religious and secular
newspaper. and the mightiest pen is the edi-
tor 8 pen, whether for good or evil. And God
says now to every literary man, and especial
iy to every journalist: Take great roll
and write in it with man pen."
Within few weeks one of the strongest,
most vivid and most brilliant of those pens
was laid down on the editorial desk in At
Ianta, never again to be resumed. l was far
away at the time. We had been sailing up
from the Mediterranean 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 done
so many picturesque things with islands.
They are somewhat like the Thousand Isl
ands of our American St. Lawrence but
morelike heaven. Indeed, we had just passed
Patmos, the place from which John had his
apocalyptic Vision. Constantinople had
eeemed to come out to greet us, for your APP
proach to that city il different from any
other city. Other cities you approach
rthem seem to retire, hut this city, with its
gathering minarets and pinnacles, seem al
most to step into the water to greet you.
Bot ny landing there, that would have been
80 me an exhilaration, was suddenly stunned
with the tidings of the death of my intimate
friend, Henry W. Grady. l could hardly be-
1ieve the tidings, for had left on my study
table at home letters and kilograms from
him. those letters and kilograms having q
warmth and geniality and Wit such as he
only could express. The departure of no
public man for SO many years has so affected
me. For days walked about as in dream.
aad resolved that, getting home. / would
4or the sake of his beSeaved 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 word i'll appreciation of him.
the most promising OF Americans, and learn
come 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 60 far in advance of his time without
making enemies, some because he defeated
their projects and some because he outshone
them. Owls and bats never did like tho rising
III. y
fme. and am glad that told him while he
was in full health what thought of him.
Memorial orations and gravestone epitaphs
sars 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 gar
land for living brow is worth more than
monument of japonicas and Gala lilies heaped
on a funeral casket. by a little black volume
0f5O pages containing the eulogiums and
poems uttered and written at the demise Of
Clay and Webster and Calhoun and Lincoln
and Sumner, tie world tried to pay for the
20 years of obloquy it heaped upon those
living giants. If say nothing in praise of a
man while he lives | will keep silent when he
Us dead: Myrtle and weeping willow can new
'er do what ought to have been done by anna
rsuth and palm branch. No amount of
~-Dead March in Saul'' rumblng from big
organs at the obsequies can atone for nom
appreciation Of the man before he fell Oh
sleep. The hearse cannot do what ought to
ffav% been done by chariot. But there are
iamportant things that need to be said about
cur friend, who was a prophet in American
journalism and who only few years ago
heard the command Of my text: "Take thee
n great roll, and write in it with q mans
pen.'
His father dead, Henry W. Grady, a boy IA
years of age took up the battle of life. 1t
would require a long chapter to record the
When God takes away the head of the house
hold lie very often gives to some lad in that
household a special qualification. Christ
remembers how that his own father died
early, leaving him to support himself and
his mother and his brothers in the carpenters
shop at Nazareth. and he is in sympathy with
all boys and all young men il the struggle.
You say: "Oh, ifmy father had only lived
L would have better education and would
have had q more promising start, and there
ARE some wrinkles on my brow that would
not have been there" But / have noticed
that God makes special way tor orphans.
You would not have been half the man you
are if you had not been obliged from your
early days to fight your own battles. What
other boys got out of Yale and Harvard you
got in the University Of Hard Knocks. Go
among successful merchants, lawyers ply
,sicnns and men of all occupations and pro-
tessiuns, and there are many of them who
age started for myself; father was sick, or
father was dead" But somehow they got
through and got up. l account for it by the
fact that there is q special dispensation OF
God for orphans. All hail, the fatherless
and motherless! The Lord Almighty will
.,see you through Early obstacles Tor Mr..
Grady were only the means for development
az his intellect and heart. And 10! when at
80 years OF age he put down his pen and
closed his lips for the perpetual silence. He
/. had done work which many man who lives
ON to 60 and 70 and 80 years never accom-
,plishes. There ia great deal Of senseless
praise of longevity, as though it were won
.derful achievement to live q good while. All.
my friends, it is not how long we live, but how
we'll We live and how usefully we live. man
who lives to 80 years and accomplishes moth
ing for God or humanity might better have
never lived at all. Methusaleh lived 900
years, and what did it amount to? In all
those more than nine centuries he did not &C.
.eomplish anything that seemed werth record.
P&ui lived only a little moro than so, but
how many Methusalehs would it take to
make one Paul? Who would not rather
have Paul's 60 years than Methusaleh's 969?
Robert McCheyne died at 80 years OF age,
and John summerfeld at p years OF age,
but neither earth nor heaven will ever hear
the end of their usefulness. Longevity
Why, IN elephant can beat you at that, for
1t lives $50 and 200 years. Gray hairs are
.the blossoms of the tree of lie if found in the
way of righteousness, but the frosts of the
second death if found in the way of sin.
One of our able NewYork journals last