Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1891-10-23
H. w. GRADY

Atlantic the other day, the follow.
ing is trom tliat of Henry Waiter.
son:
Tho conveyance of Gods message
of peace to America, VAS tittingly
reserved for the coming of one so
yohhg in feeling, yet so old in wis
dom, so gentle, yet no brave, so like
a child, yet so truly a man. He was
sent direct from. Heaven, bringing
with him it's light aud the touch OF
angels impressed upon tho sensi-
bilities of his countrymen, lie was
taken away, leaving only n blessed
memory. 1t was not for his radi-
ant spirit to bc contaminated by
long contact with the uncleun things
aud sad realities of this world; and,
his commission OF "good will to
men, accomplished, he was called
back to the bosom of his Maker.
His appointed work was done. His
race wns won. His career was com.
plete.
Hs pleaded, as no other, for the
past, the present and tho future.
He stood, as it were, midway be.
tween the two generations; and was
ut once type of the good that had
been and n sign of the good that
might be. From him the South
hoard the voice of it's best beloved,
speaking for millions who could not
speak for themselves. In him tile
North saw a promise and hope,
which it was unable to see in party
leaders, whose utterance was often
identified with political interest and
contention, and whose motives
were, therefore, always distrustcd.
Even tho open-hearted and broad
minded appeals of Lamar and n
Hill cane short Ct the mark and
fell outside the breastworks of sec-
tlonal passion. Grady took up tho
wondrOus tale of valor, travail and
despair; aud, by the magic of his
presence and his words subdued
the genius of war, whilst he vital
lzed its heroes; the legions of Lee
lived again, but no longer in mar.
tlal array; the camps of Stonewall
Jackson shone anew, but on fame's
eternal camping grounds; and back
OF all were pictured the living, allied
to the dead in glory and in griet,
but Christian mon and women, still
loving their dead and true to them.
yet loving their country, and true
to it. The spell Of prejudice was
broken. On both sides the unrec,
onciled listened; and, % passage
once made for truth, the North be-
gan to realize equally with the
South the need of something more
than Justice, and to rejoice in n
rivalry of generous concession.
1t is easy now for all of us to ioin
in this. Grant and Lee, and Sher
man and Johnston, and Grady,com-
rades at last in Immortality, walk
together amid the light of the per-
feet day, and, in a little while, the
rest of us whom the war divided
will he immortal. too, aud know the
truth. The ark of the covenant is
restored; the flag of tho Union
waves on nigh. Esto Perpetua H.
was politicians war. It is peo-
ple's peace. Let the North and the
South alike rejoice and give thanks
to God, sure that the final verdict
will not be political or sectional
verdict; because it will be register
ed in Heaven, where all is made
right, that so puzzles us here. In
the meanwhile, let him be esteemed
the best American who least re.
members sectional bitterness, let
sectionalism be expunged from the
dictionaries; let it be blotted from
the Biographies; SO that the living
may do their duty to their country
and the dead, and the purpose and
the glory of the fathers may be full
filed