Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1891-07-02
BEECHER IN BRONZE.
Unwilling Of the Statue of Henry
Ward Beecher in Brooklyn.
An Immense ConcOurse of People Wit
ness the Ceremonies-The Grafton
Delivered by DIR. Seth Low,
Ex-Mayor of Brooklyn.

\,
of the statue of Henry Ward Beecher
on the city hall square was an event
of great public interest. The speakers
platform was at the westerly end of the
city hall steps, directly opposite the
statue. Back of this, on the city hall
steps. was n platform filled with the
committee in charge of the matter,
members of Mr. Beecher's family. the
city and county officials, judges of the
courts and prominent public men. A
large space on the Court street
side of the city hall park
was reserved for subscribers to
the statue fund. The members
of the Thirteenth regiment, of which
Mr.. Beecher was chaplain, and the vet
Grams of the SixtySeventh New York
volunteers, in which Mr.. Beecher's son,
Col Henry Il. Beecher, went to the
war, were grouped in the park back of
the statue with band, and at the left
of the statue were 800 Sunday school
children of Plymouth church, and its
missions, selected to sing. The greater
part of the city hall steps and the Full
Ton street side of the square was open
to the public. The city hall was elab-
orately decorated.
The exercises opened with prayer
by Rev. 5. X. Halliday, long Mr..
Beechers assistant in Plymouth church.
DR.. Charles III. Hall, chairman of the
Beecher memorial committee, intro
duced Mayor Chaplin as the presiding
officer. Before the speeches the statue
was unveiled by grandchild of Mr..
Beecher, Gertrude Roxana Beecher,
five years old, daughter of William c.
Beecher. The sculptor, ]. Q. A. Ward,
led her to the statue and placed the
lines in her hand. While the unwilling
took place the Sunday-schOol children
sang ''Beecher," led by the band.
DIR. Hall made the formal presenta-
ton of the statue to the city, and it
was accepted by Mayor Chaplin, who
turned it over 10 the care of the park
department, represented by President
George V. Brewer. The band then
played the adagio from Beethoven's
fifth symphony, and Dr. Seth Low, ex-
mayor of Brooklyn, and president of
Columbia college, delivered the Grafton.
He said:
brooklyn has poured forth her muItitudes
day to unvel the familiar form and feat
ures of Henry Ward Beecher. Every man
must have his home in some one place, but
the great men of the earth overleap all
boundaries and become the fellow citizens
of all men Such man was Henry Ward
Beecher From this city he swayed the
minds and hearts of men in vast multitudes
for forty years. From this center his words
traversed land and sea, carrying inspiration.
comfort, courage and something of the
Utilization which freedom brings wherever
they were borne on the four winds.
After an interesting review of Mr..
RannhorsS ha tnr o0rfinnal.
AFR. Beecher was great orator, but he was
able to be the great orator he was because
first of all. he was a great man. He pro-
claimed truth as he it with the con-
vincing earnestness of a great and unselfish
nature. He had gift of utterance such as
humor and tender pathos that
enabled him to draw at will the
smile or the tear; he had intellect
capable of high thinking and sustained ef
fort, bat not any nor all of these made him
the orator he 1t was the brave, true
spirit of the man. using all of these faculties
an turn. that made him the greatest popular
orator of his day. No characteristic was
more prominent than his Astounding and de-
Iightful humor. He used his humor both as
a weapon of offense and as a shelter from
che storm Like Abraham Lincoln he
took refuge behind it in times
of anxiety and trouble. With it
he dealt some of his most effect
complained sometimes that he used it mop
portunely, but his own conception of it was
POLITICALLY expressed in one of his own say
ings:
Every bell which God has hung in my bel
try shall ring"
In later life he added to the active suscep-
Utilities of his nature the experience of a
bitter and searching trouble. In the midst
of his trouble no man ever heard him speak
I'm kindly of another. He came through it,
sG4l b. ffnri s,,No
larger sympathy than ever with his fellow
men. When he died, not alone his own
church, but five other churches in thi g
city were filled with those who gathered TO
express their sense of loss in his death and
to do honor to his memory. The legislature
of the state adjourned for the first time in
it's history in honor of a private citizen. The
tribute was as unique as the man. 1t was
the spontaneous xpression of the popular
feeling and the recognition on the part of
the community and the state that great
and good man had gone from among them.
What then shall this statue mean? To
those who shall come after us, to
whom the name of Henry Ward Beecher
win be only an historic name, let it
signify that the people enshrine in their
hearts those who are sincerely and truly
their friends; that courage in good cause,
however it may provoke antagonism, IS GER
tain at last to be commended of all men Let
it signify that a man who would be infuen
tiai with his fellows must enter into the
living sympathy with them; that this does
not mean catering to prejudice nor saying
only smooth things. but that it means serV-
ing the people, through good report and
through evil report with every power that
one has. The sculptor has preserved for us
the form and figure of Mr.. Beecher in i'm
perishable bronze. 1t remains for you ana
me to transmute into life those principles
which he demonstrated could make a char
acter SO noble.
After this America" was sung, and
Rabbi Gustav Gottheil, of Temple
Emanuel, New York, pronounced the
benediction.
The statue is of bronze, of heroic
size, and stands upon a Quincy granite
pedestal, suitably inscribed. 1t repre-
Sents Mr.. Beecher with his head bare
and his hat in his hand, wearing
a cape overcoat and an ordinary
suit of clothing, and standing in
a firm. erect position. The pose was
chosen from photograph which the
family regard as the best ever taken of
him The face is somewhat idealized,
but much of the characteristic express
sion of Mr.. Beecher has been preserved
There are three auxiliary figures placed
about the pedestal. On the right is the
life-size figure of a young woman. rep
resenting victim of African slavery,
laying a palm branch at the feet of the
man who did so much to secure
emancipation. On the other side are
two life-size figures of children. One
is a how. who has thrown his coat on