Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1891-04-09
SHERMAN AS A WRITER.
He was Original in His Methods and In.
tensely Interesting.

General Sherman was many-sided
man. He had run the entire gamut of
human experience. He had been mer-
chant, banker, lawyer, professor, street
railroad president, traveller, author, orator
and soldier. Wherever he was placed,
his Own individuality was conspicuous and
pronounced. He never failed to be inten-
seIy interesting. His methods were al
ways original, and even when unsuccess-
full they were interesting. He could not
nave been commonplace if he had
tried.
Ills writings were as graphic as Caesar S
Commentaries There was in his sscompo-
sition an elegance of diction seldom found
except in the works of professional au-
thors. He had contributed some of the
finest specimens of rhetoric to be found in
modern books. In his description of the
departure of the troops from Atlanta,
given in his memoirs his style rises to the
sublime.
His letters are all models in their way
Nothing could exceed in grace and touch
ing pathos the reply he wrote to the ofic-
erS Of his old regiment upon the death of
his son:
The child that bore my na me. and IN
whose future | rcposed with more conf
dence than in my own plans of life, floats
IL mere corpse, seeking a grave in dis
tant land, with weeping mother, brother
and sister, clustered about him. But my
Willy was, or thought he was d sergeant
of the thirteenth. | have seen his eyes
brighten and his heart beat as he beheld
the battalion under arms, and asked me
if they were not real soldiers. Child as he
was he had the enthusiasm, the pure love
of truth, honor and love of country,
which should animate all soldiers. God
only knows why he should die so young"
As a soldier the same qualities of style
may be observed in his more serious eff
forts. For instance his reference to the
flag an address made at a banquet to the
veterans:
The prayer that every soldier ought to
breath is that yonder flag should be above
him in life, around him in death. What
is that flag? A bit of bunting, a bubble,
a toy. You can buy it for few shiIlings
at the nearest store. Bnt once rise it as
your standard, and millions will follow it
and die under it. Jesuit it, and whole
nation of patriots will rise up ip defence,
that can be we weighed by the republic. y
AltSI ndVlLS llSiollt1G W u0dl ~ oil VI
General Sherman speeches during the
last six years, have no hesitation in rank
ing him second to no one as an after dim
ner speaker. While the prestige of his
illustrious name intensified the interest
felt in what he said, yet | believe that if
he had appeared at any banquet unhurled
and unknown, and delivered one Of his
characteristic addresses, it would have
been conceded that his speach was the
hit of the evening, He had tie art of
beginning with some epigramic sentence
or harmonious allusiOn to some current
topic, spoken in a way which at once
secured the attention of the audience. He
mingled wit and pathos in happy blend
ing which appealed to al! minds and
touched all hearts. AS eloquence is
only another name for earnestness, his
serious utterances had all the power of
finest oratory. He leaned forward. gesti
culated forcibly with his long right arm,
looked his hearers full in the eyes and
seemed to be speaking into the particular
ears of each individual before him. As
taiker he deserved to be ranked among
the great conyersers of history, and. I'M
like the grifted conversationalists, he
possessed the rare faculty of being good
listener. Even in the midst of one of
his most animated recitals, if some one
interrupted him to add remark, he would
stop, look at him good-naturedIy, and
mold approval. His lips, too, would
often move in union with the speaker S,
as if making time to the music Of his
words.