Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1891-07-10
A GREAT GERMAN.
Count Won Moltke the Famous
Soldier and Patriot.
Brief Review OF His Grand Life OF Four
Score Years and Ten and His ServiceS
to His Countrywide Secret OF
His Longevity.

rev and evil, even at their longest
and their best, are the days of mortal
ll1e.' SO in effect, says the Saturday
Evening Herald, sang the patriarch
JOB, twenty centuries before the advent
OF Christ; and the world is singing that
same song to-day. Few at best, even
If they should stretch out to three score
years and tenl Life looks long in the
morning, but when the shadows gather
and the day declines how speedily the
hours seem to have fled! Seventy years
looks long, long time, viewed from
the sunny hillside of early youth. But
the days of seventy years are all too
lew for the great purposes that crowd
and throng the busy ways of life; and
how few there are who ever reach this
far away goal! To the overwhelming
majority the days are few indeed, and
to very many it would seem as if they
were almost as full of evil as of good.
All the world, and Germany especially,
has just had its attention called to a
very remarkable man, whose days have
run in parallel lines with this eventful
century. Gen. Count Won Moltke was
born in the year 1900. It was his rare
lot to bear the staff of pilgrimage for
four score years and ten! If a faithful
record of this great Germans life could
be made; record of facts, of thoughts,
OF feelings; a record of observations as
we'll as experiences, of defeats as well
as Vlctories;' true life of the man and
OF his TING, what an invaluable treas
ure it would be! 1t would be history
OF, the century from a German stand
point, from a great soldiers point
OF view. There are some things
about this grim old soldier worth
passing thought at least. He
is regarded-by all Germans, of
course, and by many who are
not Germans, as the greatest soldier of
this century. None will deny that his
ability, his sagacity and his success
make sweeping mark in the military
history of the time. When he fought,
he fought to win, and he generally did
win. But this is to be said in his honor
that he did not delight in war, and that
as far as possible he sought to keep
peace amongst the nations of the earth.
When war became q necessity, and he
believed it was often necessity, then
he wanted it to he short, sharp and de-
cisive. He was oftener inclined tC
"hold' than to 'let slip" the dogs OF
war. There would have been more
wars and more disastrous wars this CEN
tury If it had not been for the restrain
ing policy of Gen. Won Moltke As
patriot, disciplinarian and
leader he ranks with the Duke of
Wellington and. with our Washing
ton, our Grant and Logan. His great
est work was done in his maturer,
aga. He was scarcely known outside
OF Prussia till he was more than sixty
years old. The hardest and best work
OF his life was done when he had passed
the three score years ana ten. Up to
August, 1888, when he resigned the of
fice of chief of staff, he did all the rou-
tine work that office demanded. Gen.
Won Moltke was indeed a grand old man.
bismarck will miss him sorely, and now
that his emperor is no more for
William can hardly be called Bis
marck's emperor-and his old comrade
In arms is gone, he too will soon "'gin
to be aweary o. the sun" Not long ago
an American physician wrote to most
OF the notable octogenarians and asked
the secret of their longevity. MoltlSe's
letter was long and characteristic. All
OF Importance was crowded into the
last paragraph which we herewith
quote, and so close our notice of the
grand old German soldier.
III asked to name tho factors which In nv
opinion have contributed most to my grout lon.
gevity. should say they are: First, tcmper-
ance In nll tho nfIGirs Of life; second, exercise
In the open air daily under oil circumstances
without regard to the inclcmoncy of tho wcath-
rqrrtI Fr- i, d.
clGt and all MY other habits; last--and suovo
ALTO the graco, mercy nnd g. iness OF Him
who 30 wisely ana benencently rules the uui.
verse;"