Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1891-06-12

S,n nsparsnt heart, life and purpose q, Genero,
conv Lc NO man ever plowed himself into the
like a,'aS.. VI MS fellows without this Cl1rist
self. The co W pas.ing MS purpose above him
Forst, trusted HIM, and he never failed tI,en,
apa, SIuha.e Is that nation that has snch ~, ~,
fidelity 1i"nnood' patriotism, courage, and
do wie1zens OF Galena, receive this gift. made
tion ~ p1ec,ous ny the sublime life and deyo
have "a o Soansry OF him it represents AS you
M o,lI SO guard and preserve this memnr;eI
Of az I1uhd and about you shall be the prayers
Nor a., the American people, East and West
,, briefly accepting the gift, Mr.. X. H.
nneIleilan' Chairman of the Board of
URN commissioners, introduced Mr.,
nepew' Inc famous after-dinner speak
ei ana brilliant orator was greeted with
ROUNDS OF applause. His speech was as
follows: ~ was e's
~ lily years ago your city numbered among
Lno i man SO modest that he was little
hIa MI ~ INC community merchant SO hum
bi,s; INT ms activities were not felt in your
BUSINESS. Ihree years later lis fame illumine ed
,mer cirIn, ana the calculations of every COM
serprise In the country were based upon the
success or failure of his plans. He was then
SUD sapporsing MS family on thousand dollars
departure from your city he was spending four
millions M day for the preservation Of
ene Union. One of the patriotic meetings,
common at that time ali over the North,
was held !, here to sustain President Lincoln
IN his call for seventy-ive Thousand man To
suppress the rebellion. The ardor and elouuence
o. oohn A. Rawlins SO impressed an auditor
wuon none OF the congressman and prominent
clt1zens on the platform had ever met that he
subsequently made the orator his chief of staff
ana ana Secretary OF War. Some one discovered
thaS Captain Grant, graduate Of West Point
and a veteran OF the Mexican war, lived il this
city. and he was invited to preside ut the for
maGlon OF military company. He was so diff
dent that few heard his speech of three sen
fences. but in that short address was condensed
al the eloquence and logic of the times. "You
Men are needed to preserve the Union. What il
your pleasure?" He organized and drilled that
company and led it to the Governor ut Spring
field. By that march Galena lost citizen and
the republic found its savior.
Grants career will be the paradox of history
Parallels cannot be drawn for him with the
great captains Of the world. Historians, by
Hannibal, Julius Caesar and Napoleon Bona
parte in the front rank But each of them haG
learned the art OF war by continuous service
and unequaled opportunities and displayed the
most brilliant qualities at every period Of theil
achievements. Hannibal and Caesar had wor
80, growing because he had no more worlds tt
conquer, and Napoleon at 81 was master o.
Europe. But Grant at 40 was an obscure leath
er merchant in Galena. As cadet ut West
Point he had risen only just above the middle O.
his class. AS subaltern on the frontier and IL
Mexico he had done no more than perform hit
duty with the courage and capacity of the aver
age West-Pointer.
But the moment that the great Responsible
ties We're thrust upon him and the fate Of his