The Irish standard., 1891-06-06
THE IRISH STANDARD: "a IIRDAY q q Ne 9.
a GRE A ~ GERMAN. q

"a GkEl A1 u vt u I'M y 81
Count Won Moltke the Fam ,ls
Soldier and Patriot s.
Brief Review Of His Grand Life 81 -Four
Score Years and Ten and His Services 81
to His Country The Secret Of
His Longevity. III
s.Few and evil, even at their longest
and their best, are the days Of mortal
life" So in effect, says the Saturday
Evening Herald, sang the patri i arch te;l
Job, twenty centuries before the advent
Of Christ; and the world is singing thai
same song to-day. Few at best, even
if they should stretch out to three score
years and ten! Life looks long IN the
morning, but when the shadows gather.
and the day declines how speedily thu the
hours seem to have fed! Seventy years
looks a. long, long time, viewed from
the sunny hillside of early youth. But
the days Of seventy years are all TOO
few for the great purposes that crowd
and throng the busy ways OF life; ana
how few there are who ever reach this
far away goal! TO the overwhe Ginning
majority the days are few indeed, and
to very many it would seem as it they
were almost as full Of evil as of good.
ALI the world, and Germany especially,
has just had it's 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: a record Of facts, of thoughts,
Of feelings; record Of observations as
well as experiences, of defeats as we'll
as victories; true life of the man and
of his time, what an invaluable treas
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 a necessity, and he
believed it was often necessity, then
he wanted it to be short, sharp and de-
cisive. He was oftener inclined to
s'hold" than to sslet Slip the dogs of
war. There would have been more
wars and more disastrous wars this GEN.
fury If it had not been for the restrain
! ing policy of Gen. Won Moltke. AS
a patriot, disciplinarian and a
leader he ranks with the Duke of
Wellington and with our Washing
ton, our Grant and Logan. His great
est work was done in bis maturer
age. 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
che three score years and ten. Up to
August, 1888, when he resigned the Of
flee of chief of staff, he did all the rou-
tine work that office demanded Gen.
Won Moltke was indeed 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 q the SUM-. Not long ago
an American physician wrote to most
of the notable -octogenarians and asked
the secret Of their longevity. Moltke'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
1T asked to name the factors which In my
opinion have contributed most to my great lon
gevity. I should say they are: First, temper
ance in all the affairs Of life; second, exercise
in the open air daily under all circumstances
without regard to the inclemency Of the wealth
er; third, regularity in my hours OF sleep, my
diet and all my other habits; last-and above
ALTO the grace, mercy and goodness OF Him
who so wisely and benefcently rules the uni
verse >, f-H