The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1892-11-29
AN ELOQUENT TRIBUTE
UPON THE LIFE AND WORK OF
HENRY ". GEADY.
Delivered at Decatur. Texas. by Eloquent
Hon. Joseph Eagle, Before tho North
west Teachers Convention.

Decatur, Texas, November 23.-(Specal
| correspondence - Before the Northwest
/ Texas Teachers Convention here few
days ago Hon. Joe Eagle, one OF the most
! eloquent sons of Texas. delivered an address
! upon the life and work of Henry W Grady.
Ills was Il beautiful life" said Mr.. Ia
gle. He lived among the people he loved
and who loved him i'll return.
! "one cannot contemplate 1t Du. he grows
+ wiser and better, nor follow it but he be-
comes nobler thereby. In the presence Oh
| such nyincible manhood, evil emotions are
! silent and evil thoughts sink within us.
| Before such patriotism, Sclf-loVe pc
! comes IL crime. Before such simplicity, Ell
fcctation becomes dcSpicabc. before Suc!l
/ ardor, languor becomes tame. Before such
! accomplishments. indeclSlon becomes pitld-
bic. Before such Il life our own klleel IN
! homage. Ilis was indeed a lltc-not an
apology.
! Arising above the mists of the valley of
! war days, his life was Il night lhaC hluinI-
mated the dark way that lay before a pros
| trate south-it was no uncertain HGht-h
! was sure and steady.
| With n heart loving the memories OF the
| old south and it's traditions, he yet viewed
! the conditions of the present ana tuHeu
| to the future. l.,
TO a star emerging from afar had shed
! its gentle rays upon n land laying Deneatn
| the ravagcs of war-proStrate but oeauhiui
in her suifering-and shining untli IL III,
! snired hone and high endeayor, mad alded
10 lift this from poverty unto plenty, from
! alienation unto sympathy. from severance
unto union, it went down again INTO the
valley of death :. 1c1o
He was born at Athens, Ga, in 1Soo,
| editor, an orator-above all a chriSuah;
! First. of his personality: 1t is lndeeo
| pleasant to contemplate It, 1T was ships '
as a child's, generous and ardent as i BOY ;,
tender and sympathetic as WOMAN - III Ia
As IN editor he attracted attention when
moro how, He won wide reputation IN
! 1876 when correspondent OF a New io H,h
paper from Florida, during the ACTON % .,ic
returning board. Always ms eoit9Ii i',!Is
read like fact clothed in fancy Henry
Wotterson said of him that he recogniZcu
in him a youngSter who had surpassed ms
| elders in learning and ability. 1T is SAFE
10 say that in the south none equaiieu nlin
evcnnt Wattorson As editor of The Con
sfitution Grady exercised Il Wlde lhhuehce
UPON the country.
Ks an orator none such has been given us
since Prentiss faded from the earth.
Our country has been prolific or orator
NyiGC, it may c..s,s sqid, it to convince .e
Judgment to please the fancy and to move
| Nlc will be lhe province Of the orator, few
| have excelled He to larady
| There was about sis voice no sucn mum
derbolt impressivcness as characterzed
! Haskell: no such daring as Toombs; no such
| aarcasm as Hill. no such digntied and
| l,nirhtjv bearing as Davis; and i'll his man
| ner there was no such splcndn pose DIS
| characterized Houston; no such restless
| energy as Calhoun; such stately mem
| as Webster: but there was IN MS voice an
| earncstnpss that made one doubt that any
! could think otherwise, hqmd sweetness
| like the distant lutte at eventlde, colhprt@
| hensi0n that carried conviction, n posture
| that WAS the perSonatOn of conscious great
| ness: a gesture that only Everett could
| command and pathos that moved to tears.
| His audience thought with nm, 1eit WIN
| him, acted with hlTll-thcy were HIS oec@o0o
In the public life of Grady 1 notice four
| things he stood for: .
I'irst-lndividual liberty and local self
| government
| Second-ProgrcSs.
| Thjr-Anglo-SaNo supremacy.
| Fourth-I1raternity of the American
| people,
Begging your generous sympathy, i pro-
| coed 10 speak of these in their order.
| lie stood for individual liberty and local
! self government.
lie believed that the sovereignty of every
! citizen rested beneath his hat; that the clti-
| zen should depend upon the state Tor MOTH
ing the citizen can do and the STATE up9 }
the nation for nothing tn" state can 10. lie
| believed that the sureSt cure Tor the exist
| iug evils that in many ways threaten cur
| government is the preservation Ill purity on
| the individual home: and that every hearth
| stone should be a temple OIL prayer anu Al
! shrine Of liberty.
He stood for progress.
lie entered life just ut the close OF the
! war. He looked upon land once beautiful
, in its feudal ma9nlilcence, Wheh our men
were lords aud our women prlnccsses-upon
n civilization buiIded with their deucatt
hands more magnificent III its purity as Wen
as its elegance than any other OF modern
or ancient times. But that spendor hao
gone, that light had faded, that scenery
had shifted that curtain had been drawn.
But it's blessed traditions linger even yet
| adown the corridors of the long past
Grady beheld land bearing with patience
her load of sorrow and OF suffering
Out of every home had gone father, broth
er or son to die upon the field of battle.
While those who had reached again the
homes they left smiling in plenty, found
their slaves all free, their stock gone, corn
cribs empty, their financial system III chaos
homes deSOlate everywhere.
But Grady caught gmpses OF better
day He sang the song of hope to his 1el-
lowmen He touched PROSTATE agricult-
ure with the magic OF his pen, and the tar
mer caught in its warm glow the nope or
brighter days, and looked forward to the
time when in the freedom of manly indie
pendence he should behold the harvest
locked i'll the golden sunshine"
ile wrote truck farming i'll Georgia and
today she supplies Il northern market
He wrote OF orange growing i'll FLORIDA,
and wonderful developments have followed.
He wrote Birmingham 5 prospects, and
today she sells iron through Pittsburg into
New York.
He wrote Of cotton factories in Georgia,
and now a large part of her crop is manu-
I featured at home. He spoke of how At
lanta, that Sherman made desolate with his
torch, might rise from her slumber, and
now she is the peer OF the proudeSt.
He set on foot and carried out the Pied
mont exposition, grand i'll conception and
execution.
He aided 10 develop the marble industry
OF Georgia, and today Pickens county has
the largest cuttings III the world.
While to Grady cannot be attributed all
this, still his life was instrumental i'll It's
execution
He viewed with alarm the cncroachments
of foreign capital on the American home
| stead i'll the way of mortgages.
He pointed out to his people the dangerous
tendency to be found in the fact of the over
! growth of the city, and the consequent de-
preston of the country.
| And so, touching every phase of the III
| state and section shall travel toward that
! splendid future of fullest triumph and ulti-
mate glory which it is her destiny to reach.