The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-02-22
A NOBLE EXAMPLE.

The second volume of the "Orations of
George William Curtis" has just appeared
with an introduction by Charles Eliot Nor
ton. 1t Is a work which should take place
among the class books of every college In
the country for the education of young
men, not in letters. but in manhood. With
every attribute of scholarship at his COM
msnd, graceful and stately writer, a mas
ter of eloquence and the witchery of lam
guage, Curtis set the duties of citizenship
above the triumpbs of letters, and subor-
diDated the scholar to the man.
The crucial agony of the anti-slavery
conflict found him one of the most popular
writer's and speakers of the day. lie was
towering over Hawthorne as a novelist,
above Lowell as a philosopher, above
Everett as an orator. That he would
presently be the most conspicuous figure
In American literature was manifest But
to reach this goal it was necessary that he
should conciliate all sorts and conditions
of men. that he should elude criticism and
avoid points of controversy. To secure bis
recognition as the foremost OF American
scholars he would have had to keep his
mouth shut on questions which stirred
mems blood. Edward Everett and Donald
Mitchell stood out like beacons on the
path of safety. What George Curtis felt
in that crisis be afterward expressed in
his address to the students of Wesleyan
University:
Would you have counted him a friend of
Greece who quietly discussed the abstract
nature of patriotism on that Greek summer
day through whose hopeless and immortal
hours LeonlJas and his SOC stood at Their
mopyl8 for liberty? And to-day, as the
scholar meditates that deed, the air that steals
in at his window darkens his study and suffo-
Gates him as he reads.
With a courage which counted nc cost
be took his fame and his fortune in his
hand and plunged into the fight where
conscience led. There were those who,
admiriDg his genius. deplored his rsshness
and pointed out to him that John Quincy
Adams, when he returned from Washing
ton, having broken the first lance for
human freedom, was cut by the best fami-
lies in Boston and robbed Of his business.
A hot flush came to the manly check, and
he asked, MAY not man pay too high
price for money!"
1t is for this manhood, and not for his
rounded periods. or his graceful style,
or his oetic thought. that posterity will
rank Curtis among the great men who
were evolved by the Civil War. He surveyed
out for himself path which the citizen
should tread; he trod it without once
asking himself whether his footsteps
would cost him friends. or social standing,
or money. He asked the approval of his
own conscience-nothing more. This was
the priceless service which he rendered to
the young men of his day-to teach them
that there was something higher and
better than business success. or the favor
of the great; that trucking TO error
and prejudice was disgraceful; and that
nothing would for an instant compare
with faith to honor and duty. He was the
lineal successor of the old knight who
went into battle gayly with his lady loves
ribbon at his lancehead, singing, What
care l II death be nigh? die for love
and duty"
Such chivalrous natures are the more
highly 10 be priced. as the tendency of the
age is to cringe and fawn and face both
ways for the sake of present gain. Young
men are brought up by their fathers to set
a paddock on their mouths for fear they
should denounce crime. to acquiesce in
infamy for fear of offending some one.
Under such tuition they ripen into poor
paItry creatures, whose backbone is al
ways wOhbling. and whose lips. like Mr..
EVerett's, acquire an involuntary habit of
quivering. For them there is no future.
Read the page of history. Its heroes date
their rise from the hour when they had
the courage to tell the truth when it was
unpopular, when they took their destiny
by the throat. ready to fling it to the winds
If 1t could only be accomplished by a sac
rifce of manhood. Such was the exper-
fence of George William Curtis. Liy-
ing. he won the reward of universal
respect and honor and serene life. Now
that he is gone. he will be entbroned
among the noble examples Of whom the
age alasl has moi hpen nrnd ioal