St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-02-11
THE PASSING PIONEER.

Observation-Disclosures cit
liens who have filled large place in
the history Of orr state. called close to-
gether to cross over into the silent be-
yond. The news of their death has
been printed; the story of their lives
conned by the careless newspaper read
er; the sods are waiting to grow green,
the flowers pausing to blossom above
all that Is earthly of three of the most
familiar figures among Minnesota's pi-
Oneer citizens.
Working through physical laws. Deity
is as just, as merciful as III the domain
of the spirit. ''Sald L not unto thee,
Hassan, that the grain should not be
garnered even until the strongest stems
had waxed golden?" In the field of
human action. how strong were these
three. How firm, upright and unyield-
ing they stood against the scurryIng
whirlwiDds of passion and hate; how
easily swayed was each by the touch
OF friendship, the whisperings of SYM
pathy. the gentle appeal of the weak
and helpless.
Let us rejoice that many of the pio-
neers are still with US; and yet who
shall fill the places of these three?
There was no similarity in the charac-
tiers of these men, Each one of them
represented a distinct type. and each
filled place in tine building of the
commemorative foundation that could
have been filled by no other man.
1t Is only few days ago that the
statue Of Gen. James Shields was un-
yelled in the Pantheon of the nation at
Washington. Gen. Shields and Henry
M. Rice were elected at the same session
of the legislature to be the first United
States senators Of the new state of Min
nesota. Mr.. Rice drew the long term.
Gen. Shields was succeeded in 1860 by
Morton S. Wilkinson. In 1861 the storm
of civil war broke over our devoted
country. and Rice and Wilkinson-who
can doubt providentially there-seryed
their state and country as two
of the most distinguished and pa
triotic among the nations war SEN
atorS. During that long and weary
struggle President Lincoln learned to
trust both of these men as untiinchiug
patriots. Mr. Rice had been elected
senator as Democrat. and Democrat
he remained, although always faithful
to the cause of the Union and loyal to
the powers constitutioDalIy chosen to
execute the laws. 1t was to the example
of Democrats like Henry M. Rice that
the people of today owe the restora-
ton of the Union. So far as the ques-
lions concerning the legality and JUS
tice of the war were commemorative
voting of supplies and providing ways
and means - there were none more
ready, more devoted than Mr.. Rice and
his Democratic colleagues. And yet,
they remained Democrats throughout
the struggle, Mr.. Rice retiring at the
end of his term because he refused to
sacrifice principle to policy.
Mr.. Wilkinson was in the prime of
life in 1861. Able, aggressive. uncom-
promising, he was one of the list of
answering patriots who led the Repub-
llcan party in that stormy period when
Republicanism meant something more
than being the subservient tool OF or
ganiZed capital. He was the warm
friend of President Lincoln, and one of
his confidential advisers. Bold, out
spoken. courageous, patriotic, he at one
time seriously considered whether it
was not his duty to resign his seat in
the senate and offer his personal serv-
ices in the field. The advice of Presi-
dent Lincoln prevented this. "There is
an abundance of material for soldiers"
he said, but not all overplus of patriotic
statesmen" and Mr.. Wilkinson con-
tinued to occupy his senatorial seat.
DR.. Murphy, though hardly in any
sense public man, was doubtless more
widely known than either of the others.
For nearly half century he was the
favored friend and counselor in thou
sands of homes. He possessed every
known element to inspire confidence
and provoke affection. In his military
career he was never al officer in the
estimation Of the enlisted men, but
simply an elder brother who devoted
his time and energies to healing them in
sickness or wounds, III comforting them
in distress, in chatting them back to
manhood and effort in moments of dis
enlargement. Aud thus he continued
until death found the vulnerable spot
in the armOr of his own heroic life, and
babe him. too, to join the ranks of the
grand army of silence.
All there different, yet all alike in
lives of honorable and useful effort
lives not always free from error or
mistakes. perhaps, but their shortcom-
ings venal and easy to be pardoned be-
cause of the yirile and masculine virtues
that were behind every lapse from the
highest standard.
They did not live too long. The
straw that held the bearded head of
grain was golden. but not brown ana
bent or broken. Their intellectual fac
ulties were ripe, butthe physical frames