Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-02-25
had to be done from above, by the winged
! genius of the university

Contrasts of His Life.
'"Then, in the third place. Mr.. Douglass
is TO he CONGRATULATED on the wonderful
contrasts and antithesis of his life. If
We SO on III Lac Psalm from which 1 have
quoted we read: The king sent and loosed
him; even the ruler of the peoples and let
him go free; he made him lord of his
house and ruler of all his substance; to
bind his princes at his pleasure and teach
his senator's wisdom If we except this
prime minister of Pharaoh, perhaps no
man who ever lived ever had such eX-
tremes and vicissitudes of experience 3
Mr.. Douglass There is probably civil
lied lation on earth that has not been
made acquainted with his wonderful story
Perhaps he never saw a prouder day
than when. as United States marshal-an
official once so offensive to the SENSIBLE
lties OF free people, because Of his par
ticipation in the arrest and return OF fu4i-
tive SlaVeS-he accompanied PreSident-elect
Garfield from the Senate chamber to the
platform OF the portico, where he took the
oath of office and delivered his inaugural
address. This was tire who ran away
from the neighborilS state Of Maryland,
whose territory was once the ground on
which the Capitol stood; who had twice
exiled himself from his native land to
escape arrest, first as fugitive slave and
then as in completely with the John Brown
conspiracy; whose friends had actually
paid the sum of $lOl-I have this morning
read the bill of sale again-to purchase his
freedom from bondage, and who now acted
as the representative of the United States
in the moment of transition from term of
one President to that of another.
"And if turn from his public to his
private career. what more striking and
unusual scene ever was introduced into the
lot of man than his visit to his old and
dying master, SO many years after his
escape from bondage? Was there ever an
experience more pathetic? Was there ever
forgiveness more generous? We pray, For
n tn.yi,. hDIag
ors.' This our great Teacher has taught
US. The spirit of forgiveness is the basis
on which we stand before God, who has
SC much to forgive in US; is the spirit
which fits us for the kingdom of heaven.
MIR. Douglass EIoauence.
II come now to the last ground on which
think Mr. Douglass should be congratu-
lated. By many it would be thought of
first. Mr.. Douglass was fortunate in his
endowments an orator. Eloquence is
virtue. This the Germans have taught
That is there must be virtuous character,
genuine truth and manlineSS behind all
eloquent speech. A crafty, deceitful, dis
honest, dishonorable man cannot be an eio-
quent one. He can deceive only the ground
lingS. His eloquence is all a sham and
mockery. Mr. Douglass had commanding
figure, a commanding presence, COM
handing voice. In all these there is lead
erShip. There WAS something more there.
When he rose to his feet, when all au-
dience that disnified and serious. but
kindly face; when they heard that voice,
that venerable and seer-lke aspect, il ar
rested attention and hushed every one to
silence and expectation. Utterance with
him was the cons iderate and judiclous
gathering of great forces; like the gather
ing of a storm in the sky: now and then
distant mutter, then the marshaling of
the winds and the sweeping of the clouds
across the horizon; then the descending
thunderbot and the lightning flash; then
no rolling q n he a & a
the return of the sunshine and the song
of birds and the laughter of children Mr.
Douglass voice was of unequaied depth
and volume and power. And back of all
this great-hearted, generous. forgiv-
ing-natured soul, who feared not the face
of man and believed in the living God.
the proportion of things; never was I'M
duly elated by his successes and achieve
meItts. He was uncompromising in his
opinions, and yet a patient waiter. He had
Sagacious. long patience for the result
when great nan is gone for the first
time we begin to see the space he filled,
as though a mountain peak had been re-
moved from our moral horizon. 1t VIII
take long time to measure the conServa-
tive and yet pros res,ive influence of this
great man. For he was great, and great
in the period of great men. He great
er than his eloquent speech; he was greater
than his life. If You write the history of
the anti-slavery movement he was great
there; it centered III him and around him;
OF the civil war and the reconstruction
period: he was :, 81 to whom Presidents
and Senators, to whom millions of enfran-
chised people looked Tor counsel. He taught
the Senators wisdom. Shakespeare makes
Marc Antony say over the form OF the dead
Caesar: My heart is in the coffin there
with Caesar l know what that means
today. Mc. Douglass had qualities that
won the heart. No younger man could
know him without having for him a rever-
ence that was fiiiaL. And wise will il be
for the young men, whom he tenderly adj
dressed as a father, if they heed his coun-
sels read his life, study his example, live
as he lived.
Douglass. Lincoln and Grant.
"Mr. Douglass was a consistent man.
He had no errauc moods or vagaries.
There We're men. great men, who drew
away from Abrall Lincoln because car
rying upon his shoulders, like Atlas. this
great American world, he seemed to move
slow. They Were lighter loaded and
could dance and cut capers along such a
rugged pathway. But not Frederick Doug
lass. He saw where God was walking on
that field and believed that MrLincoln was
walking with God. There We're men, great
men, who broke with President Grant.
But not Frederick Douglass. He believed
III the man Who had fought the nations
battles through. And of Santo Domingo
he said: Since liberty and equality have be-
come the law Of the land L am for eXue1.d-
ing our dominion whenever and wherever
SUCH extension can peaceably and honOrably
be accomplished a wiser saying today than
when it was uttered. If any man had 4
right to criticise ana break down if he
could the public policy of our great leaders
and executives on the subject of human
freedom it was Mr.. Douglass. But he had
not so learned the duty of a citizen: nor
the art of craftsmanship. Ii was his tc
suggest and counsel and then patiently
wait. Lord Beaconstield has said. Every
thing comes, if a man Will only wait and
Philip II. Time and I against any two
and Mr.. Douglass has often quoted, if he
did not originate, that greater proverb
One with God is always a majority In
that majority he was contented For he
knew that in His time God would
show himself, moving On His great affairs
1t was this that made all his methods
noble. There was no meanneSS in this
man. He did not conspire and intrigue and
backbite and undermine. He was no such
mole as that. He was always above grouid
always acting in the open day. lie did
not poison his weapons and give the thrust
of the ASSASSIN. But, standing i'll Gods
light he fought what he believed to be
Gods battles against prlncipalitics and
powers, with the weapons OF a man He
gave hard blows, but he never hit below
the belt
His Death.
I'm his autobiography Mr.. Douglass de-
scribes the anxiety with which millions