The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1895-07-27


among men came sfron plugging their
lmeions !too !, soon /. ' Il Is .Though resident
III pol flies, he woll d never cross q bridge
until he came to- It'll. q 81 He was I'm some
sense, party man, but, like Calhoun be-
fore him, independe nts III matters at prfn-
Giple and would not change his free
Thoughts for a throne He would not,
he said, turn on his heel to make choice
| OF masters. I agree. with Mr.. Ogelsby,
who WhOte the most appreciative and
beautiful tribute e have seen TO Mr..
Stephens memory, that his leading traits
were wisdom, devotion to- principle, love
| ct honesty and truth and inflex!ble cOur-
age He has left an enduring literary
monument Of the basic muniments OF Re-
publican liberty, which, In crumbling,
may Yindicate the Southern Confederacy,
somewhere in the Goth century. Welded
to the nprig htness Of his ethical nature
was the love he had for dumb animals as
well as his fellow bipeds. His intrepidity
was physical as we'll as moral. Craven on
his memorial shaft is the potent sentence
proelaiming that he feared nothing but
the commission Of wrong, that is, Offend
ing God. And yet, he upheld the duello
code and, to his lastsday, would not have
refused a challenge to take crack with
any man under the oaks. He told Mr..
Oglesby, In explanation Of this paradox,
that he would not, in such events, have
killed his man.. but It never seemed to oc-
cur to hin, that being killed might work
his eternal woe. Luckily, he9was not put
to the test in this way, although his UNI
launted courage was proved beyond all
dispute when a gigantic antagonist came
fearfully near cutting his throat because
he would not yield to brute force. His
right hand mutilatedI in that encounter,
never resumed its cunning chirograph;-
caMy He could write but it was difficult
to decipher 0ais manuscript.
How any man so feeble from birth could
have existed beyond his 10th year Is In
scrutable. He had mission and was not
Providentially permitted to die until it's
.acccanpl ishment. IN this respect, Mr..
Stephens was no seer. He hab;tually an
,ticipated early death and was always pre-
pairing Linton for such bereavement. His
friends, some at least, believe that, had he
resisted tine Establishments OF certain poll
iticialls and refused the governorship, his
life would have been extended. Had he
retired to his Liberty Hall home, If deter
mined upon abandoning congressional life,
the probabilities are that he might have
reached his 80th birthday. The annoy
ances Of official residence at Atlanta jour-
neying to Savannah and back in the most
Indictment month of the year, jostled from
an old rut Of familiar usage, formed a
com bination we'll calculated to end his ca
'reer summary. Still, when congress was
about to dissolve, on the 9TH day Of March,
1888, was inexpressibly shocked to hear
that my illustrious friend was dead.
then comprehended why the innkeeeper
expressed amazement that the sun could
shine when Mirabeau was no more, but
this. was succeeded by the reflection, so
strikingly erndered by LongfelloW in his
warden of the Cirque Potts.
1.-THE sun shone bright o'erhead,
Nothing in natures aspect intimated
That great man was dead
But during that day, and for many days
after, and at intervals through life felt
and will continue to feel that with Mr..
Stephens there passed from my own ex-
istence some subtle, mysterious force be-
yond philosophySto measure or determine
It was with subdued but actual grief,
crowned with asphodels of memory, that
recently stood by the grave of my old
friend in the yard of his home where all is
strangely altered and yet so familiar AS
gazed upon his last resting place all the
past revisited me and was at least glad
that had known this glorious man init
mately. / prayed, too, for the repose OF
his soul--that soul which knew so little
of repose in this tumuitnous world. The
few weaknesses of his humanity vanished
before the plentitude of virtues and good
deeds, so that my fancy devoutly sum-
moned the bright angels Of resurrection
Ito radiantly encamp around his honored
tomb.