The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1895-03-07
CONGRESSMAN BUNN;S GREAT
EFFORT.

On the occasion Of the recent
memorial exercises in the lower House
Of Congress in honor of the late
Senator Vance, Hon. B. H. Bum,
Representative from this District, was
one Of the speakers. We have not
been so fortunate as to read the full
text Of his remarks, but judging from
some of the press comments 1t must
have been a remarkable production.
Indeed, if the few extracts we have
seen be fair sample of the speech it
was daisy. 1t may not deserve a
place among the classics, but certainly
it should share better fate than mere
preservation in the pages of the Con-
g,essi0naI Recoyd-to be made fire
kindling Of
AS we have already said we have
not been permitted to read the gallant
Captains eulogium and can not judge
for ourself; but some OF the papers are
unkind enough to declare that it was
The work OF our esteemed friend Henry
Blount, of the Wilson Wirror. We
do not know as to that and such a
declaration may not be complimentary
to the latter gentleman, bat certainly
the extracts below quoted do not sound
altogether Bunnsonian. The Wash
ington Post reproduces some of the
mos. striking passages and then pro-
cceds to analyze and comment upon
them in its caustic and characteristic
style. Here are couple of specimen
paragraphs:
feel the poverty of human express
sion and the weakness of strongest
language, tor words, however express
sive and graphic, are at best but poor
est vehicles for the transmission Of
those feelings when the heart is swept
by the rushing pillows of grief that
sweep DER the ocean Of an overwhelm-
ING bereavement. All OF his
speeches were forceful in their presen-
tation of truth and facts, noble in their
ethical teachings of duty to country,
luscious with the mellOwest trultage OF
lofty patriotism, opulent with the gems
of successfully garnered wisdom, kinglv
in the imperial sweep Of their royal
eloquence, and regal in the magnificent
drapery of the most ornate dictlon.
They will prove monuments more last
ING than marble, for on the adamantine
and invulnerable surface of their i'm
perishable worth, unequalled merit,
superb splendor, and magnificent
beauty, the corroding and devastating
moth of decay will never liX fang.
Yes, he has left behind a radiant
stream of effulgent glory, like the
brilliant sun, which sinks behind the
distant hilltops and leaves behind a
golden stream of gorgeous splendors,
making the whole Western horizon
seem as if the most opulent dye pots
in the studio of the angels had been
upset and had leaked through upon the
clouds. thus giving them the tintings
of celestial glories.
Here the Post reporter appears to
have been completely overwhelmed by
the gorgeous wordpalnting and super
lative adjective singing powers Of this
remarkable orator and could quote
him no further. Relying solely upon
his own feeble efforts and the impov-
erishment of his descriptive faculties
he tones down his report as if for the
purpose of letting the reader fall easily,
in this prosaic fashion:
The dye pots of Mr.. Bunn's tropical
imagination here splattered and
splashed over everything with such
lavish spontaneity that nothing con-
tanned in his speech quite attains to
this passage in splendor. After this
| squirt he takes his seat in the saddle
and allows his Pegasus to Craze in the
meadows of dignified biography.
What pity that Mr.. Bunn's Won
deriul gifts of oratory have not been
discovered until the very eve of his
retirement from the halls of Congress.
Had his numerous and admiring con-
sttuency known that they were enter
tanning such an orator (unawares) they
might have been constrained to retain
his services indefinitely for special
| memorial occasions