The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1895-06-01
Daily states.l
JOHN A. MORRIS DEAD.


| The death on Sunday evening at
Kerrville, Te5,, Of Mr.. John Nor.
rls removes from the active energy
of a vigorous manhood one who
possessed striking and marked in
diyiduality. HIS jntimates IN the
social sphere Knew him for the
largencss of his heart and the great
ness of his benevolence. Thousands
knew him as the one great bene-
factor in their hour Of sorrow. The
general public knew him as a man
who mad been aboard ship in many
a fierce gale, and has at times made
safe harbor, and at times had
suffered shipwreck
! But few knew HIM as a masterful
leader in the great battles which
marked his career. For this quiet,
equable, unostentatious man, whose
equipose was phenomenal was
great general. His perception was
keen, his resources abundant, his de-
clslons startling in their prompti-
tude. No man in his day and gen.
Grafton bore so universal a relation
to Louisiana and its affairs as John
A. Morris. Knowing everything
and everybody, knowing public
men as none other knew them, with
memory that had stored within it
the recollection of ueachery and
base ingratitude, the sweetness of
temper of John A. Morris was a
revelation to those who were his
lieutenants in those great battles,
the history of which will never be
written.
He was eminently just man.
The writer remembers with keen
ness which time will never diminish
an occasion which tested the sense
of Justice of John A. Morris. One
of his trusted advisers had brought
wreckage to "the cause" by one ILL.,
advised move. The great fight was
virtually lost, and hundreds of those
dependent on the issue would soon
be engulfed in ruin which time
has shown was most complete. Yet
not a word of complaint escaped his
lips. His amiability and sweetness
did not desert him tor an instant.
81 believe would have made the
same mistake;" he said, and there
the matter ended.
Mr.. Morrs was built upon thor
oughly reflective lines. His tastes
were those of the philosopher. His
view of events was that of specta-
tor, not of an actor, III the busy
scenes of life. He had seen so much
nothing was unusual to him. T'imid-
ity and cowardice among men he
treated as hereditary diseases, which
evoked pity, not vengenco. He did
not know what it was to harbor the
faintest tinge of resentment. No
man could be his enemy; he would
not permit it. He was happy only
when everybody else was happy too.
Mr.. Morris was a student. His
reading was extensive and thorough.
His knowledge was part and parcel
of himself. He knew things because
they had become ingrained and
woven IN his nature. A student of
books, he knew men as no other
man in Louisiana knew them. His
wide mental grasp took in every
thing; be saw all sides of every pic
ture.
There are those who would critl-
else the great man who has just left
US. 1t is enough to say of them
that they did not know him. His
heart was greater than his head;
tenderness and kindness lowered
over intellect as the mountain peak
over the valley below.
! Charity, in the case of John A.
Morris, covered all the world in
which be moved. None so humble
but that his hand was stretched
forth in succor when distress came.
The poor car driver with his crushed
foot knew his bounty--the once rich,
but now impoverished, gentlewoman
he aided, too. Young men striv-
ing for educational advantages he
grasped by the hand, and led along
the pathway of knowledge.
The names of those who enjoyed
his beneticence cannot, for obvious
reasons, be given. No one knew
but fraction of them. / doubt
whether John A. Morris himself
knew them all. He had wonder
fully gracious way of forgetting
kindnesses he had shown.
A masterful intellect, dwarfed
into pettiness by an all-encircllng
greatness of heart, has left the
world. And left it the happier be-
cause he had been in it.