Greenbrier independent. [volume] (Lewisburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1980, 1896-04-16
NUMBER ~.

] would smooth over a rough place in
l his official intercourse with a funny
5 story hitting the case i'm point, and
t they would call him trifler. He
would round off a logical argument
3 with familiar example, hitting the
} nail squarely on the head and driv-
ing 1t home, and they called him a
bufoon. All the big, little wigs and
all the little, big wigs agreed that he
J lowered the standard of debate; as
if debates were intended to shoot
over the average compression and
not to eluCidate truth. Yet he went
on and on, and never backward. nm
tii ms time was come, when his ge-
MUS, tully developed, rose to the su-
preme eXlgencies intrusted to his
hands. Where did he get his style?
ASK Shakespeare and BURNS where
they got their style. Where did he
; get his grasp upon the affairs and his
knowledge Of men? Ask the Lord
, God who created miracles in Luther
and Bonaparte!
LAST SCENES IN HIS LIFE.
| am going to spare you and NV
, self, and the dear ones of his own
blood who are here tonight, the story
or the awful tragedy that closed the
lie OF this great man, this good man,
this first of typical Americans.
Beside that tragedy, all other
tragedies, epic and real, became in
significant. /" Within the narrow
compass of that stage box were five
human beings, the most iIlustrious
OF modern heroes, crowned with the
most stupendOus victory of modern
times; his beloved wife, proud and
happy; a pair of betrothed lovers
with all the promise that youth, Sc
clal position and wealth could give
them and young actor, handsome
as Endymion upon Latmos, the pet
of his little world. The glitter of
fame, happiness and ease was upon
the entire group; but in an instant
everything was to be changed with
bllnd1ng swiftness of enchantment.
quick death was to come on the CEN
tral figure of that company.
over all the rest the blacklist fate
hung menacingly fates from which
mother might pray that kindly
death would save their children in
their infancy. One was to wander
with the stain Of murder on his soul,
with the curses Of q world upon his
name, with a price set upon his head,
in frightful physical pain, till he
died dogs death in a burning barn.
The stricken wife was to pass the
rest OF her days in melancholy and
madness; of those two young lovers,
one OF them was to slay the other and
then end his life raving maniac -
Tragedy contains no single chap
ter as dark as that.
HAD THE GENIUS OF COMMON
SENSE.
What was the mysterious power
OF this man, and whence?
His was the genius of common
sense; Of common sense in action;
Of common sense in thought; Of
common sense enriched by expert
ence and unhindered by fear. "He
was common man." says his friend
Speed, "eXpanded into giant pro-
portions well acquainted with the
people, he placed his hand on the
beating pulse of the nation, Judged
of its disease, and was ready with a
remedy" Inspired he was, GER
talniy, as Shakespeare was inspired;
as Mozart was inspired as Burns
was inspired; each like him, sprung
directly from the people.
look into the crystal globe, that,
slowly turning, reveals the story of
his life, and | see little heart-bro-
ken boy, weeping silently by the
out-stretched form of a dead mother,
then bravely, nobly trudging hun
dred miles to obtain her Christian bu-
rial. l see this motherless lad grow
ing to manhood amid scenes that
seems to lead to nothing but abuse
ment, no teachers no books; no
chart except his untutored mind no
compass except his own undisci-
plined will no light save light from
heaven; yet, like the caraval of CO.
lumbus, struggling on and on through
the trough of the sea, always toward
the destined land. / see the full
grown man, stalwart and brave, an
athlete in activity of movement and
strength of limb, yet vexed by weird
dreams and visions of life, of love,
OF religion, sometimes Verging on
despair. l see the mind, grown as
robust as the body, throw off these
these phantOms of imagination and
give itself wholly to the practical
uses of this work-a-day world the
rearing of children; the earning of
bread; the cumulous duties of the
husband, the father and the citizen.
l see the party leader, self:confident
In conscious rectitude original, be-
cause it was not his nature to follow;
potent, because he was fearless, pur-
suing his convictions with earnest
zeal, and urging them upon his fell
lows with the resources of an ora
tory which was hardly more impress
siVe than it was many-sided.
ONE OF GODS OWN MEN.
l see him, the preferred among
his fellows, ascend to the eminence
predistined for him, and him alone
OF all the statesmen of the time.
amid the derision of opponents and
the distrust of supporters, yet un-
aWed and unmOVed, because thor
oughly equipped to meet the emer-
gency. The same being, from first
to last; the little boy weeping over
a dead mother ; the great chief sob
bing amid the cruel horrors of war
fiinching not from duty, nor chang.
his homely ways of dealing with the
stern realities which pressed upon
him and hurried him forward. And
last scene of all, that ends this strange
eventful history, | see him lying
dead there in the capitol of the ma
ton, to which he had rendered. .tba