The herald., 1896-03-03
BOSTON ossS. sss STORE

working within him. he owned quite an
an air, and was behaving with the height
and sweep and power which he thought
should be on constant exhibition as per.
tanning to an attorney general. 1t was easy
to see-would have been to the hayseed
latest come and most unskilled i'll Wash.
| ington-that Harmon was 'somebody."
and it was clear that he had grown to
very much indorse himself as attorney.
general. In sort it was also laughabla
to one who was not to be disturbed by
mere atmosphere.
Yet this mutation in Harmon might
serve as text.
1t was conclusive proof that Harmon
was not, would not be great. Greatness
is thing per Sc. The great man never
changes; by that sign yon may know him.
| The heavens may fade above, the earth
may slip beneath his feet, all about may
disappear, yet through the whole gamut of
environments the natural great man is
, ever the same. Whether ne meets defeat
or inherits victory, the great man remains
mistaken, and to once know him ls to
know him always.
Two excellent examples Of men born
great have existed to Americans. Grant,
| in 1860 wes obscure, unknown, unhoped
| for and unhoping. Five years later, as the
| greatest soldier of the greatest nation that
ever had a name, he was the most fawned-
! on man of any age. Sycophants flattered
| and parasites clung about. He was made
president; he was mad president again.
His later progress around the world from
west to east belted the earth with fete and
feast and honor done by royalty to the
! glorification of the great American. He
was waited on by kings; the powers Of
Europe and Asia opened every gate to his
coming.
And with it all, from first to last, Grant
| was as changeless as the hills. To the end,
with all of his sudden honors thick upon
H. h. VUyva0
Grant who in 1860 hauled obscure wood,
and who in 1865 rode at the conquering
head of the most tremendous army that
ever fought round common standard.
Grant was great.
Aaron Burr, wicked though he was, SLAM
dered though he will be, was in his day
tower. There even came an hour when he
shook the nation to its footing stones.
Politically he was the head of a mighty
power. He sat in the seat OF control as
president of the senate. He was feared.
bowed to and obeyed.
I There dawned day when he resigned
his place as vice-president to follow up
| feud.
Alexander Hamilton was the foe of his
heart. Burr laid down the senate gavel
! and possible White House to face Hamil-
| ton. Step by step, letter by letter, through
a correspondence which lasted weeks. he
| backed Hamilton across the river to Vice.
! hawken and shot him to death.
Then came the change in the surround
| ings of Burr. He had slain "a favorite. He
was stunned, hated. and his name was
spat upon. Friends fled and money failed.
! At the age of 81 he died on Staten island,
miserably poor, charity his sole support.
Yet, from the flood to the very ebb OF for
| tune, there never came a change to Burr.
AS in day, when he set the lever or his
treason at the base of eovernment--and all
| but stirred it to its overtbrow-when men
were struck pale by his sinister strength,
SO was Burr when, threadbare, dogged py
want, his name a scoff, he walked tne
streets of New York in his old age. nis
form was as straight, his head as high, MS
eye as hard and gray and dangerous as
when he commanded, rather tnan pre-
sided, in the senate. There was no change
in Aaron Burr. The world and the scenes
had shifted, but Burr to the last was the
same.
Burr, too, was great. And to recur to
the subject in hand for the purpose, as
diplomacy hath it, of "closing the Incl,
dent,'' it is to be much and heartily reared
that Harmon, whether in the sauale with
the sword and the success OF "ran'' OF IN
the seat with the plots and the FAILURES OF
| Barr. would never remind world OF either.
Harmon has suffered that last disposition
of greatness named by Shakespeare. and
had it thrust upon him.-A. II. L., lndian-
apolis journal.