The record-union., 1896-01-30
MIR. EsrEE IN MARBLE.

When Mr.. EStee mas uone Win ear tnly
things he will deserve a statue COM
memorative of his personality. We pre-
fer that Mr.. Estee's name and fame
should be perpetuated in enduring mar
Bile. Our choice Of marble in this in
stance is a distinct rejection Of bronze.
When the art critic of the average
daily newspaper comments upon a piece
of'gculpture, he usually employs all the
platftudes which have performed serv-
ice ooextensive with our mother tongue
in describing the master achievement
of the artist 1T is masterpiece, "a
speaking likeness; 'the marble, plastic
to the touch of the master-hand" the
yielding marble; "breathed into the
marble the breath Of life and it became
a living spirit; 1.-The monolith, touched
by the magic wand of genius. became q
living thing''-alI these statements con-
vey to the mind a substance exceed
ingly plastic. capable of being nodded,
of being shaped or formed or changed,
presenting in turn the feroeity Of the
lion, the courage Of g. Hercules, the
calm, broad brow of the statesman, the
cunning of the conspirator, the vacilla-
ton of the politician, the courageous
simplicity of an Othello and the cunning
duplicity Of an Iago. For this reason,
marble should be chosen as the sub
stance in which to present the person
ality and the life services of Mr.. Estee.
Our wh1lom candidate for Governor
has gone into the camp of those who
denounce Huntington and the railroad,
but he is not trusted by his compatriots.
They do not know of surety that he is
Nor do we know further than this, nor
does any man know. We are not
charging Mr.. Estee with hypocrisy. We
distinctly deny that such an infer
ence might be drawn form our state
ment. We credit Mr.. Estee with per-
feet sincerity. There is no eloquent
formulation Of a noble sentiment to
which Mr.. Estees whole being does not
Eespond. There is no plausible state
xnent of a fact to which his intellect
does not consent, and this is because
both Mr.. Estee's sentiment and his in
teliect are plastic.
Mr.. Estee as an auditor of truly elo-
ouent and forceful assertion would con-
sent with his whole being to the
cogency of the reasoning, and would
remain in that frame of mind until per-
suatled with equal ease by the equal
fervency and cogency of the denial.
When the public mind appears to be
running in turbulent currents, Nj.
Estee's whole mental being seems to
be affected with sympathetic motion.
Standing on the bank of swift flow
ing river, Mr.. Estee's thought and life
and motion flow with the river. So when
mental and intellectual tempests rage
around him, his quick sympathies are
auted upon and he is caught up in the
gale Of burning issue and moves re-
sponsive to its motion like ''the corn
shuck in the wind When mental gales
sweep through the intellgences Of Mr..
Estee's contemporaries, to his imagina
ton the wind seems to be blowing all
one way. His conversion to new move
ments is never belated. When he sees
a rising tide which he believes is des.
tined to have a resistless swell. he loves
to come in with it on the crest. At the
base of the yielding marble" which
will commemorate to the eye of man
his form and features. let there be en-
craven the words: He sought to be
foremost in every movement of his day
and generation" That epitaph viii
possess the rare merit Of being truthful.
and the passer-by who knew him in life
can point with sincere approval ana
say: AT last an epitaph which belts
the character of him to whom it re-
Iates."
There was a time when Mr.. Estee
could have said with perfect eandor
that he was a Democrat; then a time al
which he could have said with perfect
truthfulness that he was Wing; Their
time at which with perfect sincerity
he could have proclaimed himself to be
a Republican; a later time when he re-
pudiated and denounced the military
savior of the nation and joined the
Greeley movement; a still later period
wAn yielding obedience to the deep