Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1897-10-22

motives which lead men to subordinate
party to higher purpose,-it was never
anything else than an expression of his
own peculiar within. He directed his free
lance steadily against every representative
of aspiration to better things, whether that
representative were a man or movement
of many men. To explain the champion
ship of the Tweed ring when its knaveries
were being exposed in inexpugnable array
of facts and figures, the advocacy of a
statue of Boss Tweed when that vulgar
thief and his gang were in the full light of
exposure, the exploiting of Gen. Butler
for president of the United States, the
abuse of DR.. Parkhurst for his uncovering
of the polutions of the police force of New
York, and all the other vagaries of the
Sun in behalf of rascals and against the
best citizens of the city, the state and the
nation,-this is riddle that surpasses
any that the Sphinx could put forth. He
never let any opportunity pass to speak of
the defeat of Tilden as the Gigantic fraud
of history.
At the same time, the Sun has been the
most perfectly edited paper in the country,
and readers who detest its course prize it
for its crisp, swift, pertinent land imperti-
nent), vivid and always interesting treat
ment of news and the embroidery of news.
The forcefulness and strength of Mr.. Dana
himself seemed to enter into every detail
of the Suns pages, and his subordinates
must have felt the magnetism of his per-
sonality. Finer examples of descriptive
writing, of word coloring, of invective,
sarcasm and scorn cannot be found
than those which were spread before The
Sun readers daily. There was no weak
ness to the Suns advocacy of any measure.
| In fact il could make an undesirable pro-
position seem desirable, and could ridicule
desirable one so that it became absurd.
The salaries which Mr. Dana paid his en-
ployes raised the remuneration in all fields
of newspaper work, and as a result brought
to the rank of newspaper workers some of
the brightest minds in the country, who
receive a pecuniary reward as great as that
offered in the learned professions.
From his mastering of the alphabet Mr..
Dana never ceased studying, applying
himself with untiring industry to the &C
QUESTION of all knowledge that he could
reach, forgetting nothing and instinctively
asserting into serviceable order and meth
cd the fiotsam and jetsam of facts that
chance and impulse put within his grasp.
The learning of languages was passion
with him, perhaps from the very fact that
Latin almost insurmountable. He con-
quered them, became a fine Latin and
Greek scholar and seemed ever to wish To
prove himself competent to cope with the
intricacies of any form of human speech
He read, wrote and spoke auently, French
German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese
Danish, Swedish and Norwegian. The
last language he acquired was the Rus
sian.
Mr.. Dana was one of the most striking
personalities that American journalism
has ever produced. His mind was of thu
keenest order, he possessed indomitablt
courage, but there is no accounting for the
peculiar twists in his moral makeup which
led to his abusive treatment of some wor
thy men, and his approval of those un
worthy. There is much of interest in hi
, career which cannot be even touched upor
in newspaper review: He is survived
by a wife, three daughters and son, Pau
! Dana, now 40 years old, who has been as
: ISOLATED with his father in the manage
ment of the Sun.