The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1897-11-17
THE ROLL,CALL OF HONOR.

Henry waitrrson Grows BacsiIous over
some Of the Remarks iIade by his Con-
t~smpoTarIes Ansnth his Recent Announce.
ment About kentucky Election.
Henry watterson In Louisville Courier
Journals The editor of the Courler-Jour-
nal returns his thanks, along with his
most respectful homage. to those Of his
esteemed contemporaries who have done
him the honor to consider him IN con-
nectlon with the result of the recent cleo
lions. Whether their comments were OF
compliment, or of compassion, he is alike
beholden to them, He frankly confesses
that, being too badly hurt to laugh, yet
toob rave to cry,he was In some perplexi-
~ what was best to do; whether to take
to the woods, or jump into the river and
holler fire, or to crawl into some hole and
draw the hole In after him, or to go
a-fshing, or what not, But their words
of sympathy, e|netrating the dark re-
cesses Of the ololsters whittier he has be-
taken himself, and where In the future
he will make his abode, come like the
song Of birds to souls In purgatory. They
confirm his philosophy, They cheer his
exile, They indicate TO him that there
may be yet a drop or two In the bottom
OF the glass, perhaps a grain OF sugar.
Human nature is not so bad after all!
But job had other comforters.
The poet insists that;
"of all sad words Of tongue or pen,
The saddest are these, It might have
BEEN
Asst to vIndlcate the lines, those come
10 us bearing counsels on their lips, and
regrets, and the like, "And So" muses.
the Cincinnati Commercial, In a vein OF
euffused melancholy. "and so the white
plume of Prince Rupert goes down In de-
feat. Warwick retired from llng-mak-
ing, the leader doffs his shoulder straps
and takes up the haversack OF a private
colder" This Is touching. But the
Globe Democrat, OF st, Louis, is even
more 80, The Globe Democrat almost
moves us to tears, Thus:
"Henry Watterson gives up. He Is not
going to make any further attempt to
protect the Democratic party from itself,
That 1000 vote for his gold Democratic
candidate, as'agalnst 1877 900 Tor the Bry-
ante lOllllltNt dtGlIHn W ldNt NblAN lllNNA
him that the Democratic party Is not
worth saving, and Is determined not 10
be saved, Apparently he thinks that at
last Tuesdays PAWN the Democracy
the J%effersonian and JacKsonIan end of It
lost all, especially honor. Thus Col.
WGtterson resigns his commission, viii
never lead any more f0rlOrn hopes, viii
never again rally the boys In the trench
es,' Yet this is not the way Of the worlds
valiant and chivalrlc snirlts acted In
crises. 1t Is not the way Sir Galahad
and Peter the Hermit did things, II
would be all well enough for him to re-
fuse promotion, as LatOuT d'Auvergne
dil, and to say, after the latter, Among
US true Democrats there rs neither first
nor last,' His place In the ranks, where
ever II was. would he the head Of the col
umn. General Arnold, lighting as Il pri-
vate for the day, wac n bigger person.
age at Saratoga than General Gates, the
commander. But In deserving his leGipnS
at this hour of their peril Watterson Will
never get the honor accorded 10 dan
vergne. His name after his death viii
never be read off al the gold Democrats
r~oll-call for nifty years, or even on one
day, and neither the Oldest sergeant In
the line nor anybody else Will get a
chance to step forward and answers:
Died on the field Of honor"
The Philadelphia Inquirer accosts he
unhappy editor alternately as Harry
Hotspur and Henry Of Navarro; and Is
very much distressed because he shame
lessly remains alive, and in reasonable
health, when, falling to be killed In bat
tie, ne should have fallen upon his own
sword!
Alack the day! How could one know
these possibilities in advance? Beshrew
Us for a pigeon-livered hind, had we only
been given a single intlmatlon! Sir Gala
hadi Henry OF Navarro! Peter the
Hermit! Warwick! Latour d'Auvergnel
Prince Rupert! Harry Percy! Lord
Lord! Here hast thy servant been these
years mistaking himself for a poor, plain,
Woodworking and painstaking drudge
honest but dull, and a little over-prudent,
II not downright timiI-wheH as a mat.
ter Of fact, without knowing 1t, he has
actually been and all the time every one
OF those fellows combined, and, 1t may
be, with Thomas Jefferson and Andrew
Jackson thrown In for good measure! Ie
It not heart .breaklngl
True. the gentlemen named are dead
and were buried some time ago, and
mostly died with their boots on. True,
II Is easy to sit on the fence and cry, Go
IN. Gully, and win" True still, that
HE who fights and RUNE away,
VIII live to fight another day"
It may be also true that the comparison
between politics and var Is something
musty. How very warlike the quill
drivers do become when they treat of pol
tiles! All, It is q fine thing totbe n hero
and to wear t%op-bOots and plumes, and
TO carry n jeweled-hilted sword and have
the girls all crazy about youl (After all,
were they so very crazy about Sir Gala
had and Peter the Hermit?) The roll
call has a fine rhythm to 1t. 1t sounds
well. But let us frrblsh UP our history a
lick or two. Our little friend, Henry of
Navarro swapped his religion for u king
dom, did he not? Warwick, who at an
early age acquired the very bad habit Of
changing his coat, having changed 1t
once too often got HE final quletus fight
ing In the ranks Of his old enemies
against his old friends. If dear old La
tour ~d'Auyergne had had to tackle the
stupldltieS Of l6 to l, or bust, he would
hardly have gone far enough to die ION
the field OF honor" but would have COM
mltted suicide, whilst Peter the Hermit
and Hotspur knew actually nothing
about "a tariff for revenue onlyi" II Ia
indeed curious TO note how the whlrllgig
or time rounds up the account of most
menI
But. softly, Times change and men
change with them. The world Is not
what II wac. The torch and the sword,
the battle axe and claymorc, the drums
and tramplingg, the gilt and tlnsel, Of
other days have passed from the stage
OF human life: only the sock and buskln
OF the mimic scene remaining on It. So
conventional are the methods and the