The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-04-26

His foes, knocked at the rebel capitali
And with his cannon's thunder from afar,
Made Richmond tremble with the North
ern war!
COUNSEL OF LINCOLN.
There is a mystery attaching to this
supreme career. / cannot go with you
along the line of IL. We hear again tho
counsel of Lincoln in a meeting Of his
cabinet, when ne turned to the secretary
of war and said: Ibid we not receive
a communication some time last spring
from a man by the name of Grant, out at
Springfield, ILL.,, forwarded by Governor
Yates, laying out a plan Of campaign
down the Mississippi" out of the dusty
archives they pulled that communication.
The suggestions so impressed the presi-
dent that he said: "Mr. Secretary, send
an order to General Fremont to put Grant
i'm command of the district of Southeast
Missouri"
This opened the door for that mastery
series of campaigns which as they unfold
ed, riveted the attention and compelled
the admiration of the military critics OF
the civilized world and meant that men
should read in living letters the names OF
Cairo Paducah, Fort Henry, Fort Dom
aldson, Nashville Memphis and Nicks-
burg. the fall Of Richmond and the sheath
ing of the rebel sword at Appomattox.
What then. men and soldiers, are the
lessons for us as we stand under the sha-
dows of the imposing mausoleum OF the
Iron Duke of America? This man, Tor
whose making nature threw aside her o.d-
world molds, and as Lowell said Of an
other,
Choosing sweet clay from the breast
OF the unexhausted west,
With stuff unta!nted, shaped n hero new,
Wise, steadfast in the strength of God,
and true.
A supreme lesson taught us is the unre-
ssting spirit of push coupled with an un-
remitting determination to do the thing
he set out to do. The surges of battle
rolled against him like the surges Of the
sea against a rock bound coast, only to
roll back again. A history of his life
says: ut was his idea of war to attack
necessarily and advance invariably and
thus make the operations of the enemy
part and parcel of his own 1t was his
enduring tenacity in battle that gave rise
to many of his says that have become the
proverbs of the age, and indicate his own
great reso.utenoss of will and unconquer-
able determination.
FIGHT DESPERATELY.
"Tt has been my experience" said he,
that though the SouthernerS fight dos-
perately at first, yet when we hang on
for day or two. we whip them awfully."
And when repulscd where he hoped to
conquer, and feeling that the odds were
still in his favor, he so telegraphed TO
Washington, stating at the same time:
81 mean to fight it out on this line If 1t
takes all summer"
There is deep suggestiveness for us in
the fact that Grant won some of his most
splendid triumphs without the sword.
Some men fight like Shakespeare soldier,
with a dagger i'm the mouth. Grant was
1t.,l No ell hn ppi "a
Sphinx" 1.-THE great unspeakable."
The silent man is the safe man. SLAM
der never escapes sealed lips, and unwis-
dom is barred within the gates. No mat
ter how turbulent the spirit within the
secretive man has conquered and the
world holds him great 1t may have been
the fortune of some of us to have been in
the country, where we have seen hanging
a great iron kettle suspended in the forks
of upright poles; the fire pushes its great
red fingers up about the black sides, boil
ing the water within, until the water boils
over and comes sputterlng out to eXtin-
guish the fire that boils it. The kettle is
without a cover. We all know men who
have no covers to their kettles.
The hero of AppomattoX stood by his
friends. A superb thing to be said of any
man. Though ne climbed from obscurity
to fame, he never forgot his old-tlme
friends. He knew them always among
the mass of his fellows. Hear him while
he says: THE friends of my adversely
shall always cherish the most" There is
another picture too sacred for our unfeel-
ing touch even at this far away day-the
home and love-life of the hero. General
Grant loved his home; the members of his
family were the idols of his heart The
strong warrior, after one of his greatest
victories, walked through the hallway of
a rebel home and met little girl in the
passageway. To the astonishment of the
father, a devoted Southerner, Grant
stopped and gathered the child in his arms
and snothered her with kisses, saying as
he put her gently down: "Oh, she reminds
me of my little girl at home"
WHAT NAPOLEON PLANNED.
Napoleon had planned a magnificent
campaign to defeat the Austrian army at
Marengo. May 20 saw his army on the
heights of st. Bernard. He had reduced
the Austrian army from 10000 to 10000
men, despatched Desaix on the right, and
| on June II moved forward to consummate
his mastery plan. A few drops of rain
had fallen In the gorges of the Alps, and
the river Pc could not be crossed in time
Napoleon reached the field to find his
brave generals beaten, the old guard Civ
ing way, and his well planned victory a
terrible defeat. Just as the day was lost
the field at the head of his cavalry, halted
on the hilltop where stood Napoleon.
There was in the corps a drummer boy, a
gamin whom DesaiX had picked up on
the streets of Paris. HI had followed the
victorious Eagles of France in the cam
| paigns of Egypt and Germany. AS the
| column halted, Napoleon shouted to him,
BEAT a retreatr The boy did not stir.
"Gamin! Beat a retreat" The boy
| stepped forard, grasped his drum sticks,
| and said: Sire, / don't know how. De-
| saiX never taught me that, but l can beat
a charge. Oh,'I can beat a charge that
would make the dead fall into line! / beat
| that charge at the Pyramids once, beat
| it at Mount Tabor, and | beat it again at
the Bridge of Lodi. May beat it here?'
| Napoleon turned to DesaiX and said:
I'VE are beaten; what shall we do? Beat
| then; there is time enough yet. The
! charge! The charge! Beat the old charge
| of Lodi and the Pyramids" A moment
! later the corps followed the sword gleam
! of DesaiX, and keeping step to the furious
| roll of the boys drum, swept down on the
| host Of Austria. They drove the first line
! back on the second, and the second on the
! third and there they died, but the line
never halted. When the smoke cleared
! away the boy was seen in the front of the
| line, marching right on, st!ll beating his
| furious charge.
| Soldiers! On your banners are inscribed
to many victories to finch when the day is
! darkest. Look beyond the flag We love
| to that other banner on whose blood
| stained folds you my read: Gcthsemane!
| Golgotha! Olivet! Follow the drum beat.
| On with the charge, and victory through
! Christ is yours.