The times., 1898-01-02
SUNDAY, JANUARY =, 1898.
The Death List of 1897

In glancing back over the death list Of
1897 all sorts OF memories are awakened,
especially in people who have Iassed ohe
half century mark. 1t includes more than
one old-time leader, or hero or artist belnag-
ing to the halcyon days of the early fifti@s
There is something abou; that decade
between 1850 and 1860 which Eeems pc
culiarly TO Cpdear it TO the people who
were ti.en young. Those We're the da ys Of
Thackeray aud Dickens, of the rise OF Ameri-
can Journalism under two or three great ,di-
tors, of Italian opera and graceful poetry
OF the 1eHpy son school, of the stern and
rugged transcendentaiism Of Carlyle and
the Clear Ut teranres of Emerson. Thenames
ofIsaac Pitman, OF Joseph p. McCulla gh, OF
Capt. Boycott, Jean IngeIow. Charles 4,
Dana were familiar TO reading and think
ing people i'm those days. and whenever er one
OF these men and women joins the great
uaiority there comes to light reminiscent
story, Or character sketch, or reflection out
of the days Of aud lang syne
Scmc OF the people whose names have
been carved on marble in this past ear were
still young, and their fame alsc was young
if brilliant. Henry Drummond belongs
to this class. and so, comparatively, does
Henry George. Both were stricken down II
an age when they might rea sonably hayeex-
pected many more years of lire ana work
Perhaps the most remarkable neurological
occurring within a very short time-Dana,
Pullman, and Henry George. All three
were mon OF note, and still actively inter
ested in the affairs Of the day. They
were as different as three men Could be.
Dana was easily the dean OF American
Journalism. His brilliant and forceful Fer.
sOnality dominated not only his paper, but
other papers. 1t would be worth while
to know how many journals between the
oceans East and West, model their cdi-
toriai paee more ar less after that of
the sun. Few people really knew Dana
well. but his friendship was a privilege.
Politically, he was a dangerous, erratic
and most lively opponent. nd il his paper
had policy, nobody ever felt quite sure
what il was. The sun was Dana, bu. not
all OF Dana. His personal chaIacter was
something eentler, tenderer and more dig
nified.
Pullman had no policy either, except
TO emake money, and q could be said without
straining the truth much that his business
was himself. Nobody ever referred 10
Pullmsn's personality. he was business
man. aud that was ali he wanted to be.
A greater Contrast than Henry George aud
George, NJ Pullman could not he found in
history. The former was a socialist. an
economist an agitator, Il politician by
turns: he believed in the truths he taught:
he believed in mankind; the one thing in
which he did not seem TO believe was the
making OF money. Careless In his activity
brilliant in his talents ric, in the apprecia-
tion of thousands of readers and followers,
he died. sc far as money was Concern I'd, "a
comparatively poor man. Looking forward
20 the time when this century, just .lp
preaching its close, shat he a thing IF
the past and boys now at voting age Sh III
lie waiting their summons, gray-haired ;,nd
tottering, tneir work, such as it may be,
forever DONE ii is not so very hard TO guess
which OF the three. Dana, Pullman or
George, VIII appear the greatest in the
eyes of the third generation.