The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-01-21
I'd LIEUT.. EDMUND N. BDNcHLEY.

what effect does Mark Antony, over
Caesars body, eXclam You all did
know this Inantle!"
For nearly half a generation, in the
main corridor of the Classical high
school, have stood the marble effigies
of Gen. Grant and Willie Grout-that
of the great commander given by Mr..
e. A. Goodnow, whose presence here
today serious illness prevents; the
Dust of Grout presented by his COM
rades in arms, of whom one was the
father of Edmund n. Benchley, Wor-
cester's latest hero. When they were
given, and Gen. Charles Devens, the
brave leader of the 18th at Balls Bluff,
told of that dread encounter and of the
I death of the boy lieutenant our future
West Pointer was only lad in the
grammar school, but later he became
a pupil in that building and for two
1, years was daily in the presence of
those mute sentinels and upon the tab
let's back of them, also given by Mr.
Goodnow, must have read: "Dulce ct
decorum est pro Datrie mort" as true
today as when Horace wrote the words,
and those companion lines in English:
Death passes veterans by, to make
The names of beardless boys immortal;
To deathless fame youth enters in,
Q grave, by way Of Thy. grim portal
''Ah, happy youth that crowned doth go,
e er lite,s rough winds a leaf can sever
From thy fresh laurels! Death shall keep
Ihy name and fame unstained forever. ;"
How sleep the brave who sink to rest,
BY all their country's wishes blest"
No more applicable in 1746, when Col
Inns penned them, than in all the inter-
vening $50 years; not alone for Brit
ons, but for every one, of all nations,
who is ready to dare and do and die.
Who can tell the influence the speech
less presence of Grant and Grout may
have had upon the youth whose soul
was already afame with love for a mil
itary career?
Those figures commemorate a strife
in which the fathers fought and in all
the subsequent years it has been their
boast that the sons when needed,
would spring to arms with as much
loyalty and heartiness as did the boys
of 1916. History sustains the as
sertion, and Worcester's record in 1898
IS only q continuation of that in rebel
lion days. Many Of our boys sue
cumbed to disease, but the enemy's bull
lets sought only two whom the city
called her own. Patrick F. Guerin of
the Twelfth United States infantry. at
later hour was killed in the same
fight which ended the earthly life of the
SN0Ii7 HG.o WlioSe marble SenDl2nce
we bring here today. 1t is offered not
alone as tribute to his memory, but
as an object lesson to the living, trust
| ing That the next generation will not
be lacking in Grouts and Benchleys to
| pass along the lighted torch.
| Edmund Nathaniel, son of Charles II
and Jennie NJ. (Moran) Benchley, was
| born in this city March 3, 1875. The
blood which coursed in his veins laid
hold on generations of those who had
served their country well, for his father
and his mothers father were soldiers
| during the rebellion, a great -grandfa
ther had part in the war of 1912. and
Two t-great-grandfathe fought in
the revolution. His grandfather. Hen
| ry w. Benchley was a Representative
! from Worcester in 1853 and 1854, in the
general court in 1855 was member
OF the state Senate and president of the