The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-03-17

time and i'm this presence seek 10 measure
it's extent or TO give proper eHpIessaot -
the sense of loss felt by the Indiana par.
Still less am 1 able TO speak Adequately
for the members OF our local bar. 10 ~hoh
for so many years this great lie mas oeeL
a constant example and inspiration TO all
worthy effort. Nor can / IN this place ehte1
upon a critical analysis Of the life and serV-
ices Of Benjamin Harrison and express q
judgment as 10 their character and Nalue.
1T was decreed that the great clILeh
who had once led in defending Rome from
the invading Gaul should not be tried IN
the Campus Martius where the JUDGES
could see the capitol.
MEMORY SUGGESTED.
Everything about us suggests some
memory of our distinguished dead and re-
calls his services to his fellow-men. Here
met one OF the legislative bodies that often
prohted by his wise counsels and whose
laws he helped to interpret. On this floor
are the library where he studied and the
courtroom where he urged the causes of
his clients. Near by stands the magnificent
monument TO Indiana's martyrs and a
noble building dedicated to what he De-
lieved 10 be just principles OF government.
Both owe much to his suggestion and pow
erful advocacy. Not far away are other
courtrooms where his ringing voice seems
yet TO echo. At our feet lies a stately city
that he saw grow almost from a village.
There are the public halls where on great
occasions his voice was so often the trunl-
pet call to duty, and the schoolhouses
where gather the children who loved him.
Every day OF these long years his SIM
pie, manly, open life has strengthened every
Impulse tending 10 personal and civic VIZ
tue. Every good cause has had in him an
earnest and efficient champion. He did
much to make his home no mean city, but
one distinguished for beneYolence ana all
good works. No. my friends, not here. not
here, l cannot judge Manlius in sight OF
the capitol"
Mr.. MAsoN's TRIBUTE.
A. L. Mason, of this city, spoke as fol-
lows:
II shall feel undying gratitude for the
fact that during the last eight years or
General Harrison's life L was brought into
close personal relations with him. lie non
ored me with his confidence and his friend
ship. 1t was permitted me TO make a close
observation Of his great genius. The prom
inent quality of his mind was its equipOise.
lie was a searcher for truth; he never
rested until he found ii. Speaking TO me
once he said, Never state a proposition
in a lawsuit until you have tramped all
around II and looked at II from every
side At another time he said. A lawyer
nent's position is dangerous. The man who
can only see one side of a question closes
the debate so far as his own mind is con-
Cerned. Such a man is an unsafe counsel
or
Notwithstanding his great natural en-
dOwment of intellectually, Notwithstanding
the fact that his reason always maintained
with him a clear ascendency, he was still
a man of intense feeling, and he recognized
with u%nerring perception the part which
feeling plays in the affairs of man. on the
occasion when Mr.. Gladstone wrote his re-
markable letter, after the Armenian massa-
ere, in which he denounced the Sultan as
that wicked old man and declared II
TO be the duty of England to protect Ar
menian Christians from massacre, : spoke
of Mr.. Gladstone's letter TO General Har-
risOn and asked him If he did not think
that rhe letter was unimportant because
4. was all mere sentiment? Yes, said he,
it is mere sentiment; but sentiment rules
mankind
He had, indeed. profound sympathy for
the weak and oppressed. On the evening
of March 6, Immediately preceding the
fatal illness with which he was seized on
the following morning, i rallied him about
his recent article on the Boer war, saying
that when he next went TO England he
would not be a welcome guest at the
court. Well said he, with a quick flash
of the eye, Il can go 10 see Kruger
HE loved little children. Every spring
he spent many hours at the Summer Mis-
sion for Sick Children. He looked after the
arrangements for cooking and baths. He
gave attention to the size and comfort
OF the cribs and swings for these children
of the poor. He was a devout man. a be-
lever in God and in righteousness. He did
not look on the future OF this country with
untroubled eyes. He believed that great
perils were ahead of the Republic. In his
last conversation with me, before his ill
ness, almost his closing sentence was, 1t
locks as II force and greed ruled the
world Yet he was no real peSSimist- A
few weeks before his death we were talk
ing of the u~tterances of a certain public
man. General Harrison said, The trouble
is that he leaves God out OF the twentieth
century; in my Judgment God Will have a
large share in the disposition of events in
the twentieth century. Whoever leaves God
out of his calculation cannot rightly Judge
Of the future
although one of the greatest lawyers
of his time, he cannot be measured by that
alone. Neither is the fact that he was Presi-
dent OF the United States of supreme i'm
portance. Our belief is that his chiefest
service To his country was his courageous
advocacy of certain principles of govern
ment. In his latest hours he stood FOR a
government of limited powers and against
absolutism in whatever place and under
whatever disguise it was sought to be eXer-
cised. He insisted that in respect to the
right of self-government and independence,
the weakest nation i'm the world is morally
equal TO the strongest. In the belief that
his most notable service TO the world was
his application of the moral law TO the
conduct of nations, as to that OF individ-
uals. we commit his name and fame TO
history"
SMILEY n. CHAMBERS HEARD.
Following Mr.. Mason Smiley n. Cham
bers addressed the meeting as follows:
AN intimate acquaintance with a man
for twenty-five years, bringing with IL a
sincere friendship. should enable one both
to judge and speak accurately Of his
qualities OF mind and heart. The man OF
simple habits, with love of and devotion
/ ~ lVlllC III ~ 1AA6lOA at
and occupied in the performance OF high
duties, cannot if he would, easily avoid
a just estimate of his character by those
who are close to him. Peradventure, those
further from him might misjudge him,
aking reserve of manner for lack OF SYM
patty, austerity for h%auteur; but at the
fireside. in the law office, during long walks
and rides for purposes of recreation. the
heart is wide open 10 view. II is under
those circumstances true knowledge is &C
quired and strong friendships are created.
Ii is from this, TO me, blessed relationship
! speak to-day of our illustrious dead. so
far as it is proper to speak out of such a
relationship.
THE strength of General Harrison's life
lay in the high estimate held by him OF
the value of the talents with which he
had been endowed. He did not over esti-
mate the quality of these gifts. In his
view they were his sole inheritance. and
he was charged by his Creator with tho
high duty of their best cultivation and
honest use. 1t has seemed to me that this
conviction was the center of gravity Of
his great and useful life ard high accom-
p~lishments, around which all his acts re-
volved in near or remote degree. Firmly
nchored in this sentiment. possessing a
sublime faith in his Creator, believing that
accountability was due to HIM alone. he
filled every day with a conscientious per-
Torrance of its duties. 1t is easy, there
fore. TO see that from beginning to end
his Efe was growth, an unusual thing FIR
one who lives almost his three score ana
ten. This fact has been emphasized ~
one of our most distinguished citlzcns
ON yesterday in what seers to me u be