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

When the order for obituary honors TO
Queen Victoria took effect it was said that
never before had so many British flags
been half masted at one time. Probably this
was true, because never before had the
British drum-beat so closely followed the
rising Of the sun around the world. In a
somewhat similar sense it is true that no
other deceased President Of the United
States ever received such marked and extern
sive honors as those paid to Benjamin Har-
rison. The only comparison that could be
made is in the case of Abraham Lincoln,
and that was exceptional. Association lends
a special glamour to the ordinary tragedy
OF death and excites an unusual ELUSIVE
ness of feeling. Deserved as the tributes
to Lincoln were on account of the great
ness of his character and his national serv-
ices, they were enhanced by the tragic man
ner of his taking off. In tie case of Harri-
son there was nothing of this. because he
died in a natural way. His career, per-
fectly rounded as it was. had nothing of
the element of a tragic or dramatic end
ing TO excite ephemeral emotion. Yet his
death has been recognized throughout the
world as an event of international interest,
and, as far as the American press and peo-
pie are concerned, the tributes paid to his
memory are as general and apparently as
sincere as those paid to the memory of
Lincoln. The popularity in General Harri-
sons character was his steady growth.
From the beginning he grew in the esti-
nation of his neighbors, of his friends, of
the people of the State and of
the American people at large. His
career was like the growth of an oak
that natures slowly, or like the rising of
the sun that reaches it's zenith by degrees.
Happily for him, he died before the oak
began to decay or the sun to lose its bril-
liancy. Happily for him. he died in the full
possession of power that continued to
command the admiration of his country
men up to the last moment of their exer-
else, but a little while before his death. 1t
was far better for him, better for the Ma
ton. better for his place in history that
he should have died almost suddenly in the
full possession of his powers than that he
should have lapsed gradually into senility.
dotage and slow decay.
The honors to Harrison have nothing of
the perfunctoriness of honors paid to a
mere memory. They are paid to a living
power. a far-reaching light, the extinction
of which is felt to be a national loss. He is
mourned not merely as ex-President, but
as one who was worthy to be President.
1t sometimes happens that under the
solemn emotion of death the press and the
official representatives of the people go
too far in lauding the virtues of the dead.
The tributes TO Harrison do not reveal any
element of that kind. Not only do they
carry internal evidence of their sincerity,
but they are confirmed by the conduct of
the people, by the respectful crowds that
thronged the streets of his longtime resi-
dence and poured through the Capitol for
hours to take a last look at the features of
one whom they had known, trusted and
honored. Thus it may be truly said that
the executive order which placed thousands
of American flags at half-mast or half
staff throughout the world met a sincere
response from millions of American hearts.
The obituary honors to an American Presi-
universal and probably never more sincere.