Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1901-05-30
short sighted then, the statesman.
who alone counsels with constituents
In the crucible of centuries may be
seen the shining truth that


seen the shining truth that
He Who dares with God 70 be
hi the right with Two Or three,
i on the winning side.
Hung high in honor's hall is the
matchless maxim: "If any man lack
wisdom, let him ask of God, who
giveth to all men literally and up
braideth not" He who by its lu-
minous letters is led through life's
labyrinth. though he be sdespised
and rejected of men" will have upon
his head the aureoa of the ages
though he stand upon the scaffold he
will wear upon his brow the coronal
OF the centuries. So John Brown Is
bedecked today.
John Brown was an example of en-
thusiasm. He acted in advance of
his age. He was the ..Ayant coureur'
OF freedom; the John the Baptist OF
the lordly Lincoln. He dared to
differ from the divines Of his day and
from the politicians of every party.
Not at Sumter was the first fight for
freedom. but Osawatomie on that
memorable August in 1886. Not in
+ Baltimore fell the first victim OF re-
belion ; war, but upon the plains OF
Kansas, where the Rev.(?) Martin
White shot down the unarmed and
unresisting son of old John Brown.
So Brown sacrificed a son in 1886,
and stepped from the scaffold TO the
skies in 1859. for the very cause for
which Fremont fought in 1860, and
for which Lincoln was lauded in 1862.
So the test tube Of time and the cru
chile of conflict changed enthusiasm
into craftsmanship
! For twenty years the thought of
deliyerance for the down trOdden had
filled the plans and prayers OF John
Brown. All else was secondary TO
that sacred scheme. Important law
suits were allowed to 60 by default,
and large business ventures were per-
mitted to shift for themselves if by so
doing single slave could be carried
out Of captivity into Canada. Mrs.
Brown once said that during all of
that period he had lain awake many
night, and planned and prayed con-
corning his magnificent mission.
When urged to go home to his family
and attend to his private affairs, and
warned that his course would prove
his destruction, he replied that he
knew he was in the line of duty and
must pursue it. though it destroy
him and his family. On another oc-
casion he said: II believe in the
Golden Rule and the Declaration Of
independence; and it is better that
whole generation should pass off the
stage OF action by a violent death,
than that one jot Of either should fail
in this country" At another time
he said: 1T is nothing to die in a
good cause but it is an eternal dis
grace to sit still in the presence of
+ the barbarities OF American slavery
With the political parties of the
day he had scant sympathy. They
were too conservative fol so radical
reformer. Even the most progressive
party Of that period, proclaimed in
its platform as late as 1851, that his
attempt at Harper's Ferry was claw
less aud unjustifiable. . And when
that party was successful, its chosen
chieftain said: II have no lawful
right to interfere with slavery and
have no intention of doing 500 That
same cautious chieftain farther said:
1T is my paramount duty to save the
Union, and neither to save nor de-
stroy slavery. If l could save the
Union without freeing slave.
would do it; il | could save the Union
by freeing all the slaves would do
that Brown believed that nothing
is politically right that is morally
wrong" He felt that political par
ties were merely Jolio,oing public SEN
timent, rather than icading it. Hence
where republicanism cried 'halt. :"
Brown shouted forward Standing
/ uPOu SINH which LthtOtn ndu nut
yet reached, believing in human
brotherhood and the God OF battles
and inspired by the bible story Of
Gideon, he declared a decade before
the shot on Sumter, "This question
will not be settled but by the she'd
ding of blood " So for the plans of
political parties he had no patience.
He was not a conservative To COM
Ipromise-he was an enthusiast to
lemancipate.
In the church and clergy he had
little confidence Yet he was pro-
foundry pious. But he was believer
and not 5igot. The church was
conservative. 1t halted and hesitat-
ed 1t sheltered the Shareholder and
communicated the enthusiast