The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1901-10-17
THE WORCESTER spy. THURSDAY, OCTOBER II, 1901

(Applause.) 1 think this one OF the
most remarkable facts in human his
tory, and one of the most creditable
facts in the history of the country.
Now 1 have been asked to say
few words on a subject in regard to
which 1 could say many words-of the
great example of the American volun-
teer soldier, and the American sitizen
whose name you will delight to give
to your famous brigade, Charles Dew
ems. (Applause.)
Charles Devens was a remarkable
character judged by each OF several
tests of character. which makes the
test, which indicate the highest quality
of excellence to which humanity can
attain.
IF you speak Of Charles Devens as
citizen, as lawyer, as an orator, or
as a soldier, in each of these things
his name is among the foremost and
| best which the community where he
| dwelt or the country has ever pro-
duced.
Think of him for a moment as a
citizen. He came to Worcester some
where about 1853 or 1854, after he had
served out his term of office as United
States marshal, under the administra-
ton of President Taylor and President
Fillmore, an administration which l
think ended on the 4th of March, 1858.
And there was no relation In life
which that noble and beautiful spirit
did not adorn. He came seeking, OF
i course as all lawyers seek, public IA
Vor, popularity and reputation. He
Joined himself to a little church, -four
ishing and powerful in this community
4 now, but then poor, in debt, few in
numbers, occupying an humble little
wooden structure on Pearl Street. And
irrnf nqto lou wac In q mr.
week out Charles Devens set the ex-
ample to all his neighbors Of con-
slant, faithful attendance on the pub
lie worship of God. He was no bigot
He was no preacher. He was no sec
+ tartan But he understood perfectly
well that this country cannot live as
| a republic, unless reverence for God
and study Of the things that be of
the spirit be cultivated and that they
cannot be cultivated properly without
. the devotion of one day in seven at
least, to the things which, be of the
spirit. (Applause.) But he asked of no
other man, minister or layman, the
/ performance of a duty where he was
/ not ready to set the example himself.
! HE was the kindest of men. Women
and children, girls, poor people and
humble people loved to meet him in
the street, and remembered his pleas
ant greeting and his kindly smile as
you remember passing through gar
den, and seeing the beautiful shrub
or flower afterward. 1t was an event
which made the day pleasant to meet
him.
HE was a public spirited man. There
was nothing going on in our community
to which he was not ready to subscribe
to the best of his ability, though a
lawyer beginning practice over again
and without any considerable property
He was ready not only to give of his
substance of silver and gold of which
he had little, but of speech land coun-
I sci and personal attendance and per-
sonal effort, of Which he had much
to give.
sometimes fancy, and l hope it is but
temporary setting back, that the
great and noble public spirit which
has built New England and the coun
/ try, and these fair cities and beautiful
towns-is somewhat abated that in
the eagerness for money getting and
money keeping, this desire to do all
we can for the public is diminishing.
am not quite sure that the ambition
or the effort to count property by mill
lions, instead of by single dollars, or
| by hundreds or thousands, has i'm
proved altogether the quality Of our
citizenship
| 81 learn-and 1 am neither q Social
list nor Radical-but l learn as I grow
older to look with more leniency
! upon the ordinary infirmities of man
kind l look rather with pity than
| anger on the man who becomes the
slave of his own appetite. / look,
think, with larger tolerance upon the
men who differ with me in religious or
in political sentiment. (Applause.) But
the one thing that seems to me the
objectionable sin, is that which is
committed by the man who comes into
this world with the sole desire of pill
ing up for himself a vast sum of
money, and who is deaf to every APP
peal of a public nature.
Surely, the one base thing in this
world is to receive benefits and render
none. And yet this man of whom l am
thinking will receive the benefit of
country which his fathers builded gen.
erations ago, when then they faced the
forest and the savage and built the
estate amid the bowling of wolves and
wild beasts. They handed it down to
him to live in by the sacrifice of their
blood, and later it was in danger and
you saved it for him and made the
prosperity which enabled him to build
up his vast properties. You ask him
to help any great enterprise which is
to adorn or ennoble the city He is
ever ready with his pretext for re-
fusing. You ask him to do something
for a monument or statue in honor of
brave soldier. 20, no. l think you
are putting it in the wrong place"
You ask him to engage in this or the
other public work, or you ask him to do
something for political party. 20,
no. I am no politician. I am sick of
hearing about politics" And so he
lives out his miserable life, with moth
ing at its end but the millions which,
to his infinite sorrow, he cannot carry
with him.
Cicero, the great Roman orator and
philosopher, in that wonderful essay
of his on 1.-THE Nature of the Gods"
says that the soul, the principle of life,
is given to the pig-tanquam sal-to
serve as salt, to keep the flesh sweet
till you are ready to eat 1t. For what
this mans soul was given to him, I
never could tell There is no use to be
made of his body, even if you could
keep it sweet But this / know, that
neither his body or his spirit is of any
value to his country. He carries his
miserable millions through life. Thank
God he cannot carry them with him to
his grave. He dies, without any mourn
ing or lamentation of friends or coun-
trymen. No tears of his fellow-citizens
wash his grave
"And when. at last, the earth is show
eled on him,
If that which served him for a soul
were still within it's husk,
'Twould still be dirt to dirt.
Gentlemen, you know something of
the great oratoric power of your be-
loved comrade and commander. He, I
think-and l have said it great many
times-had more of the native oratoric
gift than any man who has lived with
in my memory in Massachusetts. He
did not, like Choate and Everett, spend
his whole leisure time in study and
careful preparation for the great voca-