Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-04-29
GRANT CLUB BANQUET
Notable Event at Des Moines in
Celebration OF Gen. Grants
Anniversary.
Congressman Cousins Grafton
On Great Commander Met
All Expectations.
He Was at His Best and Made a
Great Speech - Many
Guests.

Des Moines, April 29.-The 230 guest
at the annual Grant Club banquet he'll
| ct the Slavery last evening listened t
eloquent ore tions-one by a brfllian
young northerner, Robert c.. Cousins o
| Upton, Ia, and one by brillian
young southernel,, Hugh Gordon Mile
of Norfolk. Va. Altho to Mr.. COUSINS
had been assigned the task of paying
tribute to the memory of Genera
Grant, Mr.. Miller in the course of hi
Grafton delivered stirring eulogy o
the great union leader to whom hi
father and his fathers friends had sur
rendered. Mr.. Cousins was at his bes
and fully met all expectations.
| The out-of-town guests were:
Al NJ. Adams. Humboldt; Represen
tative Asmus Eoysen, Gray: Charles
| r. Brenton, Dallas Center; George w
Bissell, Ames; Professor c. f. Curtiss
Ames; III. H. Garfield, Booneboro; w
l.. Curtis, Grinnell; S. o. Conger, At
! lantic; T. j. Fletcher, Marshalltown; ]
j. CASTOR. Winterset; w. II. Hurd. &C.
dar Falls; w. j. Kennedy, Ames; A. w
| Lee, Ottumwa; Col. j. r. Lincoln
Ames; S. NJ. Leach, Abel; A. A. Mccall
Perry; President George d. MacLean
Iowa City; Attorney General c. w
Mullan, Waterloo; ]. w. Miller, Win
| terset; d. w. Norris. Jr., Marshall
town; Edmund Nichols, Perry: DR.
Powell. Adair; j. B. Rockafellow. At
lantic; George u. Roper, Rockford. Ill.
l.. II. Robinson, Cedar Falls: A. P
Spencer, Oskalo osa; n. l.. Spencer, Os.
kaloosa; A. c. Savage, Adair; JOIN
Shambaugh, Bonneville; Representa-
tive w. C. Stuekslager, Lisbon; Il. A
Snyder, Cedar Falls: II. N. Silliman
Cedar Falls; Howard Tedford, Mt
Ayr: Representative G. A. Wise Cedar
Falls; Cary T. Wright, Adair: 3. Muir
ply. vinton.
Mr. Cousins, in tracing the early ca
reer of General Grant, said:
''The people of Carondelet, Mo-. who
bought wood of an ordinary looking
man with trousers in his boots and
wearing an old felt hat, had no reason
to suppose thai mans funeral would be
conducted by the United States OF
America. and that belts would be taken
off of wheels, and factories be silent
as the grave at the hour of that wood
hauler's burial Those who We're
dunned by a certain collector of debts
in the vicinity of st. Louis something
over half century ago, and those who
sold hides to a tanner near Dubuque,
Ia. Just before the civil war had no
idea that in honor of his funeral West
minister Abbey would resound with the
echoes of a special hymn and that the
sweetest soloists of the earth would go
from Paris to London, like a bird of
song. to send her matchless, melody
across the wide. sad sea, from CONT
nent to continent. And yet such was
the honor finally paid him, who at 81
years of age had not yet known re-
nown."
After speaking of the early victories
of Grant Mr. Cousins, coming to the
siege of yicksburg, made this graphic
picture:
Then he went into the impossible.
He began to weave web of war in
the swaInps around the stronghold of
Mississippi. It looked like the studied
preparations for suicide.
THE intracacies of great plans al
ways seem absurd to bcwildered minds.
There was u profound silence for many
weeks. The success of victories seem
ed to be interrupted. There is often an
appropriate silence Just before great
success. The north began to despair.
The authorities at Washington began to
H.. 49, -.
first test of the problem of free govern
ment was being made. Besides that,
civilization waited upon the result. The
dream of 1900 years and all the flu
tire W. al stt Ike. in the dreary lights
of doubt and disappointment slavery
and liberty We're peering thru the
gloom watching the feet of the worn
and weary soldiery of America trying
I. fir a pl,ce to stand. The Stamps
had no bottom. The heights were
guarded by the cannon of the enemy.
Thousands and thousands of our proud
american citizens said Give r. up.
What's the use? Let secession take her
states and go. Let our boys come
home
But progress, civilization, free gov
ornme'it, the genips of perseverance, in
the minds of the great leader said
No. and kept at work. Trees We're
felled and bridges built. This place
was tried, and then that century of
hope was thinking out way to cross
a river, with no place to embark and no
place to land. An army was living in
the swamps. Sometimes success must
crawl. The army of the Tennessee did
everything: it dug, it trenched, it crept
1t swan. 1t could not afford the lux
ury of night, SO it carried candles to
light thru the water and the gloom.
Contaglon joined the weird procession
Malaria marched with the boys; but
they never despaired. They had lead
er and that leader had a purpose. He
was q part of human progress--a fixed,
determined man. Nobody ever amount
ed to much In this world unless he had
to. All, America, civilization! how
theyswavered, and how near they came
to yielding in that awful hour! Can a
nation be weaker than the spirit of a
man? Sometimes.
The days and weeks passed by,
while, by the most difficult and intri-
cate and dangerous maneuvering
known to military history, Grant and
his army finally landed below the forti-
fed capitol, and from the 1st to the
18th of May, 1863, this invincible lead
or, with less than $4,000 men, reclaimed
400 miles of the Mississippi river,
fought and gained five distinct battles,
captured over 5000 prisoners, marched