The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1902-07-02
CHAMP CLARK STORIES
0ratory as It Flows In the
Halls Of Congress.

Orange request oi- SoHSeiI9~h.'
Pleased Him to Read About Dead
Coneressman-How the Late Cush-
man X. Davis Was Eulosized.
copyright, 1902, by Champ Clsrk.1
Very many estimable persons have
fallen into the error that The Congress
sional Record is dull and proftless
reading. On the contrary. few publ
cations afford more valuable :nstruc-
tion or more pleasant recreation, and
no wonder, for it contains the results
of the scientific, political, literary and
legal Investigations Of $50 senators
and representatives, assisted by IL
brarians, secretaries and other helpers.
to say nothing Of an occasional essay
by the president Of the United States,
cabinet ministers and heads of depart
mentS.
The Record contains samples Of ev-
cry sort of oratory ever devised by the
wit of man-dry, eloquent, witty, hu-
morous, logical. thrilling, didactic. pa
thetic. In it may be found speeches
which put men to sleep as surely as
opium and others which stir the heart
like strains Of martial music.
Funeral Oratory.
People chuckle when they peruse
this letter to a representative from one
of his constituents: Send me some
eulogies. l like to read about dead
congressman In asking for congress
sional eulogies he had no idea that
he was preferring request for speci-
mems of exquisite oratory. Yet that
was precisely what he was doing.
In a recent magazine article Hon.
Thomas B. Reed says: THE funeral
oration must have had and did have
it's origin in far antiquity. No time
has ever been and no time can ever be
when the closing of life will cease to
be it's great event. In congress the
funeral grafton still survives. and much
eloquence still pervades the halls when
death comes. OF course there is much
uttered which makes the judicial smile,
but there is also much which is worthy
themes which involve all of this world
and all of it's achievements. with all
the possibilities of the land across the
barriers Of which the dead man has
been borne
Cushman x. Davis.
The funeral orations in the senate
touching the life and character of Cush-
man X. Davis Of Minnesota We're of an
unusually high order Of merit. Speak
ing of the numerous deaths in the SEN
ate and Of the high character Of sena-
tors in general. Senator Hoar Of Massa-
chusetts said:
THE senate. as it's name implies, has
been from the beginning. with few ex-
ceptions, an assembly Of old men. In
the course of nature many of its mem
bers die in Office. That has been true
of 3S senators since came to the capt.
tol. Others, a yet larger number, die
soon after they leave Office. OF the
men with whom have served in this
chamber 5S more are now dead, max
ing in all 96, enough and to spare to Or
ganize another senate elsewhere. To
that number has been added every vice
president but two. Upon those who
have died in Office eulogies have been
pronounced in this chamber and in the
house. The speakers have obeyed the
rule demanded by the decencies of fu-
neral occasion-nil de mortuis nisi
bonum-if not the command born OF
tenderer pity for human frailty-jam
parce sepulto but in general. with
scarcely an exception. the Dortraitures
have been true and faithful"
Soldier and Statesman.
Speaking Of the relative merits of
the soldiers and statesmen on the one
hand and of authors and poets on the
other. Senator Hoar uttered these
philosophical remarks:
"Of course, Mr.. President, in this
great century which is just over, when
our republic, this infant Hercules. has
been growing from its cradle to its
still youthful manhood, the greatest
place for q live man has been that Of
soldier in time of war and that Of
statesman in time of peace. Cushman
X. Davis was both. He did mans
full duty in both. No man values more
than do the function of the man Of
letters. No man reveres more than
do the man Of genius who in loving
and reverept way writes the history
of a great people. or the poet from
whose Tyre comes the inspiration
which induces heroic action in war
and peace. But l do not admit that
the title Of the historian or that Of the
poet to the gratitude and affection Of
mankind is greater than that of the
soldier who saves nations or that Of
the statesman who creates or pre-
serves them or who makes them great.
! have no patience when l read that
famous speech of Gladstone, he and
Tennyson being on journey. when he
modestly puts Mr.. Tennyson's title to
the gratitude Of mankind far above his
own. Gladstone, then prime minister,
declared that Tennyson would be re-