The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1906-03-02
1.-TWO Gentlemen From Kentucky"

| How soon we are forgotten when
we are gone" says Rip Van Wrinkle,
returned from an absence of but twe..-
| ty years to find the very face of L.
ture changed, and how many onlook-
ers have with self-pitying heart
throbs, responded as the white-h hair
! ed old vagabond uttered the true,
familiar words and gazed tearfully in
to space.
What is Fame but a shadow? What
| is Glory? go ask him who died o.
Wednesday" In the ong pulse-beats
! of the centuries years are but seconds
and achievement as evanescent as the
! clouds of evening. OF Caesar we
know a little, Of Napoleon, less; but,
barring the Founders of Empires and
| the Poets and Sages who left them
selves upon the written page, what
are the great historic names but fig
ures of speech? A few lines more, or
less, in the biographies; what does it
matter?
Kentucky has two inches yet to fill
in old Jack Dade's Hall of Fame at
| Washington. Who shall be selected
to fill them? Happily-or, is it un-
| happily?-we have a long list Of names
| to choose from. Once upon a time
Felix Grundy, opposing a certain bill
| for the creation and christening Of
new county, laid it down as wise
F., precaution to ignore the claims of men
still living, "for," observed the wary
! old criminal lawyer, "the person so
honored might become very odious. or
die in the penitentiary." In like man
ner, the designation of a representa-
tive hero should be circumscribed by
the requisites of historic proportion
and universal approval. That in such
a matter a Legislative body should be
prompted by contrawise spirit could
mean nothing but the placing Of the
ephemeral and ignoble above all other
perspectives, often at the cost of the
memory sought to be extoiled.
Nor are elements of worth alone to
be considered There is the question
of fitness no less than of the common
consent. The hero of today may be,
and doubtless he will be, forgotten to-
morrow. Indiana, 1 believe, chose for
her representatives Morton and Hen
bricks They were not ill-chosen; but
distinctly, they stand for a partisan
compromise Within the memory of
men still living they were the fore
most Indianians of their time. But the
generations to come? Fifty years
hence, the stranger in the Hall of
Statues is likely to ask, who was
Oliver P. Morton?" and "Who was
Thomas H. Hendricks?" Greater men
than they have fallen into oblivion.
How many Americans could offhand
tell all about George Clinton, of Rufus
King. or Silas Wright? Sergeant S.
Prentiss and George D. Prentiss are
not infrequently confused.
Peter Harvey, in his "reminiscences"
Of Webster, tells an amusing story of
how the Godlike Daniel, at the very
pinnacle of his career, found himself
in a stage coach along with a fellow
traveller, who hailed from Salisbury,
New Hampshire the home of the
Webster family, where the world-fa-
nous statesman and orator was born
and reared. The following cOnversa-
ton, as reported later by Ma. Webster
himself. passed between the two:
Did you know Mr.. Webster"
"Ofd Capt. Eb. Webster" inquired
the passenger. Il guess l did, l knew
him and all his family. They were
my neighbors and friends; and a nice
old man he was"
Did you know him Intimately"
Very intimately He had a son
who was a most extraordinary man.
Ezekiel Webster was a son of Capt.
Eb. Webster, and was the greatest man
New Hampshire ever raised. was
in the Concord courthouse, where
was a juryman at the trial, when he
fell dead. He was arguing case very
eloquently when he suddenly fell to
the floor 1t made much excitement
among the people. He was great
man and there is nobody left like him.
He was a powerful, noble looking per-
son. We were all proud Of Ezekiel
Webster; very proud of him. We
should have sent him to Congress if
he had lived"
Had Capt. Webster any other chill
dren?"
There were one or two girls, but
they died young, l believe; and there
were one or two other sons"
DO you remember anything about
Ezekiel's brothers?"
He had a brother, think-a young
er brother"
What was his name?"
Let me see. Oh, yes; think his
name was Daniel"