The Washington herald., 1913-05-11
TRUE FRIENDSHIP SHOWN
. IN AUTOGRAPH LETTERS
Former Soldier and Politician
Values Manuscripts Of Lin
: coin, Grant, and Others
Above Rubies-He Praises
the Grand Army Of the Re-
public.

friend to the immortal gods that he
might arrive. Tate in heaven"-enjoy
a long life here, and at it's close pass to
eternal felicity. The founder of our
holy religion made it the basic prfnci-
pie of His system Of ethics.
For a practical exemplification of
simon-pure, unadulterated, and un-
changeable frienship-for friends that
stick closer than a brothers, whose
motto is:
''For race nor nation divide us.
Nor creed nor faction can divide us.
And whatsoever fate betide us,
Brothers shall ever be.
Comprehending all the heights and
depths and eternal continuance Of its
sacred friendships, let me point you
to the Grand Army Of the Republic. 1t
may be because of my lessons learned
in its school that 1 have so much faith
in the existence of real and lasting
friendships Whatsoever other organ
ization enshrines and glorifies the vir-
tues of friendship! On no other altar
than that of the G. A. r. do they shine
brighter.
Confidence in this doubtless has col
ored my whole life, for / could
Doubt that the stars shine,
Doubt that the doth move.
Doubt truth to be liar.
Than ever doubt the love"
/ have found among my comrades for
fifty years. 1t has made me an opti-
mist SC that / can believe VII things,
bear all things. hope all things. under
the inspiration and guidance of the
principles OF the G. A. R., which at
last brings me to my theme, Auto
graph Letters" / suppose l have in
my seventy-five years, written and re-
eeived more letters of friendship than
any man in America.
Letters Are "words Of the Heart"
I never sought an autographs the
correspondence ran its natural course
Ii was simply a matter of the heart, a
case of mutual tenderness, interest
and respect.
In politics forty years. on the stump,
in the press, in the war, at the col
leges, at the bar. hither and yon, as
years passed / met on a plane of equal
ity all the best men of the times
lived in.
Yes, all of them.
cannot now think of one with
whom I have not corresponded by let
ter. back to Lincoln, Chase Sumner,
Wade, Sherman, Grant, ct Id omne
Some of them are of great historic value,
but / hasten to say they are not Tor
sale, lest some one should suspect / am
trying to put them on the autograph
market AS Thucydides said of his
chronicles, they are possessions for
ever" the crown jewels Of the house of
Dalzell, to pass undiminished and un-
diminished to my posterity by divine
right.
These letters are pictures-moving
and speaking pictures of the divinest
souls | ever knew 1 cherish and treas
ure and love them though the mighty
and kindly hands that wrote them have
long since turned to dust. To be sure,
friendship writes its tenderest lines on
the red vellum of the heart, and men,
DRY turns the scarlet lines with rev.
erent care, and throbbing heart and
straining eyes; but when the devotion
and kindness of a dear departed friend
whose name is so great that the world
will never let it die, is written out at
large on paper. with pen and ink, sure
ly the letters so written are treasures
worth more than rubies or gold, and
so these yellow. faded old letters of
mine may be poor things" but. as
Shakespeare says, they are at least
mine own PRIVATE DALzELL