The Colorado statesman., 1923-11-03
Congratulations
Nm Dear Rivers

MI Nv feelings today are those of |
mingled happiness and grief. |
rejoice with you and your dear wife in
the completion. hy the child of your
brain and energy, THE COLORADO
STATESMAN. of so long Il term of
service and racial devotion.
Having watched and aided in some
small ways its struggling, early steps,
and knowing by close association in
those early days, something of the
wealth of zeal, determination and bus
mess ability which is bound up in that
human dynamo, its proprietor it is not
at all wonderful to me that THE
COLORADO STATESMAN is still 60
ing strong and like Abou-Ben-Adem is
leading all the rest" Long may you
and Mrs Rivers live to enjoy the fruits
of your splendid service.
The other emotion to which l have
alluded at the beginning is caused by
the sudden passing of my dear old
friend. ex-Congressman Lafe Pence.
1t was only IA few.weeks ago he was
visiting Mt Denver on Il business trip.
He had thought and said to me that he
intended to arrange his business mat
ters so as to spend his last days in
dear old Colorado. 1t was there you
will recall, that through connection
with several celebrated legal cases
listening public acclaimed his ready
wit and impassioned eloquence, and it
ic CT Hxr m
swerving devotion to principle, strong
and dominant mentality-all radiant
with a genial and attractive personal
ity, made him leader in the politics
of the state and later of the nation.
But he found Denver sadly and Won
derfully changed; for the better, of
course as things go, but from per
sonal and spiritual viewpoint Denver
had grown away from him ana he
found himself a stranger within her
gates.
He was loud in praise of its splen-
did progress-its substance and indus
try-its mammoth bee-hives of steel
and stone, and its wealth of civic bet
terments. But alas, for him old Den
yer was no more. The footsteps of an
other generation of judges and law
yerS were resoundfng now through
courts and corridors. The lava of n
tireless energy now fired the genius of
a newer school of commerce and fl
nance.
Younger shoulders, strong and stur-
dy had filled and broadened, that the
mantle of a Teller, Il Moffat or Bel
ford might therefrom not too loosely
fall. And so he came as one returned
from exile, who stands aside bewil-
dered at the rushing human tide and
with a sigh, looks away with earnest,
reverent gaze to those cloud-tipped
piles of mountain. which, snow-capped
and solemn, alone remain the same to-
day as he knew and saw them yester-
day.
The week at Colorado had taxed him
overmuch, but the smile was just as
winsome; the optimism no less strong,
and the tear of sympathy just as
ready, but it was realized that for him
"the night of that inquiet day which
we call life" was fast closing in ana
soon must begin that pilgrimage
through the shadows which precede the
twilight of glorious dawn.
Such life, so unselfish, so full OF
real constructive service, so broad in
its humanity, so human in its tender
ness, is confirmation strong as proof
of Holy Writ" of that spiritual es-
sence, insistent and Irresistible, which
tireless, labors to redeem our kind:
JNO. H. PAINTER.
Washington, d. c., Oct. %, 1928.