Georgia Historic Newspapers

    CRAWFORDVILLE DEMOCRAT.
Volume 7.
ALEXANDER STEPHENS.
Sage, Patriot, Statesman and Philan¬
thropist.
'Ve publish below as stated in ou r
last issue the beautiful tribute to the
memory of Mr. Stephens from the per.
of Mr. T. K. Oglesby, which appeared
in the Milledgeville Union and Recor¬
der of the 10th, inst. Mr. Oglesby
was one,of _ Mr. Stephens , closest , . pei
sonal friends and his knowledge of him
both in private and public life enabled
him to write such a tribute to his
memory as but few others could do.
“I pray thee then, hisfellow
Write me as one who loved
.men.'’
On the evening of the third of March,
Dr. H. H. Steiner, of Augusta, then in
Atlanta, wrote me as follows :
“Our friend, Governor Stephens, is
extremely ill. I have never beeu so
anxious about him before.
If he can be made to sleep well to¬
night, he may be better in the morn¬
ing. I am deeply anxious about him. ”
The morning after these lines were
written, aud before I had received
them, as I was on my way to the Bap¬
tist church house in the beautiful city
of Atneneus, 1 heard from the lips of
a small boy tbe words—“Governor Ste¬
phens is dead.”—Speedy and anxious
inquiry only too surely proved
the truth. Sleep, restful, balmy, life
renewing sleep, which lies with the Vile
in loathsome beds, and gives its re¬
pose to the wet sea-boy in the storm’s
rude hours, did not come to the states¬
men who was dying for the want of it,
and when that night had passed away
he had “another morn that ours.”
Five weeks have come and gone
since then, and many more just must
he numbered with the eternal past be¬
fore the words,“Mr.Siepi.efis is dead.” sound
can lose the strangeness of their
to ears that have so long been cheered
by the sunshine of liis presence.
A month and more has passed since
that sad day, and though I have stood
beside the coffin’d day, aud looked
upon the lifeless form, and seen it pris¬
on’d in the tomb, mid tbe solemn
iiusti of the mighty, mourning multi¬
tude, “jet cannot 1 by force be led to
tninR upou the wormy bed, and him
together,” nor resi ze that his eloquent
tongue is forever mule in tbe cold
grave. Cheek to cheek through life
lie had lain close by the “pallid angel.
Pain,” long, long had his poor tram •
been stretched upon the rack of tin*,
lough world, but in death there was
no pain-rack seen, no siun of the lit'e
Jonar haiid-lo-jmiitj coni tin i doth smici ■
ing and disease, but a repose, ii sle d—
mi ineffable, vvomhous t aim. like that
which comes to the tired child dimmed
to sleep lij’ gentlest lullaby in its mo h
er’s arms. Often had I seen that face
in sleep in lift, but lit ver in life had 1
seen the perlectiy serene rested expression,
“rapture of repose” that on it
in the sleep of death. There was a
‘•halo hovering round decay” that al¬
most for
“one treacherous hour
Made me doubt the tyrant’s seal’d, power,
So fair, so calm, sosoitly reveal’d.”
The first, last look by death
UU , . , how I , wished, . , . as I r gazed . upon
them, that the shrouded eyes conkl
open and meet my own with the soul
lit glance of old once more, that the
fragile fingers could thrill me willi then
touch again, and the tougue speak the
tbe old familiar words of welcome.
They were words he loved to speak, i
have a mental photograph album m
which he wrote down answers to a se
lies ot questions intended to bung out
a correct mental portraiture. One of
the quratiors is What are the sw«s -
words m the world?” His answer is-
1 loathe 0 mvin^ht^r^o/ tfm man 'is
i . a^cei ,. v t bis swee“ simple answer No
u^ mm 4 arLu^fiom al to liis ear than
•md^with the fneiid be loved !
t wdi it frieiX delightful ease he en
M Minm Who
that ever met h him m in in the i ,e social soua circle o xoie,
either at his own Leloved Liberty Hall,
or in his hospitable rooms in Washing
ton, does not remember the frankness
that spread case and at^ition around
it, the eye that spoke dffabili y ,
that om, and chased to d timidity^ eveiy one fro in the * company - *
t0 R^.rp particularly
,Sn f social dwelling more nrivatl
P ivltnMltIm that and within’reacn life so at
t fs I desIre came makL
nf of lib lntiuenc fiuence , to some
fSSff ‘ ftiK JJ:
• p. th e study and admiration of
mankind ^cch Dr II V M Miller in a
which show srarIr more of the genu
^ Speech, iDC H, ^.odv truly Lid said that fhat 5H Mi. Jstepfieu’s .aep. en a
most majestic einrueut vvi ®“ 0, chU” f' 1 ^ ‘
greater sebo seen a man ot
, ]
hlghe JL« fiXed cu t uie aid
a more polished writer md have heard
“ "t 0 «fn°^rs ut i have nev
^rrlsone wise tidSSi a man as Mr Ste
f^me'd to well in
forme • it is another ho be wise. Ma
VH rpit d man v books
bS“"ti^bJ^rS.S M,
Swt^t dom-the wisdom which So.omon
prayed for when he said, “Give me a
wise and unstand.ng heart home
body has said that tor' this sort of
wisdom two things are required
earnestness and love. The earnestness
winch looks ci; life practically, which
ponders upon it. trying to understand
CRAWFORD VILLE, GA., FRIDAY, APRIL 27th, 1883.
it like a philosopher, but in order to
know how to live and how to die j and
Hie love which opens the hearts, and
jpukes it generous, and reveals secrets
deeper than prudence or political eeon
qciy teaches ; the love which, long
sgo, found atterance in the words “it
& more blessed to give than to re
ive.”
S f Alexander II. Stephens did not
sess that earnestness, and that love,
then they never found abiding place
in heart of man. They did dwell in
his heart, else he had never risen so far
a $ ove his fellows in the subordination
of passion and prejudice to calm, clear
reason. Therein was tne great differ
ence between him ai.d most other men,
Their religious, political and peisonal
prejudices sway them, while he, re
garding prejudice as tbe most formula
ble obstacle to the advancement of
truth, of which he was a most sincere
adorer, sternly exercised its baneful
presence from liis mind, and walked
over in the way where reason led.
Trutli was the pole-star of his life ; to
its ascertainment were all the efforts
his reason directed, its light he fob
lowea with uiafaultezing tread, at its
purfffbriue he worshipped with a de
votion i|£ ardent and unswerving as
Gheber’s to the sun. His reason—his
wisdom—taught him that truth should
ne*er yield to error, mat principle
Jfewfficb‘euabled^ibn should never be sacrificed, even mo
'to face ami
ttefy danger and defeat of any sort in
maintaining what he believed to be
true and right. “I believe to-day,”
said. Dr. Miller, “after a life-long ac
quanuaince with him, that he was the
bravest man lever looked in the iace.”
A few days ago I met Mr. VV. F.
Herring, a well-known He Georgian, told that, now
living in New York. me
when a 1 oy in Atlanta he witnessed
il.syrrtmet made on Mr. Stephen* by a
de&wute tiTSftrgiig unin of giant frame. He saw
tirgjti mans knife raised above the
of bis weak and prostrate vie
tiuV, and heard the lionise imprecation
with which he said, ! “Retract, or I’ll
cut#’ Looking his foe in the face,
Hie Wood streaming from the wounds
lie liad already received and the gleam
iug fatal blade about to descend in a last,
blow, the almost dying, but
dauntless. mail answered, “Never!
Cut I” Mr. Herring says Unit, tolas
dying day, lie can never forget that
exhibition of the thiukl most utter fearless
neSs which he humai* nature
cau possibly exhibit.
JjuL it was not ulone the sort of
biavtry witnessed by Mr. Herring that
Dr. Miller meaue. it was the courage
i have jusL spoken of, wliicli gave
hail the will and moral strength to say
and do what he beli.-ved to iw . riuiu,
regardless ..f what might be Hie per
„ 'uvi, im-Mdueiices to him
Jei... tll.V i WUOlB me was an niusu'a
.
t.iou of Ins rare courage, but 1 will re¬
call t,..e liioiaiice ol it which dwells
particularly m my memory because 1
witnessed it, aim because it occurred
at a time when, in doing what lie did,
ne imd to breast the waves of partisan
and sectional lury at their highest.
It was during the congressional ses
siou of 74-’5, v, he.i the country was
convulsed with tne Louisiana trovbles,
and every otter question had given
way to the most momentous one of the
hour—“What should be dona iu regard
to Louisiana ?” Rival bodies were
claiming authority over citizens, biwi
„ess was paralyzed, bloodshed and oth
er destruction were imminent aud a
co „g less j 0 nal committee was sent
there to devise, if possible some plan
t | ia . u vvould restore tranquility to the
muc b (j^jUt-red commonwealth and
lev j Ve ber perishing commerce.lt resul
let [ m the submission to Congress of
w n a t was known as the Wheeler coin
p,. oln j S( ,_ so called for tlie Hon. VVm.
A- W heeler, who was its author, and a
^publican. While the Democratic
nielu beis of tiie committee agreed
upon ))0 plall that promised so prompt
and safe a solution of the troubles they
opposed Mr. Wheelers plan. I bey
se *' mea to c l oose ’ ntther ’ '- ‘V
question should , remain unsettled, bo
wlje ri tlle c °mpromise was submitted
to Congress , they labored against its
“^option- A vote was odered, and as
tl ,e roll-call ^en progressed, aud neared its
' it was that the result might
f VJte . This possibility
ulo a stronger and stronger
p^babiiity until, us the name of Mr,
ritepiiens was appioaciied, it was al
most a certainty. There he sat, with
hls i uteu8e eye upon everything that
I'ass.d, the picturesque and rare one
ioan, unapproachable by all others in
Hie unity of b« character, aud m the
thousand-fold anxieties which entered
upon kioi. t luaily, »»■’ tlie clerk called—
«»»*»
thought, came clear and ringing * i0i ^
Uie roller-chair, and Alexander -U
Stephens’s vote had saved u.e mtac-
—
the r seals, tire galleries were astouisli
^ a ml even tne reporters wer- star
tieu and looked <mit tm-y thougni he
“ad voted “aje” nnsla .eiiiy. ’1 was
a sight they were not accustomed
mat of a man daring to vote at and var, ‘
auce with iris party associates, es
Pec.ally a Southern man, at such a ie
ver ed nine as that. Of course a bit
ter “ufery was at once raised over the
vote by tire ultra partisan papers and
pdliiiciauis. but not many months had
tv.u, “iSXSS Si country problem
"J^lHCh tbe was then con
llM it M „t
adople d old chaos would have
C-me aga [ u ^ t tha t fairland, and there
»•* no telling bavoc migut have
been wrought beforeorder order could oiuia^have have
teeu ^tewas onVof the bravest acts
public life, „
as one of the wisest. In it lie exlribi
ted that combination of wisdom and
eonrage without which there can be
made no complete title to the name of
statesman, it is within my knowledge
that more than one Southern Demo
cratic member thought, as he.did, that
the adoption of the Wheeler Compro¬
mise was the best thing that could be
done at the^ time, under the existing
circumstances, but they did not have
the courage to face the storm which
they knew their votes for it would
bring about their heads. So they eith¬
er voted against it or “dodged.”
The country is still- familiar with
Mr. Stephens’s course on the famous
Rotter Resolutions how he again
differed from his party associates—
aga i n assailed by blind partisan ran
cor au d restless aud malicious represen
tation— and bow the wisdom of liis
course was again speedily and cotn
pietely vindicated. Verily, Dr. Mil
ler spoke truth when he said that this
m an, like Samuel of old, “had uuder
standing of the times, to know what
Israel ought to do.” Look back over
hj s whole career and name. I pray
you, if you can, the thing that he ad
vised the people to do which the fu
ture did not prove it had beep best |for he
them to have done ; or the tiling
warned them, not to do the conseqnen
C es of which, when done, did not prove
the wisdom of his warning.
He was democratic, not in the mod
ern nig sense a caucas of the nomination term as nor never differing boi^
from a caucus po icy, but on principle,
f <» * ‘
distinction to a latitiidniarian c
strnction of the Constitution, and as
expre*6d in his own defflni .on of
w *iat should be the great obj-ct
government namely, to secure the
greatest good to every member of so¬
ciety that can possibly be aocomplish
eti without injury to any. The PJ* *
ciples embodied in the Ameiican Gon
stduiion he regards as a sacred deposi
f 01 N 11 tUH ; W I1C I ^lovirten e
has committed to the American people
lor the general benefit of mankind ;
»«d he felt that it is the world’s last
u 8 H 'i and l f oe once extnigiiish
ed there cannot be found tlie 1 1
methean heat that can its light relume,
He devoted his life to the study ( f thi
wonderful American system, a study
winch said the lamented Hill, to
lllln w,l ° * (,ves Liberty, is more en
chanting than romance, more bewiteh
"'S Jove, and more elevating
t [ lan an y pthei science. So
strong 1 was his love for las na
l,ve that. when, at the
downfall of the confederacy, he was
advised to seek refuge in foreign climes
from the captivity and probable death
that awaited him here, he answered
-No, I w<>uld rather die in this.eoun
-■> remain, ..........„ and accept wliatever V'r» tate is in in
store for me.”
The gifted Mrs. Mary E. Bryan, *n
aa admirable article in the Sunny
South, told in apt and graceful phrase
of that strong fibre of sympathy witli
the yeomanry of the laud which was
born witli him, and was nurtured by
the associations of his earlier years,
and remained with him through life,
that gave him his hold upon the hearts
0 f the people. Never had I been so
struck with the rural element in his
nature, with the “blending of the yeo
mitl , a nd the patrician, the patriarch
and the statesman,” as I was during
the canvass he made in 1878—the last
canvass he ever made of his old dis
trict- It was a beautiful revelation to
me —that travel witli him through the
counties of his district, and witness
ing the intercourse between him and
the country people. It showed that
the title of “the great commoner bim, and
W as not misbestowed upon
that, if constituents never had more
faithful representative, so never had
representative more devoted consti
uents .
When a man has been
(j on g re88 uninterruptedly fora long
series of years,he comes to be regarded
aa , to a great extent, thejtme of the portrai- people
ture and personification What honor
who send him there. an
t(> the le of the Eighth Georgia
district—what K ‘to a lustre it shed upon
have such a a man as
Alexander II Stephens regarded ! wheR as a
tV oe of themselves ’ VVhen, oh
they-whei. will
ca _j iave another like him ? His
dom his experience unsullied integri
t pis ardent patriotism, his cool and
deliberate judgment, his conciliatory
temper, .i his firm adherence to pnnci
p ' | e W lien and where shall we find a
U bstllute for them ? When the pub
j; »ju.“!»..du,, c councils shall become distracted
B ..iut
personal animosities adding tenfol 1
bitterness to tlie conflict of iival in
ten . s ts and discordant opinions, how
1
I ||f w | l03e co:niteiiiin<*e, the very light a
,.,, istn a.. from the tempest of hostile
1 1Klssio , w t0 tl ,e caUn composure of har
y a „d peace.
Rnt 0 f his public Idd life others can tell
J, t , fUmillarity rs liaV( . t with far more ability
* rl y than is poasiblc with
T at he accomplished what lie
„dds against him.
(|ifn one 0 f tlie marvels of iiisto
^ “He is the most remarkable man
I o nee heard Herschel
0 V nA n hWthImmd T U.e‘ $
^ ^-rnan
Whose life in drcS^Unce, bar
^ ^ “
Jrapples the of
A „d with his evil star ;
who make, by force his merits known
A„d lives to clutch the golden keys,
To ^“petbewlii^r mould a mighty state’s decrees.
of the throne?
: Of the world’s great men,
? »
of Ijitrt as of that most illustrious
American, that he loved fame, the ap
proyal of coming generations, the good
opiuinn of bis fellow-men of liis own
time ; and be desired to make his con
duct coincide with tlieir wishes ; biff
not fear of censure, nor the prospect of
applause, could tempt, him to swerve
from rectitude ; and the praise which
lie coveted was the sympathy of that
moral sentiment which exists in every
human heart, and goes forth only to
the welcome of virtue.
There is a character in fiction whose
peculiar situation and career in the
troublous times in wh'cli lie was made
to take a part. I have often heard Mr.
Stephens characterize as a striking
counterpart of liis own position and
coti 'se in public life. It is the charac¬
ter *>f “Morton,” in “Old Mortality.”
T ie public life of a statesman is im
perhhably recorded in tbe pages of lbs
country’s history, but we often have to
regiet the imperfection of the records of
The best portion of a good man's life,
IT. little, nameless, umeiuember’d acts
O, kindness aud of love.
'innugh Mr. Step lien’s private life
ws>s_more open to the public view than
that of any other man whom I have
evv known or of whom I have ever
read, yet much of its “best portion”
cottid lie known only to those whom
the chances of life threw into daily and
hourly association witli him. It was
my lot—and how dearly I esteem it I
h<> -i no words to tell—to live in sucli
intimate relations with him for years,
and 1 hold it a sacred duty, and preci¬
ous privilege as well, to write my testi
raory of the beautiful life that was re¬
vealed to me in those hours when the
world’s eye was not on hint.
1 has ever been, since
ry’s bloody sweat and agony, a God
diki life on earth, it was that which
we. I nut fioin Atlanta on that quiet
Sabbath morning, five weeks agone.
lie was the kindest human being I ever
knew. His poor little emaciated body
wa the casket of the biggest, soul that
ever went shriven or unslniven before
tin judgment bar of God. It might be
sain of him, as it was of Jesus, that he
went a nit doing good. Wherever he
saw tin- form of affliction lie covered ii
with tin-tender web of his pity, and
gave Efi'd it, when he could, the helping
and the she'tering arm. For
hi there was, in the sorrows a ml
su kings of earth’s millions, an inti¬
lth vnoe, crying out—“Help! help
no .. or it will soon be too late I” He
sa they were the saddest words in the
wi 1 to him—those little words—“too
hit and that he could conceive no
idi if misery profounder than that
coi ijed in the utterance—“Ye knew
y>, iuty, and ye did it not.”
' ever forget the thrilling pathos
» ' 'v^ve heard him read the
t.i lyiiilf ward and of Effle, sinning, the and “ptiir doomed sister.’' to
way ignominious death ? Even now I
an infinitely ten
0jU1 hear him saying, in
j one3 .
,,q madam, sorrow'for If ever ye kend what it
was to and with a siuing
Hn q a suffering creature, whose mind
j^ste tossed that she can be neither
ca ’d fit to live or die, have Alas! some corn
passion on her misery! it is
00 t when we sleep soft and wake iiut
gjjy.ourselveu, that we think on other
. )eo)> j e , s sufferings. Otfr hearts are
wa xed light within us then, and we are
f rhrliwnir our ain wrangs are liglil
• our ajtl battles. But when the
|„m r 0 f trouble comes to the mind or
t 0 the body—and when tlie hour of
^th comes, that comes to high and
. _mv Leddv, then it is na what
we j,ae dune for others that we think
aia iat pleasantly.”
A.nd so through life, tie w.is pleasant
others and laying up death,
thoughts against the hour of
n u| .j, lKt hese V ei,tyofi(lyearsofliisex
contributed uioie to the bli¬
ma p happiness ‘ than the vast majority
of woU hl were tlieir lives prolnig
ed to seventy times seventy. His ke
neyolence was as boundless as the. an
flM(1 |,is charity as wide as the welkin,
Like Abou Ben Adhere, angel ns name
cou id be written in the s as
0M who Invert his fellow-men. And
|)i8 tefiow-roen loved him. The dewey
Sfude PV es and saddened faces in that vast
that gathered round his bier
IL^TvTthe mGeorgH’s shrouded capitol, liore tes
^j, depth of the bold he had j |
U 1 Ij hearts. Among the nui.Hiei
|le wl|0 was obsei veil to linger
i 0Hgel . an d bend lowlier over the dead
u,an tlie otners, and when he finally
lurne( i fr0 , n a fast, long, lingering
look at the wail, still face and the told
a |mlld8 tears were seen trickling
do wn the boarded cheeks. He bad
►ui/en tlie life of his fellow-men in com
i,, u,e,»
stilled in death before him had wntte.i
lt)e pa idoii that stripped from Ins
jimbs the shackles that had beer, plao
s. srs x free.
I)ow had said to him, “Go, be
a nd sm no more.” And gazing mi
t „ a t cold, dead, meicilul nand. and on
those death-sealed lip), the bronzed,
scarred man wept like a child.
“I look upon a day us l ist, ’ said the
great Dr. Johnson “in which l do not
a new acquaintance,” I lielieve
Mr. Stephens came to look upon a day
as lost in wliicli be did not do some
tiring to add to somebody's happiness,
General Jackson has told us now,
S’l^p ^1^10.'
..MarsAleciskmder pllito V to dogs than
In? is folks.” How thick
upon memory came thronging
c fhT jd e „ts most touchingly illustrating
' the utter utter truth^ulm«»«C trut what
master and serva t.Mid ^ after
The
tostoug loved tbe character of
“Uncle Toby, 5, the btuVe old Soldier,
whose heart was sc tender Withal that
he would not hurt a fly, and whose
soul was so sinless that, when the o.ith
lie uttered was borne to Heaven’s
cliancery, tne Accusing Spirit blushed
as he gave it in, and the Recording
Angel, as he wrote it down, dropped a
tear upon the word and blotted it out
forever. Such a man in very truth,
was he of whom l write. 1 have heard
him intercede fof the life of the poor,
buzzing, troublesome insect captured
in bis room of a summer night. “Don’t
kill it, just put it outside,” he would
say, so gently and so earnestly. He
seemed to feel that “the meanest bee
tie that we tread upon, in corporal suf¬
ferance finds a pang as great as when a
giant dies,” and lie would not inflict
that pung upon any living creature. I
have seen his heart moved by tile piti
ous, appealing look of a friendless dog
that passed him on the wayside, and of
all the demonstrations of joy with
which he was met on his return home
after a long absence, none were live¬
lier nor sincerer than those made by
“l’luck,” Hie poor, dumb and blind
brute who was nowhere so happy as at
ids master’s feet.
Many, many deeds of kindness and
of love, many tender associations rise
vividly before me now, for sorrow
sharpens memory,but they must, go un¬
recorded save or. the hearts whereon
they are written in letters of unfading
love.
Doubtless, it has occurred to some to
ask, “How could this man, whose
heart was so full of divine love and ten¬
derness, seek to take the lift) of Ins
fellow-man, by challenging him to mor¬
tal combat ?” 1 have often asked my¬
self the question after 1 came to know
him, and once, when talking with him
of the differences which led to the hos¬
tile correspondence with that other dis¬
tinguished Georgian. I expressed to
him my self-questioning, in view of the
fatal consequences that might have ltd
lowed. He replied, “1 didn’t intend
to kill him,” and then 1 knew that
within tiiat gentle bosom there liad
never entered tlie dreadful motion ot a
murderous thought. The latter days
of the two men who had been so es¬
tranged in earlier life were marked by
a cordiality of intercourse that admit¬ oblit¬
ted no question of the complete
eration of whatever 'unpleasantness of
feeling had existed in the past. Scarce
it twelve month ago I saw them togeth¬
er in most friendly, even tender, social
communion. It. was the last time I
saw one of them, lor lie was then “al¬
most home.” Death hud already lain
its all-conquering hand upon his majes¬
tic form, aid was hurrying him with
relentless swiftness to the grave,
whither the other was soon to follow
bun. Let us hope they are together
now in the perpetual peace of Paradise,
but never'diib'hi , 'iiiti.u l, ViV.\' A, k'own,
preacher, with charity like Mr. Ste
phens. N in greater has tlweult, in
this breathing world since lie left it
who condemned not the erring Magda¬ \iiief
len, ami pardoned the pmilent
upon the cross. The holiest man that
ever donned tne sacerdotal robe might
have sat at his fee t and learned of this
heavenly essence l menu not the
t li irity of giving pecuniary assistance
to the poor and needy—to which the
most of liis substance was devoted
not the charily of tne purse, but the
charity of the Si 1 ul, and martyrdom ot
tlie temper; the charily wliicli says,
“Judge no', that ye lie not judged;”
which prays,
•■Let not this weak, unknowing hand,
Presume Thy holts to throw ;
Ami deal damnation round tlie land,
Oil him I deem Thy foe."
The charity wliicli moved, him ever,
when his enemies were bitterest and
liis detractors loudest and most reck¬
less, to say "Father, forgive them, they
know not what they do.” The charity
which made him “gently »caii ins
brother man,” remembering that “tn
step aside is Imuran,” and wliicli finds
such eloquent expression in tbe words
lie so often quitted from the immortal
Burns :
H)e heart, 'Us He alone
Decidedly can d.ord-its try us; various tone.
lt e knows eaeh
Each spring-its various bias
Then at the balance let, s he mute,
We never can adjust it; compute,
Wl.afs done we part y may s,st d
’" (t wllilt 8 “■■ ” '
’Twas the glorifying magic of tins
heaven descended virtue, that had
made its home so long within that
rtillei-cliair, which made the great
hearted Jackson feel that “tho lines
over which those wheels han rolled
were holy ;-that no Georg an coil'd
cross them with a base thought, Ins
head, or a mean, malignant feting m
to the mothu-caiith ^hic » u>
frail, attenuated fiarne to . , ,,
and now has hugged it to Imseif .
am of its ^ powerlessness to render fit
tug r b He. or fashion words to tell
ous my love dead, and I lee. veneration tnat 1 should for the not Ijistn- lay it
down without decla ing tnat I .ann it
for a moment entei tain the id ni that
Mr. Stephens s 'leath wascaust.doi
hastened by any ovei taxing of is men
tal ins or ofliu-. physical ■ I ' lst powers ice t< Ins by the ^' y es “
not pcimit me < > ■ y ■ / |( ^ |jtif '
; as that I bar know.n 1, u _
I tbe mind of Alex
. or of Georg a. to put What
under Stephens to its bent ?
evidence is there of any l> serm g
from its moorings of that mighty m
tellect-of any stray ug of that
velons mental mechanism from its
proper and accustomed track till after
' days and nights of mortal illness had
dumber 17.
fallen upon his hodv and his senses
had been steeped in stlipefving por*
t ions? is it in the hook lie liad butre
cently written V Read It and see. Is
in those poliifcrrl Speeches to thepeo
pie of Georgia, but a few months since,
which attracted the attention and com*
mantled the admiration cff the most en*
lightened minds throughout the Un
ion ? Read them and say where and
who is the man that can frame stien
master pieces of logic, lore.’ of staiesman
ship and Cliief noiitical Is it in any
act as Executive of the State?
Name it. Is it in any writing penned
by his hand of of his dictation during
the last six mouths. Produce it. Is
it in the speech delivered in tile pres¬
ence of that immense audieuce in
Georgia’s most cultured city a fort*
night before liis death? I saw him
and talked with him tl e night of his
departure for Savannah, and never saw
him with brighter look nor heard him
speak in cheerier tone than therf. Nrq
no ; Twas no strain of mind nor body
in the performance of Executive du¬
ties that snapped the thread of life.
He would have died sooner without
any to do w^ik Governor. than from the work he had
attribute as Industry was air
of Ids nature ; labor an luhe*
rent impulsion, and a habit, Work
was the law of liis being. He worked
to kill pain', and bad the outer frame¬
work not b en touched by the! parulyz*
ing band of death the glorious engin#
u ftlifn vvobkf be still working on ifu*
hurt, with its wonted and its iron pow*'
er.
But tlie mandate came, bidding it to
cease, and the silver cord was loosed ;
broken was the golden bowl tlie
long day’s task was done—the “fitful
fever” over. Sleep bad come at last,
and a sage, a patriot, a statesman, and
a philanthropist was gone I
However saddening to thousands of
others was tie summons that called
him hence, tvo know that there were
no terrors in that call for him.—
Throughout his early pilgrim ige he
had kept “a correspondence fixed with
Heaven,” and had lived ever mindful
of the solemn hour that waited for
him somewtiere on life’s uncertain way.
1 think, in all history, there is pot
an instance of a fitter closing of a no¬
bler life. Often have I heard him say,
when the pale messenger was hovering
over him, that lie did not wish to out¬
live his capacity to serve his fellow
men. Death found him with “the)
harness on,” at the post of duty to
which iiis countrymen had called him,
and to which lie went hi that spirit of
consecration which marked liis life,and
made him disregard the relaxations
and exemptions of age. It came to
him m a beautiful old age, finding him
blessed witli all that should accompany
it —“as honor, love, obedience, did troops
of friends,” and mi tenderly it
mile loosen j.tie bonds that held the spirit in
of tbe steto of
hour, but went "like one who had
wrapped the drapery of his couch about
him ami lain him down to pleasant it
dreams.” Where else could have
come to him so fitly ? Where but in,
the very midst of the people to whom
all the tlirobbiiigs of Ills heart were
given would he have been so willing to
have LIm, ej tlirobbings cease ? And, as
if absolutely nothing should bo want¬
ing to complete the symmetry of liis
glorious life, and carry its sacred simil¬
itude as far as mortal nalure would
permit, its last official act, done while
bo lay upon bis dying bed, was the par¬
don of a criminal. Did not Hie gen¬
tle, loving Jesus, in the very agony of.
crucifixion, do the same ?
The eternal silence wraps him now;
Hidden forever from our sight is that
dear, familiar, fragile form; closed im
death are the eyes whose glance had
magic in it ; never again will our
heartstrings lie thrilled by that clarion
voice; but in the innermost shrines of
our hearts is his memory embalmed
and liis image limned forevermore 1
“In the blank silence of the narrow tomb
The clay rmtv rent which wrapped his
human uneonquered birth; by that silent doom,
Hut, all
The spirit of bis thought shaft walk uic
earth, and in light.''
In glory
•
—leans pants .Wc; Nice Summer
Coats 50c; Straw Hats 5c; Wool Hats
Trtb ffi Oil Cloth 25c. per yard;
Full Suits of Summer Clothts *■! 50;
vVhite London Cords «*c. per yard;
Handsome Printed Muslins 5c per
yar(1 . Everything new handsome and,
0 |,eap at C. A' Davis A Cos., Greencs
boro, Ga.
_ The v;l3 t quantity and variety of
r sale by (f C. A. Davis & Co.,
a ., is a matter of
’ i
. . prices
oW
0 f Taliaferro make a minute of
^is » and read the new advertisement
Davis & Co., in this issue of
^
_Read the new advertisement of C
A Davis A- Co., Greetiesboro. t,a tl%
. handsomest Mllli
, lne8t Milliner, the
ner y Gooods, the lowest prices lit C. A«
|> a vis * <Jo’s., Greenesboro, G,a.
_You can go to Greenesboro. in the
mornin g H nd return in the afternoon
wit „ many bargains from tire store of
C . A. Davis & Co.
M -jji ,,ay you to visit Greenes-,
,^s , to lrnv goods there, to s*sml or
to C A. Davis d; Co.. Ureenes
j “'"ZZZ* IDo. to “D ST.^0 e,ch at C.
f
ca „ M ersh«» A Flynt, at Sharon.
_ Nl 2 , vvllir ,d 25c. , ln D ress yard-at G.hHs C; 10 A. e. WJr. Da-,
15c > :U per
c > , (it . et .„esb'jra»Ga.
—Onen and shut Fans le, 2ic. and
5c. e*ch at C. A. Day., .
Greenesboro, Ga.