Addresses: by John A. Martin. Delivered in Kansas.

by John Alexander Martin

Did he falter, or fail, or blunder in dealing with any of them? Read his messages to Congress, and his State papers, in the light of subsequent results, and make answer. His opinions were not only maintained with vigor and courage, but they were defended with logical directness. His insight was as penetrating and his judgment as comprehensive, as his courage was exalted; and time and events have demonstrated not only the honesty and purity of his purposes, but the clearness and sagacity of his mind.

Retiring from the Presidency, he made a tour around the world, and was received everywhere with such honors and enthusiasm as had never before greeted a private citizen. Emperors and kings, great statesmen and great soldiers, were proud to do him homage, and the peoples of every race and tongue, thronging to see him, testified their appreciation of his exalted services in behalf of human liberty and popular government. And in every presence, under all circumstances, he remained the same unostentatious, sincere and modest man, as undazzled by his eminence as he had been patient in his obscurity.

But the firm fiber of his manhood, it seems to me, had never been so clearly revealed as it was during the last year of his life. Suddenly, and in his old age, his competency was swept away, and an insidious disease fastened upon him. Trusting, with characteristic confidence—for he was so incapable of guile or hypocrisy that he never suspected it in others—he was betrayed, and reduced to penury. Without a murmur he gave up everything, not even reserving the trophies and mementoes presented to him by the people of this and other countries. Then, slowly dying, and knowing that death was inevitable, he calmly measured every moment of his ebbing life, and set about his last work. Like Sir Walter Scott, but under many more and far greater difficulties, he became an author in order to repair the wreck of his fortune, and has left behind him a book which will be read by more people than any other volume, except the Bible, that has ever been printed. That his Memoirs will be worthy of his fame, the brief extracts already published conclusively prove. In the field of literature as well as in those of war and of statecraft, he was unconsciously great. He wrote pure, compact, direct and vigorous English. He had the rare faculty of condensing a volume of meaning in a sentence, and of presenting scenes and events with masterly completeness of detail and richness of color.

His book completed, he calmly and patiently awaited the inevitable hour. His last days were as serene as those of his most prosperous years. His courage never faltered. He was patient, gentle, thoughtful of others. “Let no one be distressed on my account,” seemed to be the burden of his thoughts, as it was of the last words his feeble fingers traced on paper. He sent messages of thankfulness and good-will to all. He looked death in the face and did not quail. And so, preserving to the end the simple manhood of his life, his brain unclouded and his heart filled only with loving-kindness and serene content, he drifted away, quietly and peacefully, into the unknown sea that flows round all the world.

The lesson of his life is a lesson for all the generations of men, for it is a lesson of encouragement to the poor, of hope to the unknown, of comfort to the despairing, and of inspiration to the brave, the loyal, the honest and the true-hearted. He had risen from obscurity to the sun-bright heights of fame. He knew the bitterness of want, and the despair of friendlessness. He became the commander of the greatest army ever mustered on the earth, the executive head of the Nation, the familiar associate of the great and powerful of every land. But he never lost his poise, his self-control, his modest dignity, or his manly worth. He lived down, during his lifetime, every calumny and every hate. The party that had denounced, assailed and opposed him, became at last his eulogist. The foemen he had conquered in war became his friends and mourners. And to-day, with reverent sorrow, the civilized world stands uncovered around his grave.

The impress he left upon the age in which he lived can never be effaced. He wrought, during his life, without a thought of dramatic effect, yet his career was crowded with the most dramatic events. There was little of romantic feeling in his nature, yet his life was so wonderful that the story of it will have all the charm of a romance. His bulletins and orders, as a soldier, were never rhetorical, yet they have in them the thunder of cannon and the shouting of the captains. He was never noisily self-assertive; he accepted his appointed place, whether high or low, with equal complacency, and there did his whole duty. In the purity of his life, in the unselfishness of his patriotism, and in the firmness of his action, he resembled George H. Thomas, and to these qualities he added the prompt, bold and resourceful perceptions of William T. Sherman and the energy and dash of Phil. Sheridan.

To do honor to the memory of such a man ought to be a sacred duty. For in honoring him, the Nation honors those qualities of manhood upon which its stability, its glory and its power must forever rest, and which good men and women, the world over, will lovingly teach their children to emulate. The lesson of his life, to millions yet unborn, will be a beacon-light, an inspiration and an example, to guide, to animate and to instruct. Thus, until time shall be no more, the career of Ulysses S. Grant will be a monument, more enduring than any of bronze or of stone, to the worth and glory of free institutions and to the dignity and honor of American citizenship.

KANSAS FARMS AND FARM INTERESTS.

Address delivered at the Smith County Fair, Smith Centre, September 24, 1885.

It has always seemed to me singular, not to say inappropriate, that lawyers, journalists, ministers, physicians and other men having no practical knowledge of farming, should be invited to deliver addresses at agricultural fairs. About plowing, planting, or harvesting; about soils and their treatment; or about any of the every-day work of farmers, such men have little or no practical knowledge. Yet it seems to be the rule to invite them to deliver the addresses on occasions of this character; and, in appearing before you to-day, I plead this custom as my excuse. I came, not because I hoped or believed that I could instruct you in the work or duties of your vocation, but because your committee gave me an invitation so courteous and so kindly, yet so urgent, that I could not, without seeming rudeness, refuse to accept it.