And lays him down to pleasant dreams.
Mr. Hugh V. Washington, representing the City Government, said:
ADDRESS OF MR. WASHINGTON.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: There is a songster peculiar to Southern woodland, who is without a rival. I have heard his song on a still summer night, and when it died away, the silence seemed deeper and more impressive. Georgia has given to the country an orator whose eloquence was peculiar to himself, and charmed every audience North, South and West, but that which made him dearest to Southern hearts was the theme he delighted to present; that voice was never raised except in behalf of the honor, the interest and the prosperity of his people, and to-night we know that that voice is silent forevermore. I have no words to measure the profound sorrow I feel for the death of Henry Grady; to say that his loss to the country cannot be estimated, and that there is no one to take his place, is but to express a thought common to all. His career as an orator dawned as that other great Georgian, Benn Hill, passed away. The first time I ever looked upon Jefferson Davis was when he stood in Atlanta amid a vast concourse to honor the memory of the eloquent and faithful Hill. I shall never forget that scene: there stood before me two types of Southern manhood, the one of the old, the other of the new; the venerable ex-president came upon the platform, and a glad shout arose from thousands of voices,—he stood the emblem and personification of all we held most dear in the past, but he belonged to the past. There arose to welcome him a young Georgian; his speech of welcome was a masterpiece, every nerve in that vast audience vibrated, and every voice was raised in deafening applause when Mr. Grady declared that the rising of that morning’s sun, bringing with it our beloved ex-president, brought greater joy to Southern hearts than any since the resurrection morn. Mr. Grady, cherishing in his heart of hearts the history of the Confederacy, seemed an inspiration of hope and promise; he seemed to stand for the Present and Future; and now within a few days of each other these noble men have gone to their rest, and the close of a joyous year finds our people bowed in sorrow over their graves. Mr. Grady’s mission in life traveled beyond State bounds. He was too big, too broad, too patriotic to be narrow or partisan; but he was a Georgian to the core,—he sprung from the red hills of classic Athens; he drank at the fountain of knowledge at the State University; what was nearest to Georgia was nearest to him, and he gave his life that the position of Georgia and her sister States of the South might be made clear to our brethren at the North; and to-night, by strange providence, his great work is closed, and he is sepulchered in the bosom of his native State, in Atlanta, whose greatness is due more to his efforts than to any other man.
The life of Henry Grady was like a rare and beautiful gem whose every side was resplendent with light; as a son he was what every mother might hope for in her boy; as a father he was tender and true; as a friend he was open-hearted and generous as the day; as a member of his old college fraternity none exceeded him in zeal and generosity; as an alumnus of the State University his fertile pen and brain were tireless in promoting its interests; as a writer he was at once forcible and fascinating in the highest degree; in journalism he disregarded old methods, and set a higher standard for American journalism; as an orator he had the force of Northern logic, and the beauty of Southern diction; but as much as we may admire him for these noble traits, yet it is in the life of Henry Grady, as a private citizen, that he reached the highest points of his character. I know of no other American citizen in the private walks of life comparable to him. He never sought or held public office; he had no record of a hundred battle-fields to make him famous; his life was filled with private charities, and every enterprise of his native State or city found a willing and powerful sympathizer in him. The many charitable institutions of Atlanta are before us as monuments to his zeal and generosity in behalf of the poor, the needy, and the forsaken. After twenty-five years, when the ranks of the Confederate veterans had been decimated to a handful by the hand of time, and our State was unable to provide a home for the scattered remnant, he conceived the plan of building in our capital city, by private benefaction, the Confederate Home. Wherever there is a man who wore the gray, there will his name be honored and revered. But it is useless to attempt an enumeration of the many enterprises which he fostered; wherever there was work to be done to promote the interest of his city, his State, or his country, he was ready to give his time, his labor, and his money. But there is another feature in the life of Henry Grady of which I would speak,—he was pre-eminently a man of the times and for the times, and in this critical juncture of our history he seemed to have been raised up by a special providence to carry the message of the South to the people of our common country; his aspirations were not only for the success and prosperity of his native section, but he desired to see all the States combined together in a community of interest, of prosperity, of thought, of aim, and of destiny; he brought to the attention of the country the most gigantic problem of this or any other time; he declared to the people of the North that the white people of the South were one people with those of the North; that they had the same traditions; the same blood; the same love of freedom, and the same lofty resolve to preserve their race unpolluted and free; and he brought to the discharge of this duty such masterful eloquence, such sincerity of conviction, such kindness of heart and liberality of thought, as to gain for him not only the applause, but the admiration and sympathy and attention of the whole country. Though the matchless orator lies still in death, the South owes to him a debt of gratitude, which could not be paid though a monument were erected to his memory higher than that which rises in the sunlight above Potomac’s wave. Though his voice be still, his words, his example, and his patriotism shall be cherished in the hearts of many generations. If I was asked to point to a man whose life should stand as a model to the young men of the South, I would point to that of the young Georgian, who has but so lately passed from among us.
The city of Macon, which I have the honor to represent, may well sorrow with our sister city of Atlanta, and we tender to his bereaved people our heartfelt sorrow and sympathy. Henry Grady stood as a prophet on the verge of the promised land, bidding the Southland leave the desert of reconstruction, of gloom and poverty behind it, and to enter with hope, and courage, and cheerfulness upon the rich inheritance that the future holds in store for us; and wherever truth, and courage, and unselfish performance of duty are appreciated, there will his name find an honored place on the roll of our country’s great names. And turning our thoughts and hearts toward his new-made grave, let us say, “Peace to his ashes, and honor to his memory.”
The Hon. R. W. Patterson spoke as follows for the members of the Chi Phi Fraternity residing in Macon: