There is no better lesson for the young men of the South to study than the life, the aims and the efforts of Mr. Grady and the universal gratitude he commanded from every section. He was beloved in the South, where his noble qualities were commonly known, but he was respected in the North as an honest Southerner, who knew how to be true to his birthright and true to the Republic. The Northern press of every shade of political conviction has united in generous tribute to the young patriot of Georgia, and if his death shall widen and deepen the appreciation of his achievement among the young men of the South who must soon be the actors of the day, he may yet teach even more eloquently and successfully in the dreamless sleep of the grave than his matchless oratory ever taught in Atlanta or Boston.
HIS LOSS A GENERAL CALAMITY.
Front the “St. Louis Globe-Democrat.”
The sudden and lamentable death of Henry W. Grady will eclipse the gayety of the Christmas season in the South. He was a popular favorite throughout that section, and his loss is a general calamity. His public career was yet in its beginning. He had distinguished himself as an editor and as an orator, and high political honors awaited him quite as a matter of course. His qualities of head and heart fitted him admirably for the service of the people, and they trusted and loved him as they did no other of the younger Southern leaders. He believed in the new order of things, and was anxious to see the South redeemed from the blunders and superstitions of the past, and started on a career of rational and substantial progress. In the nature of things, he was obliged now and then to humor sectional prejudice, but he did it always in a graceful way, and set an example of moderation and good temper that was greatly to his credit. Without sacrificing in the least his honor or his sincerity as a devoted son of the South, he gave candid and appreciative recognition to the virtues of the North, and made himself at home in Boston the same as in Atlanta. The war was over with him in the best sense. He looked to the future, and all his aspirations were generous and wholesome.
If the political affairs of the South were in the control of men of the Grady pattern, a vast improvement would soon be made. He did not hesitate to denounce the methods which have so often brought deserved reproach upon the Southern people. He was not in sympathy with the theory that violence and fraud may be properly invoked to decide elections and shape the course of legislation. His impulses as a partisan stopped short of the feeling that everything is fair in politics. He did much to mollify and elevate the tone of public sentiment; and he would have done a great deal more if he had been spared to continue his salutary work. His loss is one of that kind which makes the decrees of fate so hard to understand. There was every reason why he should live and prosper. His opportunities of usefulness were abundant; his State and his country needed him; there was certain distinction in store for him. Under such circumstances death comes not as a logical result, but as an arbitrary interference with reasonable conditions and conceptions. We are bound to believe that the mystery has been made plain to the man himself; but here it is insoluble. The lesson of his sterling integrity, his patriotism and his cheerfulness is left, however, for his countrymen to study and enforce. Let us hope that in the South particularly it will not be neglected.