Part 35 (1/2)
As the last words were spoken, I leaned over and grasped the rope fastened to the flag that enveloped the statue. The flag parted on either side and was removed by the attendants. The statue stood revealed in all its beauty under the shade of the great elms of the Mall.
Mr. Depew concluded his eloquent oration with the following words:
”We are here to erect this statue to his memory because of the unnumbered blessings to America and to the people of every race and clime which have followed his discovery. His genius and faith gave succeeding generations the opportunity for life and liberty.
We, the heirs of all the ages, in the plenitude of our enjoyments, and the prodigality of the favors showered upon us, hail Columbus our benefactor.”
x.x.xVI A PLATFORM NOT DANGEROUS TO STAND UPON
A CITIZEN WHO LONGED TO BE A MEMBER OF THE MISSOURI LEGISLATURE--A COMMITTEE APPOINTED BY A MEETING OF HIS FRIENDS--DIFFICULTY IN ARRANGING THE PLATFORM--THE RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED UNANIMOUSLY.
The builders of political platforms, which uniformly ”point with pride” and ”view with alarm,” may possibly glean a valuable suggestion from the following incident related by Governor Knott. In the county in the good State of Missouri in which his fortune was cast for a while, there lived and flourished, in the ante-bellum days, one Solomon P. Rodes, whose earnest and long-continued yearning was to be a member of the State Legislature. So intense, indeed, had this feeling become in the mind of Solomon, that he at length openly declared that he ”would rather go to the Missouri Legislater, than to be the Czar of Roosky.” And in pa.s.sing, it may here be safely admitted that even a wiser man than Solomon might make this declaration in these early years of the twentieth century.
Following the example of greater men than himself when aspiring to public office, Mr. Rodes called a meeting of his party friends in his precinct, to the end that his modest ”boom” might be successfully launched. After the accustomed organization had been effected, a committee of five, of which our aspirant was chairman, was duly appointed to prepare and present appropriate resolutions.
The committee at once retired for consultation, to a log in the rear of the schoolhouse, leaving the convention in session. No rattling orator being present to arouse the enthusiasm so essential to patient waiting, the little a.s.semblage, wearied by the delay, at length despatched a messenger to expedite, if possible, the labors of the committee. The messenger found the committee in a condition far otherwise than encouraging. The resolutions had failed to materialize, and the chairman, seated upon the log, with pencil in hand, and gazing pensively upon a blank leaf before him, seemed the very picture of despair. Upon a second admonition from the unreasonably impatient meeting, that adjournment would immediately take place unless the resolutions were reported, the committee hastily concluded its labors and, preceded by the chairman with doc.u.ment in hand, solemnly returned to the place of a.s.sembly.
The resolutions, two in number, and unanimously and with great enthusiasm promptly adopted, were in words and figures as follows, to-wit:
”(1) Resolv that in the declaration of independence and likewise also in the const.i.tution of the united states, we recognize _a able and well ritten doc.u.ment,_ and that we are tetotually oppose to the repeal of airy one of the aforesaid instruments of riting.
Resolv:
”(2) that in our fellow-townsman, Solomon P. Rodes, we view a onest man and _hereby annominate him for the legislater.”_
x.x.xVII ANECDOTES OF GOVERNOR OGLESBY
OGLESBY'S GREATNESS IN DISCUSSING QUESTIONS CONNECTED WITH THE REBELLION--HIS WORK IN THE MEXICAN AND CIVIL WARS--HE VISITS THE ORIENT--FAILS TO FIND OUT WHO BUILT THE PYRAMIDS.
Few men have enjoyed a greater degree of popularity than did the late Governor Oglesby of Illinois. He was whole-souled, genial, and at all times the most delightful of companions. He stood in the front rank of campaign orators when slavery, rebellion, war, and reconstruction were the stirring questions of the hour. In the discussion of these once vital issues, with the entire State for an audience, he was without a peer. But when they were relegated to the domain of history and succeeded by tariff, finance, and other commonplace, everyday questions, the Governor felt greatly hampered. In a large degree Oth.e.l.lo's occupation was gone.
Cold facts, statistics, figures running up into the millions, gave little opportunity for the play of his wonderful imagination.
In his second race for Governor, in a speech at Bloomington, he said, in a deprecatory tone: ”These Democrats undertake to discuss the financial question. They oughtn't to do that. They can't possibly understand it. The Lord's truth is, fellow-citizens, _it is about all we Republicans can do to understand that question!”_
He was a gallant soldier in the Mexican and in the great Civil War, and in the latter achieved distinction as a commanding officer.
With Weldon, Ewing, McNulta, Fifer, Rowell, and others as listeners, he once graphically described the first battle in which he was engaged. Turning to his old-time comrade, McNulta, he said: ”There is one supreme moment in the experience of a soldier that is absolutely ecstatic!” ”That,” quickly replied McNulta, ”is the very moment when he gets into battle.”
”No, d.a.m.n it,” said Oglesby, _”it is the very moment he gets out!”_
In his early manhood, Oglesby spent some years abroad. His pilgrimage extended even to Egypt, up the Nile, and to the Holy Land.
Few persons at the time having visited the Orient, Oglesby's descriptions of the wonders of the far-off countries were listened to with the deepest interest. With both memory and imagination in their prime, it can easily be believed that those wonders of the Orient lost nothing by his description. Soon after his return he lectured in Bloomington. The audience were delighted, especially with his description of the Pyramids.
None of us had ever before seen or heard a man who had actually, with his own eyes, beheld these wonders of the ages. Near the close of his lecture, and just after he had suggested the probability of Abraham and Sarah having taken in the Pyramids on their wedding trip, some one in the audience inquired;
”Who built the Pyramids?”
”Oh, d.a.m.n it,” quickly replied the orator, ”I don't know who built them; _I asked everybody I saw in Egypt and none of them knew!”_