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_From the “Cleveland, O., Plaindealer.”_
THE death of Henry W. Grady of the Atlanta _Constitution_ is a loss to
journalism, to the South and to the nation. He had done good work for
each, and still more could reasonably be expected of him but for his
untimely death at the comparatively early age of thirty-eight. His fatal
illness was contracted when serving the cause of the whole country by
pleading in the North for a more generous and just judgment of the
Southern people and of their efforts to solve the race problem. He has
done much toward bringing about a better understanding by his brilliant,
earnest and logical addresses to Northern audiences, in which he abated
nothing of that intense love for that part of the Union of which he was
a native, but at the same time appealed to them as citizens of the same
country, as brothers, to bury past differences, make allowance for
conditions that were not desired and could not be avoided, and
substitute friendly confidence for prejudiced suspicion. More of the
same good work was expected of him, but as his mother said when speaking
of his dangerous condition: “May be his work is finished.” Under his
management the _Constitution_ worked unceasingly for the physical and
moral regeneration of the South. It preached the gospel of the “New
South,” redeemed by work, by enterprise and by devotion to the Union of
which the South is an integral part, and its preaching has not been in
vain. With pen and tongue, equally eloquent with both, Mr. Grady labored
in behalf of the cause he had so much at heart, and, although dying thus
early, he had the satisfaction of knowing that his work was not in vain;
that it is certain to bring forth good fruit.
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