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_From the “Rockland, Me., Opinion.”_
THE whole country is deeply grieved and shocked by the announcement of
the death of Mr. Henry W. Grady of Atlanta, Georgia, which occurred last
Monday morning. The land was yet ringing with the matchless eloquence of
his magnificent speech at the merchants’ dinner in Boston, when the news
of his illness came, closely followed by that of his death. The press of
the country was yet teeming with the applause of its best
representatives, when the voice that evoked it is stilled in death, and
one of the most brilliant careers of this generation is suddenly and
prematurely closed. Mr. Grady caught a severe cold during his visit to
Boston, and grew ill rapidly during his return journey. On his arrival
home, he was found to be seriously ill of pneumonia, and the dread
disease took a rapid course to a fatal termination. Mr. Grady was one of
the most popular men in the South. He was an eloquent orator and
brilliant writer. He was born in 1851 in Georgia, graduated at the State
University and also took a course at the University of Virginia. On
coming out of college, Mr. Grady embarked in journalism and devoted a
comfortable fortune to gaining the experience of a successful newspaper
man. Under his management the _Constitution_ of Atlanta, Ga., has gained
a very large circulation. Mr. Grady has persistently refused to accept
office. He won National fame as an orator by his speech at the Pilgrims’
dinner in Brooklyn, two years ago, and has been in great demand at
banquets and similar occasions ever since. His eloquence was of the
warm, moving sort that appeals to the emotions, his logic was sound and
careful and all his utterances were marked by sincerity and candor. He
has also no doubt done more than any one man to remove the prejudices
and misunderstandings that have embittered the people of the North and
South against each other politically, and to raise the great race
problems of the day from the ruck of sectionalism and partisanship upon
the high plane of national statesmanship. The South has lost a brave,
noble and brilliant son, who served her as effectively as devotedly; but
his work was needed as much and quite as useful at the North, and his
death is indeed a national misfortune.
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