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THE most brilliant journalist of the South is no more. When the news was
sent over the country yesterday morning that Henry W. Grady, the editor
of the Atlanta _Constitution_, was dead, there were sighs of regret
which, if they could have been gathered together into one mass, would
have been heard across the Atlantic. He was peculiarly gifted. With an
imagery and wealth of language that enabled him to clothe the most
uninteresting subject in a pleasing garb, he had at the same time the
genius of common sense more fully developed than most men now
prominently before the public. He was born in 1851 in the town of
Athens, Georgia, and was therefore less than forty years of age. At
college he was remarkable among his fellows for those gifts of speech
and pen which made him famous. To his eternal honor, it can be said that
in neither the sanctum or the forum were his powers used in a way to add
to any one’s sorrow or distress. His writings were clean and pure and in
every line gave token of the kind heart that beat in his bosom. Mr.
Grady was a lovable man. Those who knew him well entertained for him the
deepest affection. His face was itself a fair type of his nature, which
was essentially of the sunshine character.
He was restlessly energetic and always agitating matters that he
believed would be promotive of the public good. The Cotton States’
Exposition and the Piedmont Exposition, both held in Atlanta, were
literally the creations of his energy and enthusiasm and pluck. It will
no doubt be readily admitted by his associates of the _Constitution_
that he was its moving spirit, and by his powers largely made it the
grand and magnificent success that it undeniably is.
The Young Men’s Christian Association building, costing $100,000, arose
as by magic under the persuasive powers of his tongue and pen. The list
of his works of a practical kind that now add to Atlanta’s character and
position could be indefinitely extended. When he appealed to Atlanta he
never spoke in vain, for in addition to brains and energy he had those
rare qualities of personal magnetism, which made his originality and
zeal wonderfully effective. He entered into everything his big head
conceived with his whole heart and soul.
He was loyal to his city and State, and never missed an opportunity for
aiding in their advancement. He was sought out by the young and the old,
and enjoyed the full confidence of all who knew him.
His name and fame, however, were not confined to Georgia. In the Lone
Star State, thousands flocked to the city of Dallas to hear his great
speech at the Texas State Fair. His New York speech, a year or two ago,
fairly thrilled the country and caused the enactment of scenes never
before witnessed on similar occasions. No orator had ever received such
an ovation in that great city, and none such has been since extended to
any speaker. His recent speech at Boston was calculated to do more good
for the entire country than anything that has fallen from the lips of
any man in the last decade. It will be a monument to his memory more
enduring than brass. It made a profound impression on those who heard
it. The sentiments and truths he so boldly uttered are echoing and
re-echoing among the hills of New England and over the prairies of the
great West, and they will bear rich fruit in the near future. They were
things known to us all here, but those who did not know and did not care
have been set to thinking by his eloquent presentation of the Southern
situation. That speech, perhaps, cost him his life; but if it produces
the effect on the Northern mind and heart which it deserves, the great
sacrifice will not have been in vain. His death will cause a more
earnest attention to the great truths he uttered, and result in an
emphasis of them that could not have been attained otherwise, sad as
that emphasis may be. The death of such a man is a national calamity. He
had entered upon a career that would have grown more brilliant each year
of his life. His like will not soon be seen and heard again.
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