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_From the “Madison Advertiser.”_
IN view of the innumerable, heartfelt and touching memorials to this
gifted child of genius, anything that we might add would be as Hyperion
to a Satyr. But moved by a feeling of profound grief at our’s and the
Nation’s loss, we claim the privilege of giving, as humble members of
the craft, expression to our high regard for the character of Georgia’s
noble son, and mingle a tear with those of the entire country upon the
grave of a great and good man.
In early life he manifested a ripeness and decision of purpose in
selecting a calling for which he conceived he had an aptitude. Nor was
his judgment erroneous, for, with rare genius, coupled with energy and
untiring application, he soon found a place amongst the first
journalists of the country. How, with his gifted pen, he convinced the
judgment, moved the emotions and sympathies, inspired to lofty resolve
and the cultivation of gentle kindness, none knew better than his
constant readers.
Perhaps no character in Georgia, we may say in the South, was possessed
of such varied, versatile talent. Profuse in rhetorical attainments,
gifted in oratory, profound in thought, facile and versatile as a
writer, an encyclopædia of statistics, he presented a combination
amounting to an anomaly. Coming upon the stage of action at a period
when the crown was torn from our Southland and she bent beneath the
cross, when the gore of his patriot father, poured out on the fields of
Virginia, was still red before his vision and calling as it were for
vengeance, he remembered the vow of the greatest Captain of the age,
taken at Appomattox, the injunction of our recently departed Chieftain,
and set his noble brain, gifted pen and silver tongue to the herculean
task of extinguishing the embers of sectional hate; to a recognition of
the rights, and adjustment of the wrongs of his beloved South, and the
rehabilitating of the great American nation, under the ægis of
constitutional equality.
His strong and graceful effusions in the Atlanta _Constitution_ had
attracted universal attention, and put men everywhere to thinking.
Blended with so much of genial kindness and courtesy, while abating
nothing of truth or right, they won commendation, even from unwilling
ears. Nor were they confined to one theme. Every work of industry,
labor, love or charity found in him a potent advocate, convincing by his
logic, and persuading by his gentle, finished rhetoric. As a journalist,
among the craft and the world of readers, he was recognized as without a
superior, scarcely with a peer.
But burning with a grand, great purpose, he felt with the inspiration of
true greatness, that there was work for his tongue, as well as pen. With
a penetrating judgment, he felt that the territory of those misguided
and uninformed as to the condition and burdens of his beloved South must
be invaded, and the ear of those who read but little or nothing of her
grievances must be reached. Unexpectedly an opportunity was opened up
for him, and he appeared before a cultivated audience in the great
metropolis, New York.
To say that wonder, admiration and conviction was the result of his
grand effort on that occasion, would be to put it mildly. Never, since
the surrender, have any utterances, from any source, commanded, up to
that time, so much attention and attracted so much careful and
unprejudiced consideration of the situation of the South. From the
position of an accomplished journalist, he bloomed out into a grand
orator. His name and his grand effort was on every tongue, and every
true Georgian thanked God that a David had arisen to battle her cause.
So profound was the impression made upon the Northern mind of the
justice, truth and temperance of Mr. Grady’s position, that he was
called to Boston, the cradle of Phillips, Garrison and all isms, to
discuss the race question. Had his people been admonished of the
consequences to him physically, they would have felt as did others in
reference to the sweet singer of Israel—better ten thousand perish than
he be endangered. Intent upon what he believed his great mission, he
responded. What that grand effort was is fresh in the minds of all. Its
influence upon this Nation, time alone will disclose.
Grand as was Mr. Grady as a writer, thinker and orator, his greatness
culminated in the bigness of his heart. He might truthfully be called
(as he styled the late Dawson) “the Golden-hearted man.” His pen,
tongue, hand and purse were ever open to all the calls of distress or
want, and every charitable movement found no more effective champion
than in him. A striking recent incident is narrated of him illustrative
of this his noble characteristic. Taking two tattered strangers into a
store, he directed the proprietor to furnish each with a suit of
clothes. The proprietor, his close personal friend, remonstrated with
him for his prodigality, saying, “You are not able to so do.” He
replied, “I know it, but are they not human beings?” Grand man. Surely
he has won the crown bestowed upon the peacemaker and the cheerful
giver. Mysterious are the ways of the Great Ruler. Little did his
exulting friends think that he would be so soon summoned from the field
of his glory and usefulness to the grave. Man proposes, God disposes,
and Grady sleeps the long sleep, but “tho’ dead he yet speaketh.” Alone,
aided by none save perhaps the gifted, battle-scarred, faithful Gordon,
he gave up his life to enforcing the obligation of Lee, the injunctions
of the lamented Davis. With a brave spirit and a heart of love, he would
speak words of forgiveness to his wrong-doers, if any, while others less
tolerant might say to them, “An eagle in his towering flight was hawked
at by a mousing owl.” But with indorsement from such as Cleveland, Hill,
Campbell and a host of others, he needs no apology from us. Peacefully
he has crossed over the river, and under the perennial shade of the leal
land he sits with Davis and Lee and receives their plaudits for his
faithful, patriotic efforts.
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